Elio has the makings of a standout Pixar movie: a story about loss and sacrifice, an emotional score, and beautiful visuals. The movie tugged on my heartstrings, but ultimately failed to move me. A lot happens, but I found myself more interested in what took place off-screen.

The movie opens with Olga Solis (Zoey Saldana) trying to acclimate to her new normal. She is now the legal guardian of Elio (Yonas Kibreab), her nephew, after her brother and his wife passed away. Elio is withdrawn and feels alienated, wandering the exhibits of the space museum. Stumbling across an upcoming exhibit dedicated to the Voyager space probe, Elio is galvanized by what he’s learned. He spends every waking hour dedicated to establishing first contact, and what he discovers will take him on a journey beyond the stars.

Not dissimilar to “Up,” Elio starts with loss, but we don’t get to actually see it so it already feels less effective. Despite loading the movie’s heart, so much of the emotional resonance is lost until the antagonists, the Hylurgian, arrive.

Unfortunately, a lot of the Hylurgian world building swallows up Elio’s story. Yes, Elio’s loss is devastating, but it seems banal compared to an intergalactic war. Not to mention, Prince Glordon’s (Remy Edgerly) subplot of not wanting to be counted amongst the ranks of his war-driven race has all the makings of a Disney prince story. We get a glimpse of the Hylurgian’s firepower when Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett) moves against the Communiverse and its citizens, but I’m honestly more interested in seeing a movie about Glordan’s mother fighting the Blood Wars.

Glordon is the movie’s cutest sounding character. While the creature design is the most alien looking, it’s also a little off-putting. Conversely, the design of everything in the Communiverse seems like “Candy Land” on steroids, which never particularly registers as alien (minus the Mick Jagger strutting “Hairy” aliens). Elio and the other human designs have grown on me; however, I still feel robbed every time I see the storyboards and concept art in the credits. Even the 2D storybook segment in Snow White (2025) is proof that not everything has to be (or should be) computer-generated imagery.

The soundtrack usage of the Talking Heads “Once in a Lifetime” perfectly highlights Elio’s monotonous search for alien life, and Rob Simonsen’s score is amazing with “Reunion” doing a lot of the heavy lifting during the movie’s strongest emotional beat.

The only other sequence to elicit a strong emotional response was when Olga suspects something’s wrong with Elio. He’s become more emotionally engaged and willing to help around the house. The audience knows he’s a clone, but the movie for a moment dips into the sci-fi/horror genre, which has me wondering if Pixar would ever consider doing a horror movie for kids that could be unnerving for parents alike, but I digress.

“Elio” is serviceable as family film, but much stronger as a science fiction romp. The movie struggles to balance its hefty story and, like space, the pacing leaves marginal gaps between the movie’s shining moments.

Rating: 2.5/5.

The writer of this piece is: Laurence Almalvez
Laurence tweets from @IL1511