Pixar’s latest falls flat

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MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Friday, June 20th.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: a new Pixar movie debuts in theaters.

Pixar movies used to be must-see events for fans. But recently the studio has had plenty of misses. Last summer Pixar seemed to get back some of its mojo when Inside Out 2 became the top-grossing film of the year.

REICHARD: Will this summer’s offering be another blockbuster or another bust? Here’s arts and culture editor Collin Garbarino to talk about Elio

COLLIN GARBARINO: Lately, Pixar has been working from the “one for them” “one for us” model. The studio will release a crowd pleaser with broad appeal—often a sequel to one of their previous hits—and then it will release a more personal film that has significance to the filmmaker. Sometimes, those personal films resonate with audiences and lead to a new franchise… which is what happened with Inside Out. But others like 2023’s Elemental—seem like expensive exercises in navel gazing. I’m afraid Elio falls into this latter category.

ELIO: Hi.

OOOOO: [metallic squeak]

ELIO: I knew it! I knew aliens were looking for me! You saved my life! I promise I’ll pull my weight on this… uh, ship?

Elio tells the story of a young Hispanic boy named Elio Solis. He’s an orphan who lives with his Aunt Olga. He’s lonely. He doesn’t fit in with the other kids. And he always seems to be getting into trouble.

AUNT OLGA: Look at me in the eye, and for once tell me the truth.

ELIO: [speaking Elioese]

AUNT OLGA: No, I’m not learning Elioese.

ELIO: [speaking Elioese]

His aunt works for the space force, but when her eccentric nephew came to live with her, she had to put her dreams of becoming an astronaut on hold. Elio believes she resents caring for him.

AUNT OLGA: OK. I’ve got one last meeting. I need you to sit here, and not move or speak or injure yourself for 10 minutes.

Elio is so lonely that he becomes fixated on the loneliness of outer space. He believes there must be alien life somewhere out there, and he desperately wants to make contact with it. His efforts pay off when he’s picked up by the Communiverse, an interplanetary organization with representatives from a host of alien species. The Communiverse mistakenly thinks Elio is the ruler of Earth and they accept him as the planet’s ambassador.

The lonely boy is amazed by the wonders of the galaxy. And the last thing he wants to do is get sent back home. But his lack of honesty gets him stuck in the middle of a dispute between the Communiverse and an intergalactic warlord.

LORD GRIGON: Who is responsible for… You!

ELIO: Yes! It’s me, the leader of Earth. And the negotiation is not over.

Elio’s actions lead to a big mess that he eventually has to clean up. And along the way he discovers that his aunt really does love him. He also becomes friends with the warlord’s son.

GLORDON: Hi, Dad! I’m a bargaining chip.

ELIO: No, say the other thing.

GLORDON: Help me, Father. He overpowered me. He’s too strong.

The film is technically impressive, but artistically uninspiring. The Communiverse’s environment is replete with shimmering multicolored liquid and lighting effects, which are difficult and expensive to animate. But the style of the animation doesn’t break any new ground. It’s the same Pixar house style that we’ve seen before.

OOOOO: Can you understand me now?

ELIO: Yes!

OOOOO: It is a pleasure to meet you. I am [metallic noise], a liquid supercomputer. Allow me to adjust your gravity.

ELIO: Oh, no. I’m…

OOOOO: Gravity on!

Pixar replaced Elio’s director halfway through production, and the script got a total rewrite. These changes happened a few months after Disney’s CEO Bob Iger said the company would stop pushing political agendas and focus on storytelling. Coincidence? Maybe. All I know is that there’s very little agenda in the film, but also very little storytelling.

The central question of Elio is “Are we alone?” And of course the answer is no. Elio learns that he has people who care about him. Maybe that’s not a bad lesson for a kids movie, but the 100 or so minutes that it took to watch Elio felt twice as long.

Pixar used to have a subversive streak to it, but this story offers little in the way of surprises. All we get is tired cliches about accepting and tolerating those who don’t fit in.

Perhaps the only surprising thing about the film is how unlikeable Elio is. He spends the first third of the movie being a jerk to everyone. Is it any wonder he doesn’t have any friends? It feels like the filmmakers resorted to the cheap trick of making this lying, selfish kid an orphan just so we would feel a little sorry for him.

And worst of all, after the problems Elio caused, no one expects him to apologize. Instead everyone tells him how wonderful and special he is. It’s the warlord who ends up apologizing for exhibiting too much masculinity in his parenting. Blech. If I wanted to see that I would just go watch The Little Mermaid again.

I’m Collin Garbarino.

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