Is Elio Pixar’s Big Come back? 

Elio is Pixar’s newest movie and it comes with a rare original screenplay (no current brands, characters, or other intellectual property). The story follows the titular young boy, Elio, on his adventure after being abducted by aliens. 

The movie didn’t perform well in the box office having received little to no marketing effort by the studio. Elio is the lowest opening in Pixar’s history and hasn’t rebounded in week 2. 

Is this Elio’s fault? Or has Pixar just made a bed of bad movies it now has to lay in? 

The Conservative Critic Asks: Is it entertaining? Does it have artistic/intellectual value? And is it liberal propaganda? 

The Conservative Critic Meter Check: 

Overall rating: Good family fun

Elio is a refreshing release from Pixar after a slew of either unoriginal sequels or heavy handed, boring, very adult metaphors masquerading as children’s films (or both). Elio is a sweet story about a young boy who is fixated on the cosmos. The movie deals with uniquely “boy” issues in a way not seen out of Pixar or Disney in a long time. The young boy is grappling with serious issues in his life in a boyish way complete with slimy adventure and interests like ham radio. 

The overall animation was beautiful even though Pixar still insists on indistinct blob people which many (me) find very unsettling and boring. Beyond the human blobs, the backgrounds and alien characters were a lot more rich and lovely. The story was cute and original but there were some problems with it especially in that it seriously patronized its viewers. Even little ones do not need basic movie themes to be explicitly explained to them by the characters. 

Overall, void of a political agenda (for the first time in a long time), Elio is the best thing Pixar has put out in the last five years and the second best since 2017’s Coco (the first best was Onward in 2020). And unlike so many in Pixar’s modern offerings, Elio is completely appropriate and fun for children. 

Is it entertaining? 

Rating: Very good for kids 

Elio is basically a children’s political thriller/adventure that follows a young boy trying to contact outer space, succeeding and then journeying through the cosmos. Elio flies a spaceship, meets aliens and faces existential threats. It’s got a great pace and plenty of content to hold antsy children’s attention and to keep adults interested. The falling action needed a little work but everything up to the big climax and resolution was great and perfect for kids, even littler kids. It has a PG rating instead of G but none of the sequences are particularly scary for any amount of time.

Does it have intellectual/artistic value? 

Rating: It was original at least

Elio is almost infuriating because so much of it is beautifully animated and yet the human blobs remain central. I’m not sure why Pixar has decided they should depict and beautiful glowing outer space full of imagination and wonder and depict a stunning a life like planet earthy only to have it’s leading boy look like a generic doodle of a 12 year old girl bored in math class. Bring back fully animated main characters, Pixar! YOU HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY!

The story was a fun original full of all the things little boys imagine like aliens and space and military boot camp. It had a lot of heart and wasn’t too sickly sweet even though it was verging there at the end. However, there were a few things in the story that were a little generic including the classic “not my dream, your dream dad!” trope. And there was a point in the movie where one of the alien characters narrated the theme of the movie directly to Elio. The theme was extremely obvious. There is no need to talk down to audiences even children. It seems like a small thing, but for me narrating the themes and plot points is the difference between a high quality movie and an after school special. Elio failed this test.

But overall, it was made well, very pretty and imaginative and a solid story suitable for kids. 

Is it liberal propaganda? 

Rating: No (finally) 

Not only does Elio not have any major political themes (it was kind of anti-war in the most bizarre way imaginable) but it actually depicts a leading character as a competent member of Space Force putting forever to bed the notion that Donald Trump’s military branch creation is stupid or a joke. 

Interestingly, Elio’s story is a bit of a political thriller in that Elio’s adventure includes unifying a galactic government entity (kind of). But in doing so, none of earth’s politics find their way to outer space and instead Elio is able to have a totally childlike adventure void of the influence of our adult whims.

Conclusion 

Elio is very strong for Pixar and a great summer movie for children of all ages.