The directors of Pixar’s latest picture Elio have commented on the story’s themes, and how it is something all too many people are familiar with. ScreenRant‘s Elio review points to loneliness and fighting it as the story’s central theme, told through the lens of a delightfully colorful family-friendly space adventure. Pixar’s Elio follows Elio (Yonas Kibreab) — an orphan being raised by his aunt Olga (Zoe Saldaña) — who is desperate to leave Earth and constantly trying to attract an alien abduction for himself. But when he succeeds, he is greeted with a whole host of alien miscommunications.

Speaking with ScreenRant‘s Ash Crossan, Elio‘s directors said that they “always pointed back to loneliness as a theme.“ As they adjust to a new parenting dynamic, “Elio and Olga are both experiencing loneliness within their relationship,” and their feelings are mirrored in a child-parent dynamic with a couple of the alien characters. This was something that the directors knew many people would relate to, as they spoke to experts about the “epidemic of loneliness.” Check out their comments below:

EXCLUSIVE: Ash Crossan: There are so many elements of the story that I think people will connect with for different reasons. There’s obviously the grief factor, the wanting to belong… then there’s also the kid in me that just wanted to go to space. So for you guys, what was the core of the story for you where you were like, this is the movie we’re going to make?

Madeline Sharafian (Director): Yeah, I think we always pointed back to loneliness as a theme, because it helps you structure the story when you know that every character and every dynamic kind of needs to point back to the same idea.

So Elio and Olga are both experiencing loneliness within their relationship, and Glordon and Lord Grigon are experiencing the same thing.

It was a theme that a lot of people on the crew could also relate to. We started talking to experts on child psychology about loneliness and grief, and also to the Surgeon General at the time, Dr. Vivek Murthy, about the epidemic of loneliness.

Mary Alice Drumm: Which is everybody. I mean, everybody’s feeling it.

Madeline Sharafian: And as we were learning more about it as a crew, we started to realize, “Wait a minute… I’m really lonely right now.” When you find something that unites a team around a worthy goal or cause, we kind of loved that we found something we could all stand behind.

What The Directors’ Comments On Loneliness Mean For Elio

Elio’s Themes Are Some Of Pixar’s Most Profound (& Researched)

Certainly since lockdown, when everyone was cut off from their usual social interactions and found themselves in new, sometimes straining dynamics with their loved ones that they actually live with, we have been thinking about loneliness, even within established relationships. Elio is coming five years after the worst of the pandemic — although Elio arrives in theaters two years after its first trailer, due to significant delays — but this theme still hits home.

The directors’ own understanding of loneliness and their efforts to talk to experts about it only strengthen Pixar’s newest movie. Pixar’s best movies are masterclasses in storytelling surrounding complex emotions and ideas, such as family vs. individuality, the corrupting nature of fame, the power of a community, and much, much more. But this is still some of their most grounded and relevant work yet, backed up by the research that went into it.

Our Take On The Elio Directors’ Comments On Loneliness

This Points To A Still Bright Future For Pixar

Elio presents itself as a goofy, childlike twist on the alien abduction plot, with Elio going to great lengths to make this happen and being mistaken as Earth’s leader. But this being blended with such pertinent themes of loneliness within a family is what has always made Pixar great. I, as much as anyone, have found the studio’s recent features to be just a bit lacking compared to their classics of the 1990s and early 2000s. But the sophistication of Elio‘s storytelling, along with the tidbits revealed about Pixar’s upcoming movies, make me believe they can still move audiences to tears.