Elio
Reviews
broadwaylottoentries
Sickeningly incredible. Pixar never misses.
CinemaSerf
The geeky young “Elio” has been orphaned into the care of his military aunt “Olga” who works for Uncle Sam helping folks to navigate the debris that’s floating around in outer space. He likes to speak his own language “Elioese” and is fascinated, obsessed even, with making contact with alien life. He’s convinced that there is intelligent life out there, so imagine his surprise when he hears of a possible response from the Voyager mission sent decades ago. Next thing, well he is transported to the kaleidoscopic “communiverse” where everyone share peace, knowledge and friendship. Well, nearly everyone. The nasty “Grigon” wants to join but when they politely decline he threatens them with obliteration - and a verifiable obliteration at that. Clever these folks may be, but fighters they are not so it falls to “Elio” to prove his worth by trying to negotiate some sort of truce! Off to the big warship he goes, and that’s where he meets “Glordon” and learns a great deal more about his potential foe, and about friendship and loyalty as they embark on some lively escapades. Now there’s not a great deal here that could ever be called original. It’s got plenty of themes and tech rehashed from films gone by, but it’s still an enjoyable and fun tale with a message that resonates engagingly. It challenges stereotypes on just about everything from machismo bullying to parenting and cuddling and though the visuals are up to their usual high standard, fluid, imaginative and colourful, they don’t overwhelm the simplicity of the thrust which is a story about trust friendship. Will you recall it this time next year? Well no - probably not, but it keeps clear enough of too much sentiment, has some tea-time menace, mischief, laser cannons and it also reminded me of when I had a radio ham call sign too.
Manuel São Bento
Elio is a heartwarming, intergalactic adventure that once again proves Pixar's mastery in crafting family-friendly stories layered with deeper emotional undercurrents. The voice cast is impeccable, with every performance radiating charm and sincerity, making it easy for viewers of all ages to connect with these vibrant characters. The score, as is typical for the studio, plays a pivotal role in guiding the emotional journey, gently elevating moments of wonder, sadness, and joy without ever feeling overbearing. There's an infectious sense of fun throughout, with plenty of space-faring antics to keep kids engaged, while older audiences will find value in the themes of loneliness, grief, and the universal desire for belonging. However, Elio doesn't reach the emotional or narrative heights of Pixar's most iconic offerings. Its message, while undoubtedly impactful and accessible, feels too broadly framed to leave a lasting personal mark. The themes are universally relatable, but the movie's refusal to dig deeper into its more profound ideas keeps it from resonating on a soul-piercing level. It's touching, yes, but in a way that feels like a gentle nod rather than a heartfelt embrace. Still, Elio remains a commendable addition to Pixar's filmography - emotionally rich, charmingly performed, and filled with enough heartfelt moments to justify the trip across the stars. Rating: B
Chris Sawin
Elio (Yonas Kibreab) is an 11-year-old boy who has recently lost his parents. He’s been taken in by his aunt Olga (Zoe Saldana). Olga works in orbital analysis and is gone a lot. Feeling like he doesn’t belong anywhere and nobody wants him, Elio finds comfort in interplanetary life. He takes on an obsession with ham radios and attempts to communicate with aliens while simultaneously trying to get abducted nightly. One night, Elio is finally abducted by aliens. He’s introduced to an incredible new environment with alien species the likes of which the human eye has never seen or interacted with. He wants to stay forever until they reveal that they think he’s the leader of Earth. Elio lies his way into the alien community, but to stay he must risk his life to save them. There are themes in Elio that are circled back around in elegant fashion. Elio loses his family before the film even begins. He’s also weird enough that he doesn’t have any friends. The film tries to paint Elio in a creative light like he has this big imagination because he’s invented his own language and can lie himself into and out of any situation. But he mostly comes off as a shitty person that treats his hard-working aunt, who only wants to support him and for him to love her, like dirt. The animated sci-fi adventure film is about Elio coming to terms with the loss of his parents. He feels alone, has low self-esteem, and has extreme acceptance issues. But the film explores what it’s like to find your own family made of new friends and that you’re never really as low or alone as you think you are. He is initially shipped off to boarding school because of his uncontrollable behavior and inability to not be a destructive shit. Once he’s at the Communiverse, he meets a liquid-like supercomputer named OOOOO. She clones Elio and sends his clone back to Earth so no one will notice that he’s gone. But as Elio checks up on him, he sees what it’s like to be a family with his aunt and becomes homesick. Visually, the film is at its best