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Yahoo
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Aliens, space and a blast of air-conditioning: 'Elio,' reviewed by 7 kids, 2 parents and 2 grandmas
Hello, people of Earth. I'm Suzy Byrne, and I've been covering entertainment at Yahoo for over a decade. I'll be the first to tell you that I'm no hardcore cinema buff. Since I had a child, though, I've made it a point to see as many kid-friendly movies as possible. Maybe it's because I'm a big kid ✔ and I love a cheerful ending ✔. But also, as a busy working parent, is there greater joy than getting two hours to turn off your phone and put up your feet while your child is fully entertained?! So that's what this is — one entertainment reporter + her 10-year-old child + usually friends seeing family-friendly fare, indulging in film-themed treats and replying all, to you, about the experience. Welcome to kids' movie club. Space isn't such a bad place to be for two hours during a hot, sticky heat wave. That's the energy I brought for our journey from Earth to the Communiverse, where much of Elio is set. Not only is the final week of school here in New York — shakes fist at sky — but it's 99 degrees when I pick up my daughter and friends for a matinee. I'm hot and wilted and have a pile of non-movie-going work to do, but away we go … to outer space. We movie-d with seven children (who are in 1st through 4th grade) and four adults, including two very cool grandmas. The theater was full. The adults put all the kids together in one row and sat behind them, which I highly recommend. Outta sight, outta mind — which is great because this parent is outta stamina. The long-delayed original film tells the story of a space-obsessed orphaned boy (voiced by Yonas Kibreab), being raised by his Air Force major aunt (Zoe Saldaña), who is struggling to make sense of his place in the world. His connections to his Earthling peers are short-circuited, and the eyepatch- and strainer-wearing kid is hoping with all of his might to be abducted by aliens. His wish comes true. Passing himself off as the 'leader of Earth,' he makes friends through the experience — so what if they're extraterrestrial ones? — and ultimately builds a closer relationship with his aunt. The animated sci-fi film clocks in at 1 hour and 39 minutes and is — as my mother replies to every one of her text messages — 'fine.' There's nothing particularly surprising about it. It has a happy ending. It's not Lilo & Stitch or How to Train Your Dragon, though it definitely mirrors some of the Lilo storyline with Elio and Aunt Olga's relationship. The film also borrows from Inside Out about the importance of identifying feelings. Feeling like an outsider is relatable for all ages. 'What if there's nothing about me to want?' cape-loving Elio asks at one point. 'I thought Earth was the problem, but what if it's me?' There's also coping with bullies — that's why Elio has the temporary eyepatch, in a very non-interesting twist — and multiple characters feeling like they're not meeting the expectations of a caregiver. 'I may not always understand you, but I still love you,' Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett, who voices the antagonist) told his son Glordon (Remy Edgerly) in a humanizing — er, alienizing — moment in the movie. It's a Disney film, not a horror flick by any means, but there were moments that were 'super creepy,' my young moviegoing friends felt. They mostly involved Elio's clone — like when his strand of hair slithered around the house, Olga examined it under a microscope, and then, realizing it wasn't her nephew, she went into Elio's room and suspensefully pulled up clone Elio's eyepatch. 'I closed my eyes, but watched it through my fingers,' one girl in the group said on the ride home. I'll add that I don't think that — when there was hopefulness about the eyepatch, as far as representation — filmmakers needed to make it suspenseful like that. Also, the kids were freaked out when Elio's clone did the zombie walk to distract the guard before melting so that the real Elio and Olga could get to the spaceship. 'I did not like the clone,' my daughter said. Other unsettling parts were when the bullies with alien masks took Elio, and the 'Bring us your leader… please' part, despite the good manners. This adult — and several of the kids — loved the slug-like alien Glordon, who is hands-down my favorite character. My friend told me that I need to add a nap-o-meter because he predicted Elio would be the perfect film to doze off in. But the film started, he chuckled at a few parts, and I knew he wouldn't be sleeping. Plus, his food order took forever to come, so his burger anticipation kept him awake. I fully would have slept if I weren't responsible for three of the seven kids. Though it's good, I didn't, as I got a 'Suzy, I have to go to the bathroom' midway through. I did, however, think about how I wasn't napping each time I saw a swaddled alien. Speaking of food, my daughter and I had popcorn and cherry Icees — with 24-hour red tongues to prove it. The Elio-themed food offering was a box of Nerds, which I didn't even know they still make, so no. Yes. We waited until the very end because one kid heard from another kid who heard from a third kid (very Ferris Bueller) that there would be bloopers. It turned out to be a teaser for Hoppers, one of Pixar's next offerings, showing a lizard over a phone pushing the lizard emoji over and over as a voice assistant repeatedly said, 'Lizard.' That post-credits moment — technically not even part of Elio — was my daughter's 'favorite part of the movie,' which pretty much sums up our matinee experience. I polled my friend and his kids for their review, using a 1 (worst) to 10 (best) scale. Dad said 6.5, 9-year-old daughter said 5, and 7-year-old boy gave it a more enthusiastic 8. The grandmas? Full approval. But to be fair, they've seen fewer kid flicks lately and aren't running on fumes like the rest of us. While Elio had a slow start at the box office, it's gotten a stellar reception from audiences and critics (with a 83% Rotten Tomatoes score). Here's hoping it finds its audience as summer progresses — or when it moves to streaming — and it has orbiting success.
