Elio // Film Review

“Ok. Bye. Love you!” 

First thing’s first: Glordon the Wee Gay Tooth Slug will be, or at least should be, the toy of the summer. If he isn’t, then it ranks among the greatest failures of Disney’s publicity machine to date.

Pixar’s Elio is not a film that has been widely promoted, and what materials have been sent out pale in comparison to flashier offerings from the likes of Lilo & Stitchor How To Train Your Dragon. There has been no reason to expect more than a content offload from Elio, and even less reason to imagine that it could be the first Pixar film this end of Coco to make a packed theatre cry.

And yet. 

Delving into our contemporary loneliness epidemic by way of E.T. and Star Trek, Elio is an unexpected pleasure. Heartwarming and crushing in equal measure, the film’s use of ham radios, UFOs and adorable aliens is really just the whimsical set dressing for one of Pixar’s most emotionally grounded efforts in years. 

Sure, the recently orphaned Elio may be swept up in a diplomatic mission to prevent war across the cosmos, but he needs that same skillset to open up to his adoptive aunt back on Earth. From the moment it transpires that the conquering Lord Grigon is himself a struggling parent, you might as well brace for impact cos the floodgates are coming down. 

The film also looks remarkable; a far cry from the so-so poster and early trailers. Making full use of Pixar’s Luna lighting tech and a positively Cameron-esque set of alien designs, directors Domee Shi and Madeline Sharafian render some of Pixar’s most wholly immersive worlds to date. Even the Earth elements are staggeringly detailed, emphasised to gasp-worthy effect whenever a cartoon model steps into a frame you otherwise might’ve sworn was real. Or maybe I just couldn’t see it clearly - did I mention all the crying?