when Elio is at the Communiverse. The Communiverse is filled with all sorts of alien leaders from all over the galaxy with the intent of sharing their knowledge with others and hopefully recruiting other respectable leaders. These sequences are filled with all sorts of eccentric creatures while its “alien” explanation allows things like basic physics or logic to be thrown out the window. Hands down the best character and most enjoyable part of the film is Glordon. He is worm-like and his design was inspired by larval insects and microbiotic creatures like the tardigrade. His mouth seems to go on forever and is overrun with teeth kind of like a Dune sandworm. He can spin web like a spider and is heat and lava-resistant. He looks menacing and scary, but once he gets an English translator has an adorable little kid’s voice and is super expressive even though he doesn’t have any eyes. The friendship he develops with Elio has way more of an impact than the one the film forces him into with his aunt. Unfortunately, Elio crawls at a slug-like pace through what feels like the longest hour and a half of the summer. It struggles through its first hour as Elio lies to everyone around him, gets in way over his head with the aliens, and attempts to abandon his aunt forever. Elio’s big plan is to join the alien community and leave Earth with no intention of ever going back. But apart from the enjoyable montage of Elio showing Glordon the Communiverse, the entire movie is just “Oh no, I lied too hard and don’t know what to do now.” Animated films and TV shows have used slow-motion before, but Elio has some of the worst slow-motion effects in the history of animation. The slow-mo here looks like it was a decision that was made in post-production as the effect doesn’t look to be part of the animation but the editing of the film itself. It’s done in a way that makes you think the projector is acting up or something. It’s so jittery and awkward looking and the intended effect is probably not whatever you see on screen. Elio is visually fun to look at and it gets somewhat entertaining in its last 20 minutes or so, but is otherwise a big, disappointing bowl of intergalactic garbage. The film chooses to follow an unlikeable character who is a brat the entire time and the main takeaway is that he shouldn’t be so much of a shithead and be decent to those who actually care about him for some reason. There’s something fun and whimsical here trapped inside the body of an entitled, lie-spewing thundercunt.
Movie Recommendation
The Ballad of Wallis Island2025-03-28An eccentric lottery winner who lives alone on a remote island tries to make his fantasies come true by getting his favourite musicians to perform at his home.More...
The Bad Guys 22025-07-24The now-reformed Bad Guys are trying (very, very hard) to be good, but instead find themselves hijacked into a high-stakes, globe-trotting heist, masterminded by a new team of criminals they never saw coming: The Bad Girls.More...
F12025-06-25Racing legend Sonny Hayes is coaxed out of retirement to lead a struggling Formula 1 team—and mentor a young hotshot driver—while chasing one more chance at glory.More...
Smurfs2025-07-05When Papa Smurf is mysteriously taken by evil wizards, Razamel and Gargamel, Smurfette leads the Smurfs on a mission into the real world to save him. With the help of new friends, the Smurfs must discover what defines their destiny to save the universe.More...
28 Years Later2025-06-18Twenty-eight years after the Rage virus outbreak, Britain remains sealed off from the world. A fortified island community survives in isolation—until a young boy’s journey to the mainland reveals how both the infected and the survivors have evolved.More...
Ruth & Boaz2025-09-25A talented singer leaves the Atlanta music scene and starts over in small-town Tennessee, where she finds love and new purpose but can't escape the past.More...
From Hilde, with Love2024-10-17In Berlin 1942, Hilde is a member of an anti-Nazi group. She falls in love with another member, Hans. The two spend a summer together until they get caught by the Gestapo and Hilde is imprisoned, eight months pregnant.More...
Trainwreck: The Real Project X2025-07-07A night of drunken chaos rocks a quiet Dutch town in this shocking documentary about a teen's birthday invite that accidentally went viral on Facebook.More...
Happy Holidays2025-07-03Rami deals with his Jewish girlfriend’s opposition to abortion. His mother complicates things while seeking compensation for her daughter Fifi accident. Miri plans to terminate her sister’s pregnancy with Rami, who’s Arab. Fifi struggles to hide her non-virginity to save her family’s reputation.More...
It Takes Two To Tango2025-04-16Antoine Toussaint is a famous, disillusioned 70 year-old crooner. On a train to Geneva where he plans to end his life, Antoine meets Victoire, a good-natured fan with a few loose wires. This unlikely encounter thwarts all Antoine’s plans, for better or worse!More...
Truly Madly Deeply1991-05-03Nina is totally heartbroken at the death of her boyfriend Jamie, but is even more unprepared for his return as a ghost. At first it's almost as good as it used to be – hey, even the rats that infested her house have disappeared. But Jamie starts bringing ghostly friends home and behaving more and more oddly.More...
