Five minutes into Disney-Pixar’s Elio—a cosmic adventure about a lonely little boy who just wants to feel like he belongs—I wondered if the film would end up being one of the studio’s best. It opens with a classic, heart-wrenching Pixar backstory that totally worked. I was immediately invested in the main character emotionally. The movie also takes direct inspiration from Carl Sagan and mankind’s beautiful message of hope to the cosmos, the Voyager Golden Record. But if I held onto the hope I was going to see one of Pixar’s very best entries, I would have left disappointed. Fortunately I was able to appreciate Elio for what it is: a sweet, heartfelt movie that is always good but never great.
Elio‘s biggest problem is also its most inexplicable: its character designs (both human and alien alike) look like they’re from a movie Pixar made 15 years ago. And that movie had a small budget. That regressive, kid’s cartoon aesthetic is especially frustrating because the rest of Elio looks really good. That’s especially true in opening five minutes which introduces the Golden Record. But in the year 2025, a Pixar movie should not, in anyway, look like it came out in 2010.
The film’s runtime of one hour and 30 minutes is also both too long and too short. It’s way too slow getting to its actual plot and conflict, but once it does, Elio feels rushed. I wish the first 45 minutes were closer to 15/20 and the last 45 minutes (which are also the best) were closer to 90.
Elio also isn’t nearly as funny or whimsical as you would expect from a Pixar movie set in space. There’s some humor that definitely lands, like when the film becomes a horror parody. However, most of its humor is just clever or cute rather than legitimately funny. It’s cosmic settings and aliens also feel familiar and lack the kind of creative spark you’d expect from Pixar. The film’s titular young character meets plenty of aliens at Communiverse, the home of an interplanetary organization of ambassador. But while a few are very original and fun, a lot feel like trite. It’s not exactly a good thing the Communiverse and its inhabitants most reminded me of the Quantum Realm from Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. I like that movie more than most, but I expect Pixar to give me something I haven’t seen before.
There’s also a strange problem of the film not seeming to know how old Elio actually is. He’s apparently 11 or 12 because he’s in middle school, but he reads more as 7 or 8. At first it seems like it’s an intentional maturity issue, but when he meets his fellow kid and new alien friend Glordon Elio’s age issue seems even more glaring. It’s not a huge problem, but it is a strange one.
While those are the biggest reasons Elio isn’t great, there are still lots of reasons it’s really good. For one this film delivers on the kind of emotional heft you expect from Pixar. It’s not exactly unpredictable, but even when it goes exactly where you know it will the movie lands. One really wonderful scene is going to have lots of grownups claiming their allergies are acting up.
The cast is also really good. Zoe Saldaña is, not surprisingly, wonderful as his Aunt Olga. She’s the woman who put her grand plans on hold to raise her very strange, sad nephew. Young Remy Edgerly is truly delightful as Glordon, as his the film’s star Yonas Kibreab. “Earth’s leader” provides the exact kind of enthusiasm the film calls for. And he does so in two very different ways. And Brad Garrett gives my favorite performance as the evil Lord Grigon, Glordon’s conquering dad. He’s a very well-written, fascinating, layered character, and Garrett nails it.
The story itself, though feeling like it’s missing a few scenes that would give it even more depth, is also exciting and makes sense. It provides ample opportunity for Elio to have fun during its intergalactic mission. It’s a journey that proves far more dangerous than the little boy who long hoped to get abducted ever could have imagined.
I wish Elio had reached the greatness it teases at the start. At multiple points during the film I thought it might finally get there. But knowing it never does will you enjoy Elio for what it does accomplish. It’s a delightful, good little film full of lots of heart. And a night at the movies going on that kind of journey through the universe still sounds pretty great to me.
Elio ⭐ (3.5 of 5)
Elio crash lands in theaters on June 20, 2025.
Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist and Lord Grigon superfan. You can follow him on Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.
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This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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