Elio – Review

Cert – PG, Run-time – 1 hour 38 minutes, Directors – Adrian Molina, Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi

11-year-old Elio’s (Yonas Kibreab) dream of being abducted by aliens comes true, however as Earth’s intergalactic representative he finds himself having to bargain with hostile species.

Pixar have had successful experiences of switching directors midway through production before. For Ratatouille, Brad Bird was brought in to replace Jan Pinkava, although somewhat early into the process to where Bird could get sole screenplay credit. With Elio original director Adrian Molina departed the project to work on Coco 2 with storyboard artist Madeline Sharafian and Turning Red co-writer and director Domee Shi stepping into the role (and all receiving credit). All three receive story credits alongside Julia Cho who is one of three credited screenwriters, not including two names listed for providing ‘additional screenplay contributions’. Unfortunately, with all these names involved in the production in this way Elio’s structured less like a full feature and more like a set of ideas bouncing from one to the next with thin lines drawn between them to hold things together.

11-year-old Elio (Yonas Kibreab) finds himself fulfilling his dream of being abducted by aliens, claiming to be leader of Earth and becoming the planet’s representative in what’s known as the Communiverse – a giant, brightly coloured ship where everything and everyone looks as if it’s slightly melted. However, those in the Communiverse wish to live in harmony, despite the push for greater weapons from rejected applicant Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett). In order to bargain with Grigon instead of fleeing once again the intergalactic council puts Elio in charge of conversing with the towering, heavily-armoured creature; eventually leading him to his son, Glordon (Remy Edgerly).

What should be a likable tale of friendship, following on from Elio’s loneliness on Earth – a genuinely emotional opening scene sees him discover his passion for space following the loss of his parents, now looked after by his Aunt (Zoe Saldaña) – ends up feeling rushed and pushed aside for the various other elements that are introduced. There are worries about a clone replacement for Elio on Earth being more preferred to him, new plans being set out by Lord Grigon and course changes in the journey across the Communiverse. Yet, still somehow the overall narrative arc feels as if it could be condensed into a likable short film instead of stretched to 98-minutes.

There are some likable chuckles to be found here and there, but as a whole the further the film gets from the opening scene the more it feels like a Pixar imitation rather than just a Pixar film, even just a weaker one. Ideas feel scrappily linked and pieced together, with the feeling of multiple contributing voices coming through from moment to moment. Elio and Glordon get some occasional back-and-forth and quips in their conversations here and there, although this marks a case where the best moments have certainly been put in the trailer, but rarely do they feel as if they’re properly contributing to their bond and relationship.

Certain chunks and sequences within Elio move along with relatively little trouble, making for simple, watchable viewing. But the film doesn’t really lift up above this once things properly kick off and as a whole there’s a thin and conventional feel to things as a whole. Both playing with a number of different ideas in order to link things together while not quite having enough to flesh out the just over 90-minute run-time.

Despite an affecting opening, Elio suffers from a feeling of multiple voices throwing out multiple ideas, meaning that a short film narrative is stretched out with multiple loose connections, leading to only a few patches of proper engagement and amusement.