June 23, 2025
After both his parents passed away, the care of Elio Solis (Yonas Kibreab) was turned over to the guardianship of his aunt Olga (Zoe Saldana). She was an officer in the Air Force, but she had to give up her dreams of being an astronaut when Elio came into her life. Because of this, Elio never connected emotionally with her, try as she might. Elio believed that she lost her chance to achieve her dream because of him, so Olga did not want him in her life.
In lieu of the loneliness he felt at home and at school (where he was picked on by bullies), Elio turned his attention to outer space. He actually wished he could be abducted by aliens. When an opportunity came up, he left a message for the aliens to come and get him. One day, Elio's wish actually came true, and an alien ship picked him up and brought to a place called Communiverse. They offered Elio to be the ambassador of Earth, and he accepted.
Just like another recent Disney film "Strange World," the story of "Elio" gave the Disney Pixar artists free rein to create their own alien world and creatures. The design of the villain character Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett) looked based on Zurg from the Toy Story films. The most memorable thing about him was that his imposing metallic armor housed a fat worm-like creature with gelatinous limbs, fireproof skin and multi-layered sharp teeth.
Like many other Disney films before it, this film was also about a headstrong child lead character who took it upon themselves to embark on a big adventure in their lives, even if this went against the wishes of their elders. Elio was given a deeper psychological backstory given that he was adopted by his aunt in an unexpected manner. While this situation gave Elio a feeling of being unwanted, his Aunt Olga's point of view was not fully explored.
Elio's first alien friend Glordon (Remy Edgerly) had another common problem faced by young people. Being of a gentler, more friendly nature, he did not want to be the war machine that his father Grigon wanted him to be. Even then, Glordon was ready to accept his fate than face his father's fearsome wrath. It is to Pixar's credit that it dares to push and tackle these emotional issues which real children face, even if the final resolution tended to be too clean.
This film began with the vision of Adrian Molina (co-director and co-writer of "Coco"), but was later turned over to two other directors, Domee Shi (director of "Bao" and "Turning Red") and Madeline Sharafian (director of "Burrow"). The final screenplay was written by Julia Cho (co-writer of "Turning Red"), Mike Jones (co-writer of "Luca") and Mark Hammer. Perhaps this complicated production history would explain why the film can feel rather disjointed. 7/10
No comments:
Post a Comment