Fuori2025-05-22Rome. The 1980s. After the magnum opus The Art of Joy she has been working on for a decade is rejected by the Italian publishing world, writer Goliarda Sapienza commits a desperate theft that costs her her reputation and social position. Incarcerated in Italy’s largest female prison, she finds herself living alongside thieves, junkies, sex workers and revolutionaries. After her release, she continues to meet with these women and over the course of a sweltering summer, a life-changing relationship flowers – a relationship that will reawaken her the desire to live and to write.More...
Mr. Blake at Your Service!2023-11-01Since his wife's death, Andrew Blake is depressed. In an ultimate impetus, he leaves London to go back to France, in the house he met her. This journey through happy days memories won't go as planned.More...
Gold Rush Gang2025-08-19At the tail end of World War II, a bandit leader and his crew go up against his sworn enemy and the Japanese army to rob a train full of gold.More...
A Line of Fire2025-04-05After working as a secret agent in the FBI for ten years, Jack 'Cash' Conry left it all behind after his wife passed in order to dedicate himself to his two daughters. Despite a fulfilling life at home, Cash misses the chance to make an impact and has been considering a return to the force. The decision is made for him when his old partner’s niece Jamie calls him for help, launching Cash right back into a world of danger, corruption and intrigue.More...
Golden Door2006-09-22The story is set at the beginning of the 20th century in Sicily. Salvatore, a very poor farmer, and a widower, decides to emigrate to the US with all his family, including his old mother. Before they embark, they meet Lucy. She is supposed to be a British lady and wants to come back to the States. Lucy, or Luce as Salvatore calls her, for unknown reasons wants to marry someone before to arrive to Ellis Island in New York. Salvatore accepts the proposal. Once they arrive in Ellis Island they spend the quarantine period trying to pass the examinations to be admitted to the States. Tests are not so simple for poor farmers coming from Sicily. Their destiny is in the hands of the custom officers.More...
I pionieri2023-04-13Sicily, summer 1990. Two young boys, sons of ardent communists, run away from home to re-found the Pioneers, the glorious and now extinct scouts of the Party. But not everything goes according to their plans.More...
The Cooler2003-11-26Bernie works at a Las Vegas casino, where he uses his innate ability to bring about misfortune in those around him to jinx gamblers into losing. His imposing boss, Shelly Kaplow, is happy with the arrangement. But Bernie finds unexpected happiness when he begins dating attractive waitress Natalie Belisario.More...
Kaappaan2019-09-19A Special Protection Group officer has to identify the threat to the prime minister, who he is protecting, and also the nation.More...
School of Magical Animals 32024-09-26Ida wants to perform with her class at the annual Forest Day to campaign for the protection of the local forest. Even Helene is there, as she hopes to use the footage of the performance to build up her influencer channel. What nobody knows is that Helene's family is on the verge of bankruptcy and Helene urgently needs followers to avert the threat of bankruptcy. Helene is also under pressure from the high expectations of her magical animal, Karajan the cat from Paris, who imagines a life of pure luxury.More...
Similar Movies
Pirates of the Caribb...
2003-07-09When wily Captain Barbossa steals Jack Sparrow's ship and kidnaps the governor's beautiful daughter, Elizabeth, her childhood friend Will Turner joins forces with Jack to save her and recapture Jack's ship, the Black Pearl.The Simpsons Movie
2007-07-25After Homer accidentally pollutes the town's water supply, Springfield is encased in a gigantic dome by the EPA and the Simpsons are declared fugitives.Pirates of the Caribb...
2006-07-06Jack's got a blood debt to pay: he owes his soul to the legendary Davy Jones, ghastly Ruler of the Ocean Depths. But ever-crafty Jack isn't about to go down without a fight.Billy Elliot
2000-09-28County Durham, England, 1984. The miners' strike has started and the police have started coming up from Bethnal Green, starting a class war with the lower classes suffering. Caught in the middle of the conflict is 11-year old Billy Elliot, who, after leaving his boxing club for the day, stumbles upon a ballet class and finds out that he's naturally talented. He practices with his teacher Mrs. Wilkinson for an upcoming audition in Newcastle-upon Tyne for the royal Ballet school in London.War of the Worlds
2005-06-28Ray Ferrier is a divorced dockworker and less-than-perfect father. Soon after his ex-wife and her new husband drop off his teenage son and young daughter for a rare weekend visit, a strange and powerful lightning storm touches down.Mars Attacks!
