Pixar’s previous feature-length outer space voyages netted the Emeryville studio one of its best films, “WALL-E,” as well as one of its most wobbly (but still decent) efforts, “Lightyear.”
“Elio,” Pixar’s latest enterprise, falls somewhere in between. It’s not a groundbreaker on the risk-taking level of “WALL-E,” but better than the unfairly maligned “Lightyear.”
What “Elio” does well is give us those patented Pixar feels, but even more important, it’s simply an interstellar blast of absolute fun.
It tells a refreshingly original and unpredictable story about an 11-year-old boy’s quest to belong anywhere but here on Earth, a concept based on the growing-up experiences of one of the filmmakers. By tapping into real feelings like that, “Elio” unerringly relates a personal yet universal message about how “weirdos” can find their tribe while discovering overlooked allies along the way. It’s a timely and timeless message young and old could use right now.
At a fleet 99 minutes, “Elio” never feels padded. Nor does it lean on “loner kid” cliches. It’s funny and clever and guaranteed to make you misty-eyed as it sends audiences on an incredible Alice-like journey to a visual wonderland that’s one off Pixar’s most intricately designed environments. Pixar animators and production designer Harley Jessup pull out all the stops for this 29th Pixar feature, the high point being a jaw-dropping multi-planet meetup spot known as the Communiverse. It’s an astonishing, Richard Scarry-like bustling spectacle that’s popping with so much animation razzle-dazzle you’ll want to visit it again and again.
It is there where Elio (Yonas Kibreab, in a perfectly calibrated vocal performance) happily winds up after imploring aliens to abduct him from a beach near the Montez Air Base where his super-smart Aunt Olga (Zoë Saldaña) works and lives. Olga has become his guardian but Elio shrugs her off. The parentless boy gets his abduction wish but also gets mistaken as the leader of Earth, an error he doesn’t dissuade anyone in the busy Communiverse from believing.
He gets chummy with one of Pixar’s most inventive sidekicks, the endearing, Glordon (Remy Edgerly), a slug-like creation who will steal your heart. It is astonishing that animators and Edgerly make Glordon so lovable, since, essentially, he no face. Glordon is the snaggle-toothed son to tyrannical planetary leader Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett), a lobster-like bully on the interplanetary block, if you will. He’s gruff and turns into Elio’s sort-of nemesis.
Directed with vigor and dashes of humor and emotion by Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi (“Turning Red”) and Adrian Molina (co-director of “Coco”), “Elio” is laden with Easter eggs and has a killer end-credit bonus scene and pays snappy homage to numerous sci-fi films (“Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” amongst others).
One of the best sequences involves a clone and even finds the filmmakers dipping their toes into the horror genre. (Don’t worry, it’s no too scary for the wee ones.)
While “Elio” doesn’t necessarily reach the complex thematic heights like some of Pixar’s classics (“Up,” “Toy Story,” “Ratatouille” and so on), it’s always energetic, smart and sweet, and entertaining from start to finish.
But it is the production details that are truly out of this world. As is the rousing and stirring award-worthy score from Rob Simonsen (“Deadpool & Wolverine”), atmospheric music that punctuates every scene, every emotion.
Contact Randy Myers at [email protected].
‘ELIO’
3½ stars out of 4
Rating: PG (some moments of action/peril, thematic elements)
Voice cast: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldaña, Remy Edgerly, Brad Garrett, Jameela Jamil, Shirley Henderson
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Running time: 1 hour, 39 minutes
When & where: Opens June 20 in theaters
