Elio

It’s so ironic how this movie flopped in the box office and had the backlash, at least I saw in my online bubble, of commenters berating the general public for complaining about there never being anything new but also not seeing something that is a new IP. Honestly I get why people didn’t go see this one in theaters. It had terrible marketing and the previews for it didn’t showcase any of its heart or soul or brain since it just seemed like some random kids movie about kid befriending a cringe alien. But after seeing it I’d go as far as to say this is near top tier Pixar.

I say near because there are some flaws, mostly in its writing, that kept it from being top tier. Biggest flaws I found are some loopholes that some are coincidences but one big one near the end where we were asking each other when did he learn to do that, especially since earlier it had a whole gag showing how bad he is at said thing. And then another writing mistake was dialogue that explained the subtext of what you just saw. Now I know this exposition is normal for content for kids but I really felt this specific moment wasn’t necessary especially because it mostly deflated one of the biggest emotional scenes in the entire film. Honestly if these two things didn’t exist here then I’d say this one is top tier Pixar. Only other criticism but I wouldn’t say this held it back much was that there were no standout songs in the soundtrack. The music wasn’t bad, it did what it was supposed to do but there wasn’t a song that I could possibly hear later at a Disney theme park and think “oh Elio” like how I can with most of their other films. But with that said some of the piano pieces in this film are composed and performed so beautifully that it aids in the emotional moments flawlessly.

But on the plus side, this story had a lot of heart. I feel it was brilliant in how it goes because the story felt like the kind of person Elio is portraying. Someone who most may not think much of when first meeting them but the more they get to know them the more they cherish that friendship. I feel the story did a great job touching on the subjects of grief and belonging and connecting it to the search for extraterrestrial life.

I feel this film was next level for some of its animation, especially environmental animation. In some of the scenes something with the animation whether it be the lighting or detail or the way it’s filmed, it just looks so breathtaking. That said there was on scene that was in slow motion but the frames per second dropped so much that it gave an uncanny feel that seemed to me like the choice for using slow motion was a last minute one that could have been done right if that just took more time to add extra animated frames to make it look more natural.

In spite of how much criticism I had of this film it really is one worth seeing and I’d watch it again. The acting was great, didn’t even know that was Brad Garrett so in my book that always is a good sign of great voice acting. The directing and animation and music were generally was good with some standout moments with the animation. The writing was good with great potential but just some of the choices that could have been fixed in post was ultimately what kept this film from meeting that potential but I would definitely recommend this one to anyone who enjoys Pixar films or just heartfelt stories in general to give this one a try.