LOS ANGELES, June 19 (UPI) -- Elio, in theaters Friday, is another Pixar triumph. Like the animation studio's best, Elio is impressive in both its creative story and its poignant themes.
Elio Solis (voice of Yonas Kibreab) lives with his aunt Olga (Zoe SaldaƱa) after the death of his parents. He dreams of meeting aliens to take him away from his lonely life on Earth, though he does make friends with Bryce (Dylan Gilmer) over their passion for HAM radios.
Elio's messages are received by the Communiverse, an intergalactic society of peaceful aliens. At the same time Elio is welcomed into the Communiverse, warlord Grigon (Brad Garrett) is denied for his violent temperament, spurring him to declare war on the group.
The peaceful Communiverse would simply flee to the far corners of the universe to avoid Grigon and his Hylurgian army, but Elio assures them he can make peace with Grigon so they don't have to leave.
Learning to stand up to bullies is a valuable message, but Elio goes much deeper than that. For a child to attempt to negotiate intergalactic peace requires the childlike audacity to believe he can do what adults can't even do on Earth.
Grigon values powerful displays of aggression and cannot see the benefits of cooperation, let alone humility. That is a challenge to reconcile between societies, as well as between two individuals.
The character is the closest Pixar has ever come to addressing real-world politics. The way Grigon talks about being the greatest leader and winning negotiations certainly sounds familiar to anyone currently watching the news.
To put a finer metaphorical point on it, the Hylurgians literally wear armor to conceal their vulnerable form. If Pixar knows that aggressive posturing usually indicates an emotional wound or need, hopefully audiences can learn that too.
Elio's childlike solutions to complex issues create more problems, however. Both Elio and the aliens try everything to avoid having difficult conversations, in Elio's case talking to Olga about how he feels and what he wants.
Elio makes friends with Hylurgian child Glordon (Remy Edgerly), which serves a greater purpose than simply showing Elio had to go across the universe to make friends. It also shows that alien children have just as much trouble communicating with their parents as humans, and vice versa.
To the film's credit, neither human nor alien parents are shown to be oblivious to their children's needs. Both Olga and Grigon notice when their kids aren't acting like themselves.
All of these relationships pay off in the film's climax when the characters engage in exciting space action.
In designing Elio's adventure, Pixar applies its imagination to alien worlds. This leads to a variety of adorable Communiverse creatures with soft, rounded features, contrasted with the sharp, jagged Hylurgian design.
Of course, the sharp, jagged design is the armor the Hylurgians constructed to make themselves look intimidating, to wear over their true forms.
Ever since Toy Story 2, Pixar films have been known for imbuing their imaginative stories with profound themes. Elio is one of their finest examples along with the Toy Story movies, Up and Inside Out.
Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012 and the Critics Choice Association since 2023. Read more of his work in Entertainment.
