‘Elio:' Close Encounters of the Nerd Kind

Boston Globe

18-06-2025

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Considering that both satellites were launched in 1977, the aliens will be woefully behind the times if they find it. I can imagine those creatures showing up here looking for bell bottoms, Quaaludes, and disco. 'What is this
zorznit
?!' they'll ask as they look around.
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When Lord Grigon (voice of Brad Garrett), a fierce alien warlord who rules the planet Hylurg, vows to enact his wrath on the Ambassadors of the Communiverse who humiliated him—it's up to Elio (voice of Yonas Kibreab) to stop him.
Pixar
Like 7-year old me, Elio is obsessed with Voyager and intrigued by the possibility of life elsewhere. But most importantly, Elio wants to be abducted by those aliens, and that's where our similarities end. It's clear that he didn't read Whitley Streiber's 'Communion,' nor has he seen any of the horror movies that depict how bad an idea it is to be kidnapped by aliens.
Elio tells Olga that, of the hundreds of thousands of planets out there, one of them would be happy to take him. He is friendless, and awkward around people, so he thinks he'll fare better with extraterrestrials. Elio is also intrigued about getting probed, but to
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Elio is a space fanatic with an active imagination who finds himself on a cosmic misadventure.
Pixar
On the beach, Elio makes crop circles in the sand, dons a metal colander on his head, turns on his ham radio, and lays in a drawn target surrounded by the words 'ABDUCT ME!' His futile attempts are accompanied by a rather clever needle drop, 'Once in a Lifetime' by Talking Heads.
Meanwhile, at the military base where Olga and her team monitor space debris, the satellites pick up what appears to be a response to Voyager's golden record. We see Voyager captured by a spaceship in the opening scene, so we know this is a legitimate call from space. Olga disregards it—she's too busy chastising Elio—but Elio overhears it and responds.
The next thing we know, Elio's being beamed into a gigantic spaceship, courtesy of a conglomerate of ambassadors from all points in the universe. It's called the Communiverse. Their leader, Ambassador Questa (Jameela Jamil from '
The ambassador invites Elio to earn admittance for Earth into the federation, but he'll have to wait. stand in line. The meeting is interrupted by another wannabe candidate, a warlord named Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett). He demands entry for his planet, but is denied because he's a loose cannon who lives for destruction. Grigon threatens war if he's not placated. Watching this, I couldn't help but notice how much it resembled the recent G-7 Summit.
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Elio joins forces with Glordon, the son of a warlord.
Pixar
Somewhere in this plot, the filmmakers realized they were making a movie that needed to cater to kids. So, we're given Glordan (Remy Edgerly), a slug-like creature who's probably Elio's age in alien years. Glordan is Grigon's only son; his bond with Elio will help them navigate a universal crisis and make Elio the hero he's always wanted to be. Edgerly and Kibreab create a convincing friendship that's sweet and funny.
'Elio' is a collaboration between filmmakers who worked on '
But 'Elio' may be the first Pixar/Disney product that doesn't really have anything for kids in it. Outside of the beauty of seeing a little brown kid earning self-worth and saving the universe (representation matters), I couldn't find a single story element that would cater to children. What kid nowadays would know what a ham radio is, or Voyager? What youngster would be interested in a political crisis?
In Disney and Pixar's 'Elio,' 11-year-old Elio and his Aunt Olga struggle to connect sometimes—his passion for all things space can make him hard to reach. Olga, a brilliant major in the Air Force, is delighted when her nephew suddenly perks up—she can't quite figure out what's behind the change. Featuring the voices of Yonas Kibreab and Zoe Saldaña as Elio and Aunt Olga, respectively, Disney and Pixar's 'Elio' releases in theaters June 20, 2025. (Pixar)
Pixar
Plus, Disney is back on its parent-killing jones again. Elio's parents died in some mysterious circumstance, which is why he's in his aunt's care. Elio overhears one kid describing him as 'the kid whose parents died.' I've seen enough Disney products to expect this trope, but for some reason, I found it preternaturally cruel this time around.
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While I enjoyed 'Elio,' and I appreciated the animation and Rob Simonsen's lovely orchestral score, I felt that this film was more tailor-made for adult sci-fi fans rather than their young kids. To be clear, I'm not saying you should leave your kids at home—there's nothing objectionable here. I'm just saying they might be as bored as you usually are at some of these movies.
★★★
ELIO
Directed by Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina. Written by Julia Cho, Mike Jones, Mark Hammer. Starring Zoe Saldaña, Yonas Kibreab, Remy Edgerly, Brad Garrett, Jameela Jamil. At AMC Boston Common, Alamo Drafthouse Seaport, AMC Causeway, suburbs. 99 min. PG (cartoon violence)
Odie Henderson is the Boston Globe's film critic.