1996-12-13A fleet of Martian spacecraft surrounds the world's major cities and all of humanity waits to see if the extraterrestrial visitors have, as they claim, "come in peace." U.S. President James Dale receives assurance from science professor Donald Kessler that the Martians' mission is a friendly one. But when a peaceful exchange ends in the total annihilation of the U.S. Congress, military men call for a full-scale nuclear retaliation.Tron
1982-07-09When brilliant video game maker Flynn hacks the mainframe of his ex-employer, he is beamed inside an astonishing digital world and becomes part of the very game he is designing. In his mission through cyberspace, Flynn matches wits with a maniacal Master Control Program and teams up with Tron, a security measure created to bring balance to the digital environment.Predator
1987-06-12A team of elite commandos on a secret mission in a Central American jungle come to find themselves hunted by an extraterrestrial warrior.The Lord of the Rings...
2001-12-18Young hobbit Frodo Baggins, after inheriting a mysterious ring from his uncle Bilbo, must leave his home in order to keep it from falling into the hands of its evil creator. Along the way, a fellowship is formed to protect the ringbearer and make sure that the ring arrives at its final destination: Mt. Doom, the only place where it can be destroyed.The Lord of the Rings...
2002-12-18Frodo Baggins and the other members of the Fellowship continue on their sacred quest to destroy the One Ring--but on separate paths. Their destinies lie at two towers--Orthanc Tower in Isengard, where the corrupt wizard Saruman awaits, and Sauron's fortress at Barad-dur, deep within the dark lands of Mordor. Frodo and Sam are trekking to Mordor to destroy the One Ring of Power while Gimli, Legolas and Aragorn search for the orc-captured Merry and Pippin. All along, nefarious wizard Saruman awaits the Fellowship members at the Orthanc Tower in Isengard.The Lord of the Rings...
2003-12-17As armies mass for a final battle that will decide the fate of the world--and powerful, ancient forces of Light and Dark compete to determine the outcome--one member of the Fellowship of the Ring is revealed as the noble heir to the throne of the Kings of Men. Yet, the sole hope for triumph over evil lies with a brave hobbit, Frodo, who, accompanied by his loyal friend Sam and the hideous, wretched Gollum, ventures deep into the very dark heart of Mordor on his seemingly impossible quest to destroy the Ring of Power.The Lord of the Rings...
1978-11-15Young Hobbit Frodo Baggins is thrown into an amazing adventure when he's tasked with destroying the One Ring, created by the dark lord Sauron. Frodo must travel in a small fellowship of nine warriors and accomplices. But it won't be an easy journey for the Fellowship of the Ring, on the ultimate quest to rid Middle-earth of evil.Groundhog Day
1993-02-11A cynical TV weatherman, along with his idealistic producer and his sardonic cameraman, is sent to report on Groundhog Day in the small town of Punxsutawney, where he finds himself repeating the same day over and over.Lost in Translation
2003-09-18Two lost souls visiting Tokyo -- the young, neglected wife of a photographer and a washed-up movie star shooting a TV commercial -- find an odd solace and pensive freedom to be real in each other's company, away from their lives in America.Stargazed
2025-11-30Mia joins her friends for a high school graduation party to distract from an incoming asteroid expected to bring the inevitable end of the world.The Incredible Hulk
2008-06-12Scientist Bruce Banner scours the planet for an antidote to the unbridled force of rage within him: the Hulk. But when the military masterminds who dream of exploiting his powers force him back to civilization, he finds himself coming face to face with a new, deadly foe.Iron Man
2008-04-30After being held captive in an Afghan cave, billionaire engineer Tony Stark creates a unique weaponized suit of armor to fight evil.The Forbidden Kingdom...
2008-04-17An American teenager who is obsessed with Hong Kong cinema and kung-fu classics makes an extraordinary discovery in a Chinatown pawnshop: the legendary stick weapon of the Chinese sage and warrior, the Monkey King. With the lost relic in hand, the teenager unexpectedly finds himself travelling back to ancient China to join a crew of warriors from martial arts lore on a dangerous quest to free the imprisoned Monkey King.Captain America: The ...
2011-07-22During World War II, Steve Rogers is a sickly man from Brooklyn who's transformed into super-soldier Captain America to aid in the war effort. Rogers must stop the Red Skull – Adolf Hitler's ruthless head of weaponry, and the leader of an organization that intends to use a mysterious device of untold powers for world domination.Nowhere
1997-05-09In Los Angeles, a colorful assortment of bohemians try to make sense of their intersecting lives. The moody Dark Smith, his bisexual girlfriend, her lesbian lover and their shy gay friend plan on attending the wildest party of the year. But they'll only make it if they can survive the drug trips, suicides, trysts, mutilations and alien abductions that occur as one surreal day unfolds.