If anything, Disney Pixar’s latest sci-fi animated film Elio is just one big tribute to Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi films like E.T. and Close Encounter of the Third Kind. Only instead of Super 8’s case, this one from the revered animation studio(s) feel more genuine and goes off its own deep intergalactic end in the best way possible.

The Final Frontier

In Elio, our title character (Yonas Kibreab) is a young boy who has a fascination with extraterrestrials and space, to the point where he camps out at night every day putting up “Abduct Me’ signs on the beach with him as the prime target. With no parents and only his aunt, Major Olga Solis (Zoe Saldana), as his legal guardian, he feels that he cannot relate to Earth and the people around him. After a chance encounter at Olga’s military satellite and comms facility -she’s a lead there- Elio ends up getting his wish and gets embroiled in the going-ons of the Communiverse, a group led by friendly aliens from all manners of planets that have intergalactic ambassadors. Since they don’t know how Earth works, Elio ends up being its ambassador. Also, he has to resolve a crisis between the Communiverse and an antagonistic alien faction led by Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett).

You don’t need me to tell you that Pixar goes all out with its depiction of space and alien lifeforms/domiciles, all of which are very beautiful and ephemeral. The trailers don’t do it justice: the Communiverse is one giant ball of fantastical effects and tour-de-force of Pixar’s best and brightest animation works, with aquatic-esque aliens and even supercomputers made out of droplets -the program called OOOOO memorably voiced by Shirley Henderson- that can make clones out of anything and anyone. This becomes a huge plot device in the show that bears fruit, as well as shows off Pixar’s handling of molecule matter and water/melting effects. Even typically Hollywood backdrops like the office complex of a satellite station is done up with a lot of life and energy.

Elio’s struggle with life and being where he belongs, to the point where he ends up assaulting kids and also getting harassed by said kids as means to revenge, is also an arc we can relate. Though this show takes it to extremes of planet-hopping proportions, and does teach the old lesson of never knowing what you’ve got until it’s gone or far, far away in another galaxy. He does make a friend in a kid alien named Glordon (Remy Edgerly), who is probably a selling point as he is adorable for an eyeless alien slug thing. Seeing as Glordon is Lord Grigon’s kid, there’s also another moral that hits home here: father knows best despite the positions they’re in.

Both these lessons are executed well, though they do not hit the feels as strong as other Pixar masterclasses like Coco, WALL-E, Onward, and Inside Out. Elio still stands on its own due to the relationship portrayed between Elio and Major Olga, and the revelation of life out there being brought out in full display in the third act that may open up sequels and follow-ups. Props should also go to Brendan Hunt (Ted Lasso) as computer guy Gunther Melmac who ends up being a short-lived MVP with his space fanaticism. I just wish its other cast were as memorable and were more than plot-forwarding props, like Ambassador Questa (Jameela Jamil) and that one black kid who gave Elio the ham radio at the start of the show.

Still, Pixar excels at what it does best: hit you with the feels with emotional storytelling about a boy literally trying to find his place in the universe while also delivering on top-notch visuals and animation. While its story goes through a predictable route, it at least does so with gusto and all-in like a heavily-stacked poker game. Only with aliens in the mix in an ET-but-in-reverse sort of manner, Spielberg touchpoints included. Definitely one for all ages!

Final Score: 70/100