If science-fiction films have taught us anything, it’s that meeting aliens from another world should scare us.  Time and again, the aliens that show up just want to kill and eat us.  Films like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T., which depict aliens as being benevolent and even helpful towards humanity, are notable exceptions to the rule.  Elio joins that short list because the aliens the eponymous character meets are a very friendly group who actually need his help.  Unfortunately, Elio can’t make up its mind as to what story it wants to tell, forgoing adventure and excitement implied by its premise in search of emotional payoffs.  The resulting film is fine, but it could have been special.

The beginning of Elio is noticeably sketchy.  Elio (Yonas Kibreab) is a depressed and angry kid over the death of his parents, which has forced him to live with his Aunt Olga (Zoe Saldaña).  The movie never provides us with any details about Elio’s parents or their death, glaring omissions in stories like these.  (They died in a car crash, but somehow Elio either wasn’t there or survived.) Regardless, Elio doesn’t like his aunt for obvious reasons.  As a member of the Air Force, Olga is rigid and does everything by-the-book.  She even flips through one on parenting whenever Elio gives her a hard time.  (This could have been a funny gag, but Olga’s tone is too manic for laughs.)

The one thing in Olga’s favor is that her job is connected to outer space.  (She was on track to be an astronaut, but the death of Elio’s parents effectively ended those plans.  Now she tracks space junk.)  One day while the two are at her facility, Elio wanders into an exhibit dedicated to the Voyager 1 spacecraft.  The notion of exploring outer space and meeting aliens gives Elio something to look forward to, namely an escape from his life on Earth.

Years later, Elio has dedicated himself to contacting aliens.  Olga, who still has her job to focus on, is content with Elio pursuing his fantasy if it makes him happy.  For his part, Elio has turned into a jerk over time.  He has a run-in with older kids over their ham radio that ends in broken equipment and newfound enemies.

While at Olga’s base, Elio overhears a discussion between her and communication specialist Gunther (Brendan Hunt), who claims to have intercepted a response from aliens to the one transmitted by the Voyager 1.  Gunther has reconfigured the base’s equipment to respond, but because doing so would result in a power outage Olga orders him not to do it.  Elio, however, seizes the opportunity when everyone’s back is turned and triggers a black-out.

Elio’s actions leave Olga with few options for what to do with him.  She decides to send Elio away to military camp for the summer, which she attended when she was a kid and really liked.  (For a surrogate parent who’s upset that her nephew hates her, this is a strange choice.)  It’s an especially bad turn of events for Elio, because the two older kids from the ham radio incident are also there, and tell him they owe him a beat-down.

One night, the bad boys get Elio alone and are prepared to deliver retribution when a spaceship appears.  Somehow, time is frozen for the boys but not Elio, who is giddy at being beamed-up.  He’s transported across the galaxy to a place called the Communiverse, which is populated by kooky-looking aliens.  A liquid supercomputer called “Ooooo” (Shirley Henderson) provides Elio with a translation device, which enables him to communicate with the aliens and vice versa.  (Now there’s a good use for AI: bringing people together.) To avoid causing concern back on Earth, a clone is sent in Elio’s place, and his behavior leads to several of the funniest jokes in the movie. (Which I won’t spoil here.)

The aliens are a timid lot in desperate need of assertive leadership.  They mistakenly believe Elio is the creator of the Voyager 1 and offer to make him Earth’s ambassador.  Elio naturally plays along because he’s where he always wanted to be.  Trouble arises when the aliens reject adding warlord Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett) to their ranks, and he threatens to take over the Communiverse by force over their slight.  (What the Communiverse would offer him is anyone’s guess.)

Emboldened by the acceptance of his strange new friends, Elio offers to negotiate a peace between Grigon and the Communiverse.  Elio uses the Ooooo to teach him negotiation skills in a matter of minutes, which turns out to be a very bad use of AI.  Elio’s use of reverse psychology fails and he’s imprisoned by Grigon.  There’s a silver lining to Elio’s setback, however, because he makes a new friend in Glordon, who also happens to be the son of Grigon.  Elio and Glordon agree on a plan to use Glordon as a bargaining chip for peace, which also turns out badly.  This puts the onus on Elio to undo his catastrophic mistake by saving his alien friends and reconciling with his aunt before Grigon turns the Communiverse into a smoldering crater, all before bedtime.

Recommendation

While Elio is perfectly acceptable family entertainment, it feels like a missed opportunity at greatness.  Although it contains beautiful images and several emotionally stirring moments, the movie’s many moving parts never gel into something more than a mildly amusing experience.  For Pixar, a studio that was known for telling stories like this one so brilliantly, the film’s modest impact is disappointing.  The studio clearly has forgotten what made Wall-e, Finding Nemo, Coco or even A Bug’s Life work.  It’s not for lack of technical effort, because Elio often looks and sounds great.  It’s a lack of focus.

