Movie Time: Elio

It's a science fiction weekend here on the blog thing!

I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You goes into SPAAAAAAAAACE!!!!!

Starting with.... Movie Time!

Today's cinema post is about an  animated science fiction adventure film produced by Pixar that came out this year called Elio.

Wait! It came out this year? 

And you never heard of it? 

Yeah, I can't say I blame you.  

There were some missteps in marketing and what all, resulting in Elio coming and going with little notice or fanfare.

Which is a damn shame.

When our son Dean introduced this to us a few weeks ago, I found Elio to be quite a remarkable film.

What, pray tell, is Elio about? 

Let's find out.

Meet Elio Solís, a young boy traumatized by tragedy. His parents were killed in an accident and he's living with his aunt Olga, an Air Force major who gave up her dreams of becoming an astronaut to raise her nephew. 

Elio Solís feels alone and isolated, disconnected from this world.

It make senses he would seek connection beyond this world.  

Elio wants to be abducted by aliens.  

After some shenanigans involving a ham radio, some bullies, a summer youth camp and Olga getting some weird signal from space at her military base...

Elio gets his wish! 

Welcome to the Communiverse, a place where alien ambassadors from different worlds share their knowledge. 

The aliens think Elio is the leader of Earth, a candidate to be Earth's ambassador to the Communiverse.  

Lord Grigon, a warlord previously rejected by the Communiverse, shows up full of bluster and bravado, seeking to bully his way into the Communiverse.  

In order to stay in the Communiverse and not be sent back to Earth, Elio offers to negotiate with Grigon.

An alien clone of Elio is sent back to Earth so he won't be missed. The alien clone does a better job at acting human than human Elio.  Olga is kind of happy at Elio's improved demeanor but it is kinda weird. 

Meanwhile, things do not go well with Elio attempts to just talk to Grigon but he has better luck with Grigon's son, Glordon.

Glordon's a good kid who doesn't want to disappoint his dad but really doesn't want to be a warlord when he grows up.  He would rather hang out with his new friend Elio.

So Elio hatches a plan...

Elio takes Glordon back to the Communiverse.

A clone is made of Glordon.

Grigon agrees to leave the Communiverse alone with the return of Glordon.

Elio and the Communiverse hand over the Glordon clone who is OK with becoming a warlord. 

The plan works.... until it doesn't. 

Grigon discovers the deception and goes completely unhinged at the Communiverse.

And Elio's real identity as NOT the leader of Earth is exposed.

Elio is sent back to Earth.

Glordon follows Elio to the Earth but his life is in danger.

Also exposed? Olga finds out her Elio is an alien clone! 

A lot of stuff happens that I'm going to not summarize but let's get to this:

Olga and (real) Elio steal Glordon's spaceship to save Glordon's life and stop Brigon from destroying the Communiverse.

It's a big and epic adventure against the wild and expansive tableau of outer space.

But it's not what the movie is about. 

Elio is about a childhood journey through emotional trauma and social isolation. That feeling of disconnection from others was something I could identify with from my own youth. For all the flash and color of the detail alien worlds created for this film, it's emotional core is what drives the story.

The "It's That Person Who Was In That Thing" Department

• If the voice of Lord Grigon sounds like Robert Barone from Everybody Loves Raymond, well, that's because it is Brad Garrett.  Garrett has provided voices for previous Pixar films such as A Bug's Life, Finding Nemo and Ratatouille.  
• The voice of alien ambassador Questa is provided by Jameela Jamil from The Good Place, She Hulk: Attorney At Law and Star Trek: Prodigy.   
• Bob Peterson is the voice of the Universal Users Manual. Bob was also the voice of Dug the dog in Up.  
• The narrator of the Voyager 1 Museum Exhibit  is Kate Mulgrew who previously portrayed Captain Kathryn Janeway on Star Trek: Voyager. 
• Archival recordings of Carl Sagan are also used.
• Zoe Saldaña provides the voice of Air Force major Olga Solís, Elio's aunt.  Zoe brings a lot of sci-fi credit with her roles in Star Trek, Guardians of the Galaxy and Avatar.   

BACK STORY: the part of Olga was originally designed to be Elio's mother voiced by America Ferrera.  But she had to withdrawn due to scheduling conflicts. The part of Olga was re-written to be Elio's aunt with both of Elio's parents dead when Zoe Saldaña was brought in for the role.   

I enjoyed Elio for it's imaginative and innovative style, quirky characterizations and emotional story beats. That being said, I have to admit that the film did not resonate with me as strongly as I would have expected given the subject matter.  

Sadly it didn't resonate with a lot of people, taking all of 4 weeks to cross a worldwide box office of $100 million.

Elio was a major money loser for Disney and Pixar despite mostly positive reviews.    

I'm not sure the marketing helped. When it was released, Elio was barely on my radar. And it wasn't always clear what the movie was supposed to be about. 

Frequent shifts in personel behind the scenes surely were a cause for concern.  There was a change of directors mid-production as well as re-writes to the story (like the one noted above). I think the interchangeable moving parts during the production contributed to Elio seeming less like an inspired creation and more of a competently rendered product.

The pieces to make Elio a unique and distinctive experience are there. It just doesn't quite jell as a whole.  Elio is NOT bad, it's good, but not great.  

Still, it is worth a watch and it remains a remarkable movie despite all the obstacles in it's path of development and production.  

Next up on the blog, science fiction weekend continues! 

Tomorrow, I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You once more goes into SPAAAAAAAAACE!!!!!

It's Doctor Who Is CLASSIC as the Doctor battles nefarious aliens AND really whiny companions.