Yahoo
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
A parent-kid take on seeing 'How to Train Your Dragon': Bring stuffies, snacks and tissues
Hello, Yahoo Entertainment readers. I'm Suzy Byrne, and I've been covering entertainment in this space for over a decade. I'll be the first to tell you that I'm no hardcore cinema buff. Since I had a child, though, I've made it a point to see as many kid-friendly movies as possible. Maybe it's because I'm a big kid ✔ and I love a cheerful ending ✔. But also, as a busy working parent, is there greater joy than getting two hours to turn off your phone and put up your feet while your child is fully entertained?! So that's what this is — one entertainment reporter + her 10-year-old child + usually friends seeing family-friendly fare, indulging in film-themed treats and replying all, to you, about the experience. Welcome to kids' movie club. It turns out that carrying a Toothless pillow at a How to Train Your Dragon screening is an excellent icebreaker. It made us appear to be experts to a woman in the bathroom who was unfamiliar with the franchise's expanse. It got us back inside the theater after a pre-movie restroom run. ('Why, yes, we are the pillow people,' we told the ticket taker.) It made strangers feel comfortable telling us which parts of the movie made them cry as we left. That alone made it worth the effort of schlepping it on a train and two subways to get there, not to mention how handy it came in when we reversed course and my young movie buddy fell asleep on the way home. The PG-rated film — which is dominating at the box office — gave much to dream about, after all: Hiccup the sensitive hero, magical Toothless and those captivating eyes and what may be living in those Vikings' ragged beards. (Am I the only one who felt the urge to Nix comb all the facial hair?) For our journey to Berk, seeing the film in IMAX was the way to go because the fire-breathing dragons were right there, and the sound was so superb you could hear every wing flap. The theater was about 50-50 on the adult-to-kid ratio. My daughter was elated to be there on a school night. (Yes, school is still in session here.) We attended a prerelease screening, so it was too early to get AMC's Dragon Tamer Snack Pack. (The popcorn bucket at Regal is on another level.) Instead, we went with classic popcorn and Icees. My daughter mixed blue raspberry, the Lilo & Stitch flavor, with watermelon. I was a watermelon purist. 👦🏻🐉🔥🗡️🤕🐟🪽🐉🎓🗡️🏆🔥😬⛓️🔥💧⛓️💥🪽🐲🫣🔥🦿😅♥️🥳 I loved all things Toothless. The Night Fury, with his retractable chompers, is such a striking creature and watching him learn to trust sweet misfit Hiccup (who was the cause of it losing its tail fin) is a good example of forgiveness. I loved the moment they first connected, Toothless letting Hiccup (Mason Thames) touch him on the nose. The regurgitated fish scene made me laugh/nauseous, and it hurt my heart to see Toothless muzzled and chained. Casting humans based on animated characters is tricky, but the filmmakers did well all around. I especially appreciate that voice actors from the 2010 animated film were cast, including Gerard Butler as Hiccup's dad, Stoick — even if he was too hard on his son until he came around at the end. I have zero time for the backlash over Nico Parker playing Astrid. She was great as Hiccup's rival turned love interest. As the credits rolled, my daughter said, 'Heck yeah,' so I feel like the night was a win. 'I loved how two of the trainee dragon slayers were siblings' — Ruffnut and Tuffnut — 'and during training, they always humiliated each other,' my daughter says. 'It was so funny when Tuffnut got bit on the nose by the little dragon and said something like: I'm totally not OK. I also loved Toothless and how cute he was. When he got stuck in the water, I almost cried😭. All the actors were perfect for their parts. Hiccup was really funny! I loved when he used all the dragon secrets he learned with Toothless to beat the others in their training.' Bottom line: 'No need to be a dragon lover to … well … LOVE IT!!!' My kiddo recommends the film for ages 6 and up. There are intense battles and realistic dragons. There's no onscreen bloodshed, but there are injuries, including Hiccup joining many of his Viking peers losing a limb. No bad words stood out. Yes, Hiccup's mom. The backstory is that she was killed by a dragon, fueling Stoick's drive to extinguish them. We didn't cry, but a mother-adult daughter we talked to as we waited for the credits to roll said they did when they didn't think Toothless would make it. Hiccup's remark to Stoick about the Vikings being overweight. It was in the original film and was repeated in this. It's dated. I liked Hiccup and Astrid's friendship and their 'give peace a chance' vision. They shared a kiss or two — actually a punch-kiss, which she initiates — but it was more about them working together, and the romance was not a distraction. My daughter's take? 'Cute.' No further notes. No. We waited (and waited!) for some fun post-credit moment, but there was only a one-second flash of Hiccup's drawing of Toothless. I guess it's a tease that the story continues (a sequel was previously announced for June 11, 2027), but it was a non-moment. We watched the original animated film again after the new one, and it's remarkable how true to the 2010 film this is, including most of the dialogue. That's because Dean DeBlois directed and wrote the live-action movie after codirecting and cowriting the original and then helming the second and third animated films. 