Is humanity alone in the universe?
In Pixar’s Elio, that’s the question that keeps 11-year-old orphan Elio Solís (voiced by Yonas Kibreab) up at night. Not because the idea of aliens worries him, but because he desperately wants them to abduct him from his unhappy life on Earth.
A complete ranking of every Pixar movie ever
Thankfully for Elio, aliens do come calling, whisking him off to the colorful, imaginative “Communiverse” that fits right at home alongside other memorable Pixar worlds, like Coco‘s Land of the Dead, Riley’s brain in Inside Out, or Soul‘s Great Beyond. It’s a cosmic wonderland you can’t help but get lost in, but what astounds the most about Elio is its examination of its lead’s loneliness. Directors Domee Shi (Turning Red) and Madeline Sharafian (who directed the short Burrow) — taking over from original director Adrian Molina (Coco) — parallel humanity’s search for extraterrestrial life with Elio’s search for friendship. What follows is a sweet, empathetic look at how to find connection in the unlikeliest of places. That idea isn’t exactly new to Pixar — see: Up, WALL-E, and many more — but Elio‘s inventive setting and lovable main character help cast these eternal themes in a weird and wonderful new light.
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