Elio (2025)

Elio is a film that seemed like it could be a lot of fun based off the trailer which is a mistake as a trailer has more often than not made a film to look better than it is. The trailer didn’t suggest that Elio had lost his parents (deceased parents is such a typical Disney move) and he now lives with his aunt who works on an air force base. He gets interested in space and then wants to be abducted by aliens and gets his wish and ends up in the communiverse with a variety of different aliens. This includes a warmongering Lord Grigon. Elio is mistakenly thought of as the leader of Earth and soon finds himself trying to broker a peace with Grigon. In the middle of all this He makes friends with Glordon who is the son of Lord Grigon. Elio plans to use Glordon as a bargaining chip and when he comes to pick up fortis then things go wrong and that is when the plot really kicks in.

The animation is your typical Pixar sort and it’s nice and can work in any type of story. It’s weird to think that this year is the 30th Anniversary of the first Toy Story and that was groundbreaking and it has allowed stories like Elio to do what it does and even if this is nowhere near as good as Toy Story, shows that Pixar still know how to create visually stunning worlds (or galaxies). 

Elio is a likeable character. There is a moment where his clone refers to him as having low self esteem and that is pretty much why the character works. He’s not the confident and likeable person but a flawed kid. He wants to belong somewhere cause he doesn’t feel like he fits in with his aunt. Elio and Glordon have a nice relationship and that is the strongest part of the film. Glordon is likeable and a good support character to Elio because he is nice and friendly and doesn’t want to be the killing machine they his father wants and I liked when his dad mellows out and accepts his son's decision.

There is a sub plot about Elio being cloned and taking the real Eli’s place which goes great until his aunt suspects something is up. Around this time Elio is discovered to be a child and the action then moves to earth when Gordon accidentally goes there and his dad wants him back. It’s at this point that the film picked up for me.

I know that I’m not the target audience but I don’t think the jokes work as much as they perhaps should. The set up is fine and the characters are good enough but the film lacks the sort of light-heartedness that you would expect from a Pixar film. I did like the moment where clone Elio scares the crap out of the sceptical military officer.

I think that this at best an average story and not the sort of film that I can see being a big box office smash especially when there are better family films that have come out in 2025.