Review: Elio has that old Pixar magic

Let's flash back for a moment to May 2009. I was about to graduate high school. My friends and I trooped to the local movie theater in my small Ohio hometown to watch the latest Pixar movie. The studio was coming off a pair of certified bangers -- 2007's Ratatouille and 2008's WALL-E (still my two favorite Pixar movies, the latter my favorite movie of all time). So the hype was real for Up. And it was great. Funny, weird, surprising, and so, so emotional. The famous "Married Life" sequence which plays early in the movie had me weeping. I still cry every time I hear that music. It's a perfect movie sequence.

Today, Elio broke the record for the fastest a Pixar movie had made me cry. It was literally a minute or two into the movie. Up has been defeated. Maybe every movie I've ever seen has been defeated. 

When the first trailer for Elio came out, whenever that was, I thought it looked cute. A kid getting abducted by aliens and being mistaken for the leader of Earth? Solid concept. Bright and colorful, pep in its step, cool. But later trailers started clueing me in that there was going to be a little more cooking here, some emotion in the tank, some of that Pixar magic that doesn't quite feel like the guarantee it used to be. (Though I contend that there are only two truly bad Pixar movies.)

And, well, yeah, Elio is a warm, sweet, and extremely moving little adventure. And it just might be the best human kid-alien friendship movie since E.T. It certainly feels like it, if I'm going by my gut reaction, heart-swelling, tear duct emptiness, etc.

Which brings me back to the film's opening moments, which get right to the heart of our hero, the titular kid with an alien obsession, and thus right to the heart of the movie. We see a woman in her military uniform sitting in the booth of a museum cafe, reading the options to...no one. Ends up, Elio is bundled up under the table, looking listless, lost, alone. We quickly learn that he recently lost his parents and is now living with his aunt, who's enlisted in the space-facing part of the Air Force. My heart immediately ripped open. He's an adorable kid, so small, so vulnerable, so different. And the adventure he goes on feels deeply relatable while also being a galloping sci-fi tale.

Elio is a great example of being a movie that delivers exactly what it promises, and what you might expect beyond that, while not ever feeling predictable or rote or dull. It injects a lot of weird little moments and ideas into its story, nods to sci-fi classics like The Thing and 2001: A Space Odyssey (and, I think, Arrival??), even injects a couple scenes that feel like baby's-first-horror. It's extremely light on its feet, zooming along with so much excitement and humor and color. It's a joyful, joyous ride.

And it all serves to deliver a truly sweet story about finding our place, and giving people a chance to love us as we are. Elio is socially awkward, bullied, feels unwanted in his new home. It's no wonder he wants to be abducted by aliens, even though he's barely given Earth a shot. It's a chance to get away from his problems, his loneliness, to find a place where he feels like he belongs.

And he does find that, out amongst the stars. He's welcomed into the Communiverse, a giant collective of leaders from throughout the cosmos who share their knowledge, expertise, and culture. Sure, Elio is lying a bit to be there, but he also fits in quite nicely beyond that. He ends up becoming the chief negotiator with a warlord who wants to join the group (but whose request is denied because, well, he's a warlord), and then befriends said warlord's son, the grub-looking Glordon, who is as bright and strange and unique as Elio is.

Beyond the story being sparkling, moving, and dynamic, this movie looks and sounds like a dream. I was especially taken with the lighting in a few scenes, such as the monochromatic harshness of a scene where Elio is rushing through the forest, trying to escape from some bullies, or the finale that is so bright and beautiful you can't help but tear up beholding it. And the score, from Rob Simonsen (who also scored (500) Days of Summer, another all-time favorite of mine) is brilliantly imbued with all sorts of cool techno and sci-fi sounds and rhythms that really elevate the adventure, and help the heart resound all the more.

And big kudos to the voice cast, which is less star-studded than Pixar usually pulls out (recent Oscar-winner Zoe Saldaña and Brad Garrett are the biggest names), which I approve of. There's so much great voice work here, especially from Yonas Kibreab and Remy Edgerly (fun names!) as Elio and Glordon, respectively. They have cracking chemistry, and their scenes together really feel like the heart of the movie.

Toward the film's conclusion, one of the characters comes out and basically says the movie's theme. Subtext becomes text. Here it is. And that's the kind of thing that can land with a thud or be greeted with an eyeroll, since it could belie a lack of trust in the audience, or faith in the film itself. But here, it feels earned, honest, right. And it made the tears flow yet again (they flowed a lot throughout this movie). Being different can be lonely, scary, isolating. But if you give the world a chance, give people a chance, there's a high likelihood you'll find a place where you belong. You'll find friends, chosen family, your tribe, whatever you want to call it. People (or aliens) who will rally around you and lift you up, help you chase your dreams, maybe even make it to the stars. And when you find those people, you'll know that the struggles and moments of pain were worth pushing through, because life can be so beautiful.