Elio is a fresh story full of captivating designs and fascinating characters.
The story focuses on a lonely orphan, Elio, who lives with his aunt and seeks to find alien life. He spends years trying to get abducted by aliens, to the exasperation of his overwhelmed aunt.
Eventually, his plan works aliens take him to the Communiverse: a hub for alien species to share innovation and ideas. He becomes Earth’s ambassador and eventual negotiator with a hostile species.
The designs for the vast array of alien species are both unique and original. One is an egg-shaped rock alien, another floats like a sea creature and can read minds.
Elio uses vibrant montages, an engaging soundtrack and quieter scenes to guide the audience through the events of the plot thoroughly and in good time. The story is well-paced and also gives viewers time to breathe after periods of action.
Like every Pixar movie, Elio warms the audiences hearts with emotive storytelling and compelling characters that go through relatable obstacles.
Elio and his tía Olga are complex characters. Elio is struggling with the loss of his parents, making friends and finding where he belongs. Tía Olga juggles looking after her troubled nephew, her demanding job and her ambitions to become an astronaut. Both are also overcoming grief and learn to understand each other better.
Ham radios play an important role in the film as the characters use them to contact aliens and humans in their time of need.
One of the film’s best scenes was where Elio, tía Olga and Glordon were travelling through space and avoiding dangerous space debris. As they dash over the earth, ham radio operators from different countries help the characters dodge the debris. It is a fast-paced and thrilling scene.
The film also champions different kinds of representation with the main characters being Latino, Elio wearing an eyepatch and the radio operator Gunther Melmac having a lisp.
The movie ends with Elio and his aunt holding hands with a recording from earlier in the film saying: “we are not alone”. This double meaning summarises the film perfectly.
Elio is a family-friendly sci-fi film that bucks the trend of using celebrity voice actors as a quick marketing tool. In a world of remakes and sequels, Elio is brings a new idea to the world, and maybe to others out there.
Featured image credit: Disney Pixar
Third year journalism student. 2025/2026 Lifestyle and Comment Editor at Brig. Published in The Yucatán Times, Mi Campeche and The Mourning Paper. Host of From the 40s with Air3Radio.
