The human characters are as soft as any Pixar character around the edges, with a more rounded look that fits nicely with the exaggerated alien designs. Elio looks great and has a solid sense of motion and movement that gives its various deeply alien supporting cast plenty of distinct looks that help it stand out from other recent animated films.

4

Elio’s Flawed Protagonist Is A Great Subversion Of Pixar Expectations

There’s something refreshingly flawed about Elio that makes it worth watching even for audiences who are tired of the typical Pixar arc. Like many of Pixar’s younger protagonists, Elio‘s central arc surrounds growing up and maturing into his own person. However, Elio takes it a step further by having his flaws be the cause of much of the film’s tension and drama.

Elio’s standoffish behavior, although portrayed sympathetically, causes conflict with his peers and stress with his aunt. His efforts to start a new life prompt him to lie his way through his interactions with the alien community, leading to plenty of comedic misunderstandings and dramatic reveals.

Elio’s arc is the true focus of the film, in a similar way to how Turning Red rooted so much of itself within the emotional state of its lead character. It makes Elio a more compelling character who lingers long after the film concludes.

3

Elio’s Spaceship Heist Is One Of Pixar’s Best Sequences In Years

Following a great little beat that proves Pixar could absolutely nail a horror movie, Elio‘s best scene is a takeoff sequence that rivals anything else the animation studio has done in years. Desperate to save the day late in the film, Elio and his aunt Olga are forced to venture off-world.

This requires not only recovering a spaceship, but then actually navigating through the densely cluttered (and extremely dangerous) outer layers of the atmosphere. The sequence is Pixar at its best, scary enough to maintain the tension while leaning into a deeply human sincerity for a fittingly fun turn. Emotionally, it’s an absolute blast.

Just like the rest of Elio, the visuals only elevate it, with a high-velocity touch that propels the scene into surprisingly emotional places very quickly. Elio’s best scene is one of the better single sequences from any Pixar film in the last decade, rivaling similar surprising moments of movement like Riley’s anxiety attack in Inside Out 2, Turning Red’s panda duel, or Elemental’s date montage.

2

Elio Is Pixar’s Latest Refinement Of Disney’s Favorite Recent Arc

A recent trend in Disney and Pixar animated films is themes of interpersonal family drama. Coco, Turning Red, Encanto, and other Disney films have centered their central conflicts around a family that needs to come together. Elio does something similar, forcing its knowingly odd main character to wrestle with feeling “alien” to the rest of the people around him.

The divide between him and his Air Force Major aunt is reflected in the film’s central antagonist, Lord Grigon. With a strained relationship to his own son Glordon, Grigon serves as a dark reflection of the divide that can grow because of unintended distance and disappointment.

The film takes what has become a standard theme of modern Disney and Pixar films and escalates it to a universal scale. It’s a clever riff on the now familiar tropes, perfectly fitting alongside the grander scope of the sci-fi setting without losing touch to the film’s emotional core.

1

Elio Continues Pixar’s More Inventive Streak

It’s disappointing to hear about how Elio lost its unique initial spark when the behind-the-scenes drama led to director Adrian Molina leaving the project and the queer-coded aspects of Elio’s character being dropped. However, the storytelling bones and charming heart of Elio still result in an entertaining and emotionally effective film.

In recent years, Pixar has gone back and forth between legacy sequels to successful films (like with The Incredibles 2 and Inside Out 2) and big original swings like Elio. While they may not have the same box office success as the sequels to established films, it’s hard not to appreciate the emotional authenticity and colorful creativity of these tonal swings.

Onward‘s riff on a fantasy suburbia, the mythological aspects of Turning Red‘s world brushing up against tween angst, Elemental’s deeply colorful and emotionally universal exploration of immigrant trauma and modern dating, Pixar has been at its best in the last decade when it’s been experimental and inventive. It’s the same with Elio, with its fusion of sci-fi and coming-of-age story.

Elio‘s best elements are found in these genre touches, the optimism of sci-fi and space travel mixed with an earnest emotional core that Pixar has become known for. While Elio might not have been what it was originally intended to be, the strength of the concept still makes it a compelling watch.