Directed by: Adrian Molina, Madeline Sharafian, and Domee Shi
Written by: Julia Cho, Mark Hammer, and Mike Jones
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Remy Edgerly, Young Dylan, and Brad Garrett
Runtime: 99 minutes
‘Elio’: This bizarre alien abduction story might have you wishing for a more traditional welcoming party of Little Green Men
Are we alone in the universe?
That is the age-old question asked by astronomers, “Star Trek” fans, and billions of other curious human beings roaming the planet.
When Elio Solis (Yonas Kibreab), a Montez Middle School student, wanders about Montez Air Force Base and stumbles into a Voyager 1 exhibit, he asks the same question. This imaginative but also delusional kid believes that aliens should abduct him and that he belongs in outer space. Well, we need to grant Elio some grace because his parents just died, and this new orphan attempts in vain to adjust to his new reality while living with his Aunt Olga Solis (Zoe Saldana), a United States Air Force Major.
Olga is single, and she’s adapting to parenthood. Major Solis has a good heart and tries her best, but she doesn’t have all the answers to help with Elio’s post-traumatic stress as well as his day-to-day emotional needs.
Elio’s world, however, turns right side up (in his mind) when aliens actually answer his call and beam him straight up to their realm, a place named the Communiverse.
The Communiverse is a bizarre, kaleidoscopic locale that’s a peculiar cross between “Rainbow Brite” (1984), “Elysium” (2013), and Marvel Studios’ Quantum Realm, as featured in “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” (2023), and that’s not a compliment.
Equally unusual non-uniform beings inhabit this interstellar spot. None of the aliens’ names are memorable in the least, and this critic needed to research the characters’ monikers after the movie. Ambassadors Helix (Brandon Moon) and Questa (Jameela Jamil) resemble Mr. Monopoly and a seven-foot shrimp, respectively, and they and the rest of the gang are squishable persons who are “tolerant” intellectuals and hope to recruit Elio as a new member.
They believe that this 10 or 11-year-old kid is Earth’s leader, so the Communiversians might be book-smart but are far from street-smart.
Anyway, Elio needs to prove himself as a worthy new affiliate, so he duels with Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett), a massive, intimidating baddie of Hylurg who prefers to shoot first and ask questions later. Meanwhile, our child hero is actively hiding the plain-as-day fact to everyone that he isn’t the President of Earth.
Oh, come on now, isn’t it obvious?
For presidents and every other adult, this Pixar film doesn’t target grown-ups, as “Elio” seems to be directed solely at elementary school children. In dealing with his grief, Elio, a friendless loner, rushes toward his “id” for immediate gratification, regardless of the consequences of his aunt’s feelings. For him, acceptance to the Communiverse is his right, but screenwriters Julia Cho, Mark Hammer, and Mike Jones’ script properly weaves in the importance of family as a hopeful learning point for Elio. Will he listen?
It's difficult for the audience to listen. Even though Elio is an orphan, his “me first” attitude doesn’t make him particularly sympathetic, and the movie doesn’t introduce his parents before their deaths, so we don’t feel his loss at that moment. “Elio” doesn’t have the deeply emotional “Up” (2009) effect that provoked sobs in theatres everywhere 16 years ago during one of Pixar’s most effective on-screen moments, even though parental deaths in animated films is a tired practice.
Instead, we must wait patiently - during the 99-minute runtime – for Elio to hopefully find pals, his place in the universe, and a connection with Olga while he delivers a never-ending stream of juvenile exclamations.
“If any aliens are listening, please come and get me.”
“It’s really happening!”
“This is awesome!”
While the suspense is thinner than the “Toy Story” franchise’s Forky, directors Adrian Molina, Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, and the animation department attempt to fatten up the audience with animated wonders of the cosmos.
However, the creatives conjure up this “Rainbow Brite” / “Elysium” / “Ant-Man 3” translucent, neon spot with no sense of boundaries, size, and scope once inside the Communiverse. It features concert-like seating, wave pools, mushroom-like trees, and organic inventions or beings, such as a universal translator and users’ manual. It’s all a bit overwhelming, yet quite dainty and fragile with a few “Alice in Wonderland” rabbit holes.
The possibilities seem endless, but without a suitable foundation, one might just give up during the constant and gaudy pomp and circumstance and also lose the will to understand the baffling surroundings and Dr. Seuss physics, including Elio finding shelter from a lava flow in the most inexplicable way because either a script writer or the animators dreamt it up in a staff meeting.
The movie eventually circles back to Olga and the Air Force’s purpose, but that feels forced and potentially geographically incorrect as the apparent Asteroid Belt appears somewhere after Saturn, while it’s truly located between Mars and Jupiter. Then again, this moviegoer might have been a bit lost after spending too much time in the Communiverse.
Admittedly, Helix, Questa, and the cornucopia of philosophers are a friendly bunch. Still, after watching “Elio”, one might wish for a welcoming party of traditional Little Green Men or possibly Marvin the Martian instead, even if the latter wants to blow up the Earth.
Jeff’s ranking
1.5/4 stars