Among the aspects of Elio that I liked are its animation style…once the story moves to outer space.  The scenes set within the Communiverse are imaginative and beautiful.  The array of aliens Elio meets there are delightful and are capably voiced-acted.  Lord Grigon is an ominous (if Zurg-inspired) villain and is hilariously voiced by Brad Garrett, who was in Finding Nemo over twenty years ago.  (Pixar should find a way to include him in any/all future projects moving forward.)  I liked Elio’s budding friendship with the alien Glordon.  The Ooooo AI thingamabob and the Universal Users Manual were visually interesting and funny.  I laughed at several of the sight gags, the best one involving a severed digit.  I also took some pleasure in spotting the many references to other classic science fiction movies.

However, most of what Elio does feels aimless because the film lacks a unifying vision.  The story isn’t just about Elio, but other characters who compete for our attention and sympathy.  The human characters, Elio and his Aunt Olga, are paper thin.  (I challenge anyone to name one defining personality trait of Olga besides being exasperated.)  This leads to one of the surest signs of a weak script: voice actors yelling their lines.  Yonas Kibreab (Elio), Zoe Saldaña (Olga) and Brendan Hunt (Gunther) are convinced that this approach will make their characters funny, when it only makes them annoying.

When the movie does go into space, it bears a strong resemblance to Galaxy Quest and The Last Starfighter.  There’s nothing wrong with stealing ideas from great films, but the filmmakers lost sight of why those films–and the aforementioned Pixar films–worked.  Where Elio goes wrong is that it forgets that it’s about the kid’s journey and how cool and exciting that is, and instead decides to focus on other character’s problems.

Elio goes in search of big emotional moments, which are affecting but come at the expense of Elio’s progression as a character.  The movie wants to be about Elio’s journey while also healing other character’s pain along the way.  The story is busy and disjointed, where the adventure and wonder is truncated in favor of family therapy sessions.  The movie feels like the product of the  three directors and nine writers who worked on it, where everyone tried to “fix” it but wound up with a story with competing themes but without the necessary connective tissue tying them together.

Elio is a cute and occasionally funny science-fiction film that emphasizes emotional healing over excitement and wonder, things that Pixar once was known for providing.  The film is a jumble of ideas that never come together, a well-intentioned but meandering adventure.  Mildly recommended.

Analysis

As I mentioned above, the issues I have with Elio come down to focus and vision.  Instead of using the “Hero’s Journey” narrative structure employed by The Wizard of Oz, Wall-e, Galaxy Quest and many other films, Elio tries to be many things at once.  This results in a jumbled story where Elio’s journey is often interrupted to address the issues surrounding other characters instead of his own.

The Power of Myth

In the sections that follow, I utilize an abbreviated version of Joseph Campbell’s monomyth, which is the subject of his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949).  If you’re like me and you’ve taken some film courses or have read film criticism, you’ve likely come across this type of analysis before.  If you haven’t, it involves identifying the “hero’s journey”, a common series of steps that characters undertake during their evolution from an average person into a hero.  It’s the narrative arc used in Star Wars (Luke Skywalker), Dune (Paul Atreides), The Wizard of Oz (Dorothy), The Matrix (Neo), The Lord of the Rings (Frodo), Harry Potter and many other films.

Elio follows the same trajectory as those other films, but culminates without the expected payoff of its hero’s journey structure.  The movie promises a grand adventure but instead opts for heartfelt reconciliations and an unnecessary side quest that, in combination, are underwhelming.  It’s not a matter of subverting expectations, but not delivering upon its premise.

The introduction

The problems with Elio are evident from the beginning.  The movie doesn’t spend enough time introducing Elio and explaining why he wants to be abducted by aliens.  All we know about Elio is that he’s still angry over his parents death and that he has to live with his dull and inflexible Aunt Olga.  Aside from being mean to her, Elio has no other defining characteristics.  We are never told how his parents died.  Compared to similar heroes, Elio tells us next to nothing about the character we’re expected to be rooting for and why.

The call to adventure

Elio gets the next step in the story correct.  He’s abducted and taken to a fantastical place called the Communiverse, where he meets the aliens who reside there.  This was my favorite part of the movie because it indulges in what fans of science-fiction live for:  the chance to visit incredible places and meet wonderfully strange beings.

For comparison purposes, Elio strongly resembles Galaxy Quest.  In that movie, Jason Nesmith (Tim Allen) is transported across the galaxy, through a black hole to find himself onboard a space ship.

