Pixar’s latest film, Elio, is a beautifully animated and inventive space-exploration flick that showcases the studio’s creative prowess. With its stunning visuals and original story, it feels like a modern classic in the making. However, its potential for success at the box office seems to be dwindling.
Elio follows 11-year-old Elio Solis, a child who is desperate to prove himself by provoking an alien abduction. As he navigates his way through a base filled with telescopes scanning the skies, he discovers a golden record from Voyager 1, which becomes a pivotal moment in his journey. The film’s animation style has never looked more fluidly beautiful, especially when depicting glittering nebulae and spaceships.
The movie boasts original characters, particularly Elio, who is heartbreakingly damaged and struggling to find acceptance. Despite some almost too-kiddish qualities, the film achieves shocking levels of originality, beauty, and tragedy that will earn it a place among modern classics.
However, despite its brilliance, Elio may not be the commercial success Pixar had hoped for. The reasons behind this are complex, with delays, rewrites, and changes in the creative team contributing to the final product’s disjointedness. The studio’s last big non-sequel success was Coco in 2017, which makes sense given their desire to recapture the cultural zeitgeist.
The film’s tonal melange is a potential turn-off for some viewers, with jokes and storylines that feel like they belong to a different movie. Despite this, there is a mature plot under the surface that reflects Disney’s inventive 2007 time-travel comedy Meet the Robinsons.
Elio explores themes of male loneliness, trauma, and mental health issues in a way that few children’s movies have tackled before. The film’s tragic character arc will tug at your heartstrings, making it hard to look away from the screen.
Ultimately, Elio is a polarizing study in loneliness that showcases Pixar’s creative genius. Its failure to find a massive audience may be due to its unconventional approach, but it remains a joyous, tragic, and miraculous film that deserves recognition.
Source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/elio-review-1.7564744