Elio Review: Pixar's Latest Tearjerker Is Their Best Original Since Coco

If you haven't noticed one particularly pesky trend taking over the movie industry these days, then rest assured that parents certainly have: Where the heck have all the children's movies gone? Skeptics of that line of thought will point to blockbusters like "A Minecraft Movie," the prevalence of superhero movies, or remakes like "Lilo & Stitch" and even the recent "How to Train Your Dragon" as proof otherwise, but that's missing the block-shaped forest for the block-shaped trees. With all due respect to chicken jockeys and the trail of traumatized theater employees left in their wake, these examples feel far more geared towards nostalgic young adults than any other demographic. Sure, kids might ultimately make up one of those all-important four quadrants. But are they really enjoying the same benefits as a target audience that the rest of us take for granted on a regular basis?

That's typically where Pixar comes in, saving the day for parents and kiddos alike. Those of us of a certain age were practically raised on these movies, having been fed a steady diet of original and emotional stories that instantly reshaped how we looked at the world around us. At our most formative moment, nothing helped define our taste in movies more than the exploits of Woody and Buzz and the high-flying action of Mr. Incredible. As for our folks, every joke and complex narrative beat that flew over our heads ended up keeping them just as entertained as we were. Still, almost exactly 30 years of feature films is a long time to maintain an impossibly high standard. After weathering its share of ups and downs, it'd be fair to wonder whether there was any more magic left in that dusty ol' lamp.

If "Elio" is any indication, rumors of the studio's demise — along with that of children's movies everywhere — have been greatly exaggerated. A classic underdog tale if there ever was one, Pixar's latest comes with a checkered history of delays, directorial and creative shakeups, and a marketing campaign (or lack thereof) that could generously be described as "nonexistent." Despite all the odds set against it, however, this space-set adventure takes after its own loveable title character and demands not to be overlooked. At its best, "Elio" feels like vintage Pixar ... and arguably its best original since 2017's "Coco."

"Elio" might have its eyes firmly fixed on the stars, but it starts off as grounded as any Pixar movie before it. We meet our 11-year-old main hero, voiced by the incredibly emotive young actor Yonas Kibreab, at his lowest possible ebb. Cowering underneath a cafeteria table at a local air and space museum, Elio is clearly reeling from the off-screen death of his parents. (We're reminded about this in dialogue no less than three separate times throughout the early going.) As a tiny little ball of rage and unprocessed grief, he does what any kid would do in his situation: withdraw from those around him, hyper-fixate on his obsessions, and rocket from one emotional extreme to the next. "Rocket" is the key word, to his newfound caretaker Aunt Olga's (Zoe Saldaña) eternal chagrin, since his unrelenting passion for space feels like a wedge drawn between himself and a normal, well-adjusted life. Elio doesn't have friends, he's lost the only two people in the world who actually understood him, and the vast emptiness of the cosmos only seems to remind him of how profoundly alone he really is.

All this setup could seem a bit clunky during a busy first act, but directors Madeline Sharafian and Domee Shi (taking over for original director Adrian Molina, who still retains a co-director credit) do a tremendous job of keeping things firmly on track. Like "Finding Nemo" or "Up," "Elio" finds a perfectly heartbreaking way to provide a window into Elio's headspace. He soon stumbles upon an unopened exhibit about the Voyager space probe and sits in slack-jawed wonder at the idea that maybe life really could exist out there — and, in effect, perhaps a place he truly belongs. The single hopeful tear running down his cheek speaks more volumes than any on-the-nose dialogue ever could, and the first of many montages quickly establishes him as the kind of loveable weirdo who wants nothing more than to be abducted by aliens and taken far away from the misery he's known at such a young age. By then, we're fully on his side for whatever comes next.

That, as it turns out, is a space-faring odyssey that's whimsical, visually dazzling, and unabashedly nerdy to its core. It isn't long before Elio finally does end up abducted (mistaken as the leader of Earth) and swept away to the Communiverse, a United Nations-like collection of the greatest minds and most tolerant extraterrestrial ambassadors in the galaxy ... and one troublemaking warlord, the fearsome Lord Grigon (a perfectly cast Brad Garrett). Taking a page out of a wealth of sci-fi influences, from classics like "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" to touchstones like "Flight of the Navigator" and "Contact," "Elio" has no trouble finding the inherent joy and humor within such childlike awe. But by going out of its way to show the full range of Elio's emotional turmoil (it's at least implicitly suggested that he may be on the spectrum), the film proves capable of handling some of the most emotionally challenging Pixar sequences since the likes of "Finding Nemo," "Up," and "Inside Out." It's only through boldly going to some dark places that "Elio" shines the brightest.

If the film's wonderfully vivid and gonzo conception of the universe isn't enough to keep kids occupied, boasting a genuine kaleidoscope of colors and futuristic visuals, then the true heart and soul of "Elio" almost certainly will. The Communiverse might as well be exactly what Elio has been desperately searching for all along, and the naïve aliens who greet him as one of their own provide a stark contrast from the bullies plaguing his every step back home. Elio's attempts to convince extraterrestrial ambassadors Helix (Brandon Moon), Tegman (Matthias Schweighöfer), Turais (Ana de la Reguera), and Questa (Jameela Jamil) that he's the most influential human on Earth are well worth the price of admission and frequently provide some of the biggest laughs in the movie. But once he's tasked with pacifying Lord Grigon (essentially a riff on the Klingon warriors from "Star Trek") in a diplomatic negotiation for the ages, done in exchange for membership in the Communiverse, the central theme of "Elio" comes into focus.

As much as the movie has on its mind (and it's a lot, since much of "Elio" shares its protagonist's sugar-rush mentality), it's the dynamic between fast friends Elio and Grigon's innocent, tardigrade-like son Glordon (voiced by the delightful Remy Edgerly) that steals the entire show. Some of the best moments in the film's brisk 99-minute runtime come from Elio and Glordon getting a chance to simply exist as kids finding themselves in the coolest possible setting, enjoying a camaraderie and affection that can only develop between those with similarly painful upbringings. The script (credited to far too many writers to list here) somehow finds time and space for Elio and Glordon's buddy-comedy adventures, a hilarious and unexpectedly clever subplot between Olga and a cloned Elio back on Earth, and even some hard-hitting truths about children wrestling with the crushing expectations of their parental figures. Before we even know it, "Elio" has built to a rousing crescendo about what "home" really means for outsiders like Elio — and, as with the best of Pixar, I dare anyone to come away with a single dry eye.

By the time things fully kick into gear, even some of the most glaring visible seams can't derail "Elio" too much, at least. As with any obvious salvage job, certain subplots and previously-introduced concepts fall by the wayside like vestigial reminders of earlier drafts. (For a fun post-theater exercise, look back at the earliest teasers to see just how much has changed over the years.) The frenetic pace may keep kids hooked, but parents will appreciate the sequences when "Elio" hits the pause button and allows audiences to sit in the silence — of complicated ideas, of emotionally challenging conversations, and of the wonders around us we too often fail to appreciate. It's not every day we get an animated movie with an action set piece that hinges on the dangers of orbital space debris around Earth ... but such oddball, geek-friendly antics are precisely what makes "Elio" stand out from so much recent fare.

Are children's movies back? Is Pixar about to dial back the clock to their heyday of the early aughts? No one movie can represent that much to that many people. "Elio" instead opts for a more specific and personal worldview — one that might just leave parents and children alike looking up at the nighttime sky with a whole new perspective.

/Film Rating: 7.5 out of 10

"Elio" opens in theaters on June 20, 2025.