Released in theaters on June 20, 2025, Elio marks Pixar’s return to original storytelling, blending heartfelt character drama with vibrant intergalactic adventure. Directed by Madeline Sharafian and Domee Shi, with contributions from Adrian Molina (who retains co-director credit), the film features a stellar voice cast led by Yonas Kibreab as Elio Solis, Zoe Saldaña as his aunt Olga, and Brad Garrett as the formidable alien warlord Lord Grigon. Produced by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Elio tells the story of a lonely boy who, desperate for belonging, sends a message into the stars—and gets abducted by aliens who believe he’s the leader of Earth. In this Elio movie review, we dive into the visual splendor, emotional resonance, and endearing characters that make this 2025 film a standout among Pixar’s best.
Genre:Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Drama, Family, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
A Boy’s Wish Becomes a Galactic Misunderstanding
From Grief to Galactic Glory
The film opens on Earth, where 11-year-old Elio Solis, recently orphaned, now lives with his aunt Olga, an overworked Air Force major. Still reeling from his parents’ loss, Elio finds comfort only in stargazing and his obsession with alien life. That longing leads him to send a heartfelt message into space using a cobbled-together ham radio.
To everyone’s shock—but especially Elio’s—the message is received. He’s abducted by a mysterious alien vessel and transported to the Communiverse, a council of extraterrestrial species dedicated to peaceful cooperation. Mistaken for Earth’s ambassador because he made contact, Elio suddenly finds himself representing all of humanity in a cosmic community where misunderstanding can have galactic consequences.
The premise is classic Pixar: heartfelt and high-concept. But Elio distinguishes itself by grounding the fantasy in a child’s emotional truth—grief, alienation, and the desperate hope to be seen and loved.
Yonas Kibreab Shines as Elio
Newcomer Yonas Kibreab brings a disarming sincerity to the titular character. His voice performance is tender, witty, and full of raw emotional vulnerability. Elio is quirky, smart, and deeply empathetic, even if he doesn't always understand how to process the pain inside him.
He’s not your typical animated hero. There’s no bravado here—just a sensitive kid struggling to figure out where he fits in a world (and later, a galaxy) that seems too big, too strange, and too indifferent. Kibreab’s performance anchors the movie, guiding the audience through space opera thrills while never losing sight of the boy beneath the cape.
The Emotional Core – Elio and Olga
Parenting, Space Force Style
As Aunt Olga, Zoe Saldaña offers one of her most grounded and heartfelt performances to date. Olga is a woman caught between duty and love. A career military officer, she gave up her dreams of becoming an astronaut to raise her nephew. But she struggles with the emotional weight of guardianship and often clashes with Elio’s wild imagination.
Their dynamic is beautifully realized. The tension between them—Olga’s structured pragmatism versus Elio’s cosmic yearning—is the movie’s emotional backbone. Their evolving relationship, full of miscommunication, small heartbreaks, and eventual healing, gives Elio a depth rarely seen in animated films. The climax hinges not on space battles or cosmic stakes, but on a simple, moving reconciliation between aunt and nephew.
The Communiverse – A Visual Masterstroke
Pixar’s visual artistry is on full display in Elio, especially once the story moves to the Communiverse. This psychedelic kaleidoscope of alien cultures, glowing architecture, and bizarre, joyful biology is a creative playground for animators. From liquid-like supercomputers to sentient user manuals and orbs that reveal universal secrets, every corner of the screen bursts with imaginative detail.
The character design is just as inspired. Glordon, the slug-like son of Lord Grigon, is a squishy, soft-hearted delight, voiced adorably by Remy Edgerly. His bond with Elio provides the film’s most charming and humorous moments. Their friendship—born from shared feelings of parental pressure and social alienation—echoes the great Pixar pairings of the past.
The Humor Hits All Ages
Galactic Gags with Earthly Heart
While Elio handles grief and identity with maturity, it’s also laugh-out-loud funny. The film mines comedic gold from bureaucratic aliens, clumsy interstellar protocol, and Elio’s unfiltered reactions to the strange customs of other species. A running gag involving a sentient deck of cards that contains all the universe’s knowledge—yet is mostly ignored by Elio—lands perfectly, especially for older viewers.
A New Pixar Classic? It’s Close.
Elio shares spiritual DNA with Pixar’s most celebrated originals, like Up, Inside Out, and Coco. It uses genre conventions—not for spectacle, but to explore emotional truths. There’s no villain to defeat, no MacGuffin to retrieve. The stakes are internal: belonging, grief, identity, connection.
The film’s message—that we are all worthy of love, even when we feel like cosmic misfits—is gently delivered but deeply felt. Elio doesn’t save the galaxy with violence or cleverness. He changes it by listening, empathizing, and choosing kindness, even when the universe feels overwhelmingly cruel.
Where It Stumbles
If Elio has a weakness, it lies in its middle act pacing. The sheer number of ideas—alien species, cultural norms, Communiverse bureaucracy—can feel overwhelming, especially for younger audiences. Some visual sequences are so dense with design and color they risk becoming noise.
There are also a few threads introduced but never fully explored, likely remnants of earlier drafts or cut scenes. While none of these issues break the film, they do slightly soften its impact in places.
Final Verdict – Elio Is a Starry-Eyed Triumph
Elio is Pixar at its best—original, heartfelt, and visually daring. It’s a film that respects the intelligence of its audience, young and old alike, and refuses to shy away from real emotional weight. In just under 100 minutes, it balances laugh-out-loud comedy, high-concept sci-fi, and a tear-jerking meditation on loss and belonging.
With Yonas Kibreab’s breakout performance, a radiant supporting cast, and jaw-dropping animation, Elio proves there’s still plenty of magic in Pixar’s orbit. For kids, it’s an unforgettable adventure. For adults, it’s a gentle reminder that we’re all just trying to find where we belong in the universe—one message in a bottle at a time.
Rating: ★★★★½ (4.5/5)