Initial defeat

We expect the hero will face an initial defeat that’s crushing and humiliating.  Sure enough, Elio’s ploy of using reverse psychology to convince Lord Grigon to leave the Communiverse alone fails and he’s thrown in jail.  In Galaxy Quest, Nesmith (Tim Allen) underestimates Malthesar and narrowly escapes before the ship is destroyed and everyone on board killed.

Regroup and newfound courage

When the hero suffers a setback in movies like these, they question themselves and their abilities.  But they get back on track with help from their newfound friends, who give them the confidence to continue on.  In Galaxy Quest, Jason and the crew repair the ship and devise a plan to defeat Malthesar.

However, Elio learns nothing after his initial defeat.  Instead, the movie curiously shifts gears to become a buddy comedy.  Watching Elio and the alien Glordon becoming friends is nice and cute, but it short-circuit’s Elio’s growth.

Elio then doubles-down on Elio’s bad judgement with a follow-up plan that also fails spectacularly.  Glordon accidentally travels to Earth, where the cold climate severely weakens him.  Additionally, Lord Grigon imprisons everyone in the Communiverse until his son is found.

Circling back, then back again

Instead of Elio learning from mistakes, he returns to Earth to undo them.  The sole purpose of this part of the plot–a side quest–is so that the movie can give us scenes inspired by E.T.  Elio’s “success” in bringing Glordon back home isn’t due to his heroism, but because he receives a strong assist from Aunt Olga and Gunther.  Elio isn’t a leader, but a kid who accepts the leadership of the adults around him.

Family therapy

The remainder of the film is devoted to two reconciliations.  First, Grigon accepts his son’s gentle ways, then Elio accepts Aunt Olga’s love.  While both of these moments are nicely done, I felt that they could have been done within the context of the larger adventure that the film initially promised.

Home again?

Although Elio is awarded a Communiverse badge, he declines it and returns to Earth.  This turn of events made little sense to me.  Before Elio’s parents died, Olga was on track to become an astronaut.  If being in space was a shared dream for Olga and Elio, why doesn’t Elio propose they remain in the Communiverse?  What’s the purpose of both of them going back home, only to potentially leave later (as the end of the movie strongly hints)?

Orphans and outer space

Elio often feels like it was assembled from the plots of other science fiction films (see below).  One of its more obvious influences is Contact.  However, unlike that movie, Elio not only refuses to show or explain how Elio’s parents died, but give us any details about them.  These omissions make feeling sympathetic towards Elio difficult, because we don’t have enough information to understand how their deaths turned him into the person we are introduced to.

The Last Starfighter

If you’re interested in seeing the movie that Elio could (and should) have been, I highly recommend The Last Starfighter.  When it was released, it was the second film (after Tron) to feature CGI instead of practical effects.  In addition to being another hero’s journey, the movie also contains a subplot where a clone is sent to Earth while the hero is in outer space.

Once in a lifetime

Animated films often include songs targeted at the adults in the audience.  (I blame DreamWorks SKG for this trend.)  Aside from my long familiarity with “Once in a Lifetime” by the Talking Heads, which I like, I fail to understand how a song about a man in the throes of a mid-life crisis relates to Elio.  He’s a kid trying to make contact with aliens.  He doesn’t have a large automobile, beautiful house or a beautiful wife.  I’m being harsh, but this is the laziest song placement ever.

Myriad references

If you’ve seen your share of science-fiction films, you probably recognized several that inspired Elio’s plot:

E.T.  the story of a boy with a similar name (Elliot) befriends a kind and gentle alien.  Like Elio, Elliot is upset over a dramatic change involving his parents and angrily lashes out at those around him.

Galaxy Quest: a man travels across the galaxy and helps kind (and silly) aliens defeat an evil alien hell-bent upon their destruction.

Contact:  a child traumatized over the loss of their parents becomes an antisocial loner who looks to the stars for meaning.  She receives an electronic message from aliens and is   subsequently taken on an amazing journey.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania:  the hero encounters an eclectic group of aliens in a different realm and helps them defeat their oppressor.

The Last Starfighter:  a man who longs to escape his dull life on Earth is recruited to fight  alongside other aliens in a war against an oppressive empire.  An android is left on Earth in the hero’s place.

Toy Story 2:  Zurg is Lord Grigon’s brother from another mother.

Wall-e: a scrappy, childlike being travels across the galaxy and meets incredible beings (robots and humans) and becomes an ambassador for Earth.

Explorers:  a boy figures out space travel, meets wacky aliens at the end of his trip.

Terminator 2:  the T-1000 gives a thumbs-up sign when he dies sacrificing himself to save his human friend.  Elio’s clone does likewise.