'I said, 'If you're going to do it, please consider me as the writer and director,'' DeBlois told the studio, according to Variety. 'I do know where the heart is, and I know this world. I know these characters.' My daughter received two additional invites from friends to see the film in the theater over the weekend. We said yes to one. The feedback was: 'I noticed even more small differences between the original and this one.' But it was mostly about the food: 'Mom, they accidentally brought us two of everything we ordered, so we got an extra Oreo Shake, Icee, pizza, chicken tenders and popcorn. The food kept coming out. It was crazy.' Watching the movie a second time offered a chance to see trailers (since none played during the initial screening). Let's just say my daughter was tickled green to see the Wicked: For Good trailer for the first time. This movie may just set off a summer of dragons for your child. After you see the live-action, you may want to (like us!) revisit the original animated films: How to Train Your Dragon (2010), How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014) and How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019). There's also the Dragons TV series, which ran from 2012 to 2018 (first on Cartoon Network, then Netflix). Even better? If your dragon lover is up for a reading adventure, the films are based on Cressida Cowell's children's book series, with 12 titles to dive into. Checking them out from your local library or scooping them up off your local Buy Nothing group will provide hours of non-screen time for your kid. Bonus rec: It may also open the gates to other popular dragon reads like Wings of Fire and Dragon Masters, both of which are 🔥 right now.
CNN
15-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
‘How to Train Your Dragon' remake soars to top of weekend box office
Another live-action remake topped the charts as Universal Pictures' 'How to Train Your Dragon' soared to $83.7 million at the box office, marking the best domestic opening weekend for the franchise. The fantasy adventure movie beat analysts' expectations of $70 million and held off Disney's live-action remake 'Lilo & Stitch,' which had maintained the No. 1 spot at the box office for three consecutive weekends. 'There is an insatiable appetite for PG-rated family fare. And there's the nostalgia factor with 'How to Train Your Dragon.' Those movies have earned collectively, even before this film, over a billion dollars worldwide,' said Paul Dergarabedian, senior analyst at Comscore. The first 'How to Train Your Dragon' film opened to roughly $64.5 million in 2010 when adjusted for inflation and the third installment to the franchise opened in 2019 to about $81 million, adjusted for inflation. A24 Films' 'Materialists' also opened this weekend and pulled in $12 million, edging the eighth 'Mission: Impossible' ($10.3 million) for the No. 3 spot this weekend, and behind 'Lilo & Stitch,' which grossed $15.5 million domestically for a total of $366 million. Father's Day weekend has offered moviegoers a diverse slate of choices as the first half of the year comes to a close. The lineup includes children and family movies ('How to Train Your Dragon' and 'Lilo & Stitch'), action flicks ('Mission Impossible — The Final Reckoning') and romantic comedies ('Materialists'). The total box office for 2025 is $3.72 billion, up 23% from this period last year, according to Comscore data. 'Opening 'How to Train Your Dragon' on Father's Day weekend was a really smart move,' said Shawn Robbins, director of analytics at Fandango and founder and owner of Box Office Theory. 'Not only being a remake of a modern, beloved animated film but also one with a strong father-son storyline.' Robbins added that its full weekend gross could be slightly higher than early Sunday estimates because of the holiday. Ultimately, it's 'more about that staying power for those family films,' he said. PG-rated films account for $1.53 billion, or 41%, of this year's earnings, according to Comscore data. But live-action adaptations of family films have not always been box office hits. Disney's 'Snow White,' for example, dashed hope for the big-budget fairytale retelling when it grossed only $43 million domestically during its opening weekend. The most popular live-action remakes have still been Disney films, including 2017's 'Beauty and the Beast' ($230.4 million) and 2019's 'The Lion King' ($240.3 million), both figures adjusted for inflation. Box office analyst David A. Gross, who publishes FranchiseRe, said 'How to Train Your Dragon' is more of a 'hybrid film' akin to the 'Sonic the Hedgehog' movies, because it combines animation with human characters. The 2022 release of 'Sonic the Hedgehog 2' grossed $71 million during its opening weekend, up from the first live-action remake's $57 million opening. Dergarabedian expects 'How to Train Your Dragon' to continue to perform well despite Pixar's 'Elio,' which opens Thursday. 'This summer is really just revving up,' he said. 'This is just another building block in what is turning out to be a spectacular summer for moviegoers, movie theaters and studios.'
