Elio is the newest work from acclaimed animation studio Pixar, and I am very excited aout it. The movie tells the story of a young boy who gets abducted by aliens and goes on a galaxy-hopping adventure to save his family and newfound friends. Elio‘s first full trailer was just released a few months after its initial teaser, and so far, the movie looks like it is going back to Pixar’s roots, taking a fun concept and building a unique world with lovable characters to get attached to over the course of the movie.

Thankfully, the film is also poised to break new ground for Pixar, as Elio is meant to have more horror elements than most of the studio’s previous output, which, if successfully implemented, will make the movie stand out much more than if it was a more formulaic project. While Pixar has found the most success with their sequels and franchise films in recent years, they have made some of the best original animated movies of all time, and I am so excited for Elio to potentially join those ranks.

Pixar’s Original Movies Since Inside Out Have Been A Mixed Bag

The Studio Has Had Very Few Big Original Films Since 2015

While Pixar has made so many iconic animated movies and franchises over the years, the studio has been struggling when it comes to original movies for nearly a decade. Inside Out was released in 2015, and since then, their original films have been more mixed, with some great projects but plenty that didn’t hit the mark. The Good Dinosaur remains one of Pixar’s biggest misses to this day, Onward and Elemental were fairly middling, and while Turning Red, Luca, and Soul were good, only Coco really feels like it could possibly stand alongside Pixar’s best.

It is worth noting that this is still a fairly solid crop of movies, and aside from The Good Dinosaur, all of these films have aspects that make them great in their own right. However, Pixar is a studio with an incredibly rich history of crafting some of the best animated features of all time, and it feels like that has mostly been lost with their recent output. Movies like Ratatouille, WALL-E, and The Incredibles can stand as some of the best animated films of all time, and Pixar has yet to recreate that same level of quality.

Why Elio Looks More Exciting Than Pixar’s Other Original Releases Over The Past Decade

The New Film Has Lots Of Great Things Going For It

Whether Elio will reach the heights of Pixar’s greatest projects is very difficult to know, as it would be impossible to predict how good it will actually be until it comes out. At first glance, however, the film looks like it is shaping up to be an excellent addition to the studio’s filmography. As mentioned above, Elio is meant to have horror elements, which is a great sign that the writers and directors are trying to do something new and interesting, rather than simply banking on the Pixar name in order to get people to watch.

Elio is also being directed by Domee Shi, who was also the director of a previous Pixar movie, Turning Red. While not a life-changing cinematic experience, the film a solid Pixar offering with good messaging and characters. More excitingly, however, Shi also directed the Pixar short film Bao, which won the best animated short Oscar for 2019. She clearly has the talent to make something exceptional, and after Shi took over directing duties with Madeline Sharafian, Elio seemed to change quite significantly, giving me hope that it has been transformed into something amazing.

I Hope Elio Ushers In A New Era Of Great Non-Sequel Pixar Movies

Some Of Pixar’s Best Work Is In Their Non-Sequel Films

After Elio, Pixar only has a few confirmed upcoming projects, of which two are sequels to some of their biggest franchises. Hoppers is their only other confirmed original IP, which is centered around a world where humans can transfer their consciousness into robotic animals in order to communicate with other animals. Toy Story 5 and Incredibles 3 are continuing two of Pixar’s biggest franchises, as the studio is clearly shifting to pushing out films that are essentially guaranteed to be mᴀssive successes after some of their more recent flops.

However, if Elio is as good as it seems, and does well at the box office, it could absolutely bring about a slew of new original projects for the studio, ensuring that Pixar continues creating new worlds while also expanding the ones we know and love. Their last non-sequel movie to make over $500 million worldwide was Coco, and with their recent mᴀssive sequel success with Inside Out 2, I have no doubt that Pixar is looking at Elio to determine how much they will invest in new IP going forward.

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