Moving new film Elio is Pixar's best in years
Animation studio Pixar has had a somewhat spotty track record in recent years, with films like Lightyear, Onward and Turning Red failing to connect with audiences.
Let's hope the same fate doesn't befall its latest offering, Elio – it's arguably the best Pixar film since 2017's acclaimed smash hit Coco.
Elio (Yonas Kibreab) is the film's titular hero, a young boy now living with his aunt Olga (Zoe Saldana) after his parents met a tragic end. The movie gets us up to speed with efficiency: Elio is parentless and friendless, has a deep obsession with outer space – and an intense yearning to be abducted by aliens.
He spends his nights on the roof of his house, trying to commune with anyone in space who'll listen, begging them to beam him up.
Elio's aunt works on an army base with an astronaut program and space-monitoring satellites – which means Elio gets his wish relatively early in the piece when aliens pick up on his messages and beam him up.
This is where the film comes alive, as Elio is beamed directly to the 'Communiverse,' a sort of UN gathering of peaceful aliens from across the galaxies.
Pixar have done an incredible job bringing the various aliens to life, with inventive and at times genuinely jaw-dropping animation (wide shots of the Communiverse bring to mind the beauty of Coco 's 'marigold bridge' scenes).
But it's not all happy up in space: The aliens are under the assumption Elio is the leader of earth, and soon he's thrust forward to negotiate with a fearsome, violent warlord named Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett, playing a character responsible for the film's few scenes that may frighten young children – or at least, did in my screening).
There are shades of Mickey 17 to the young alien Elio befriends, a slug-like creature named Glordon (Remy Edgerly) who's much less fearsome than he appears.
It's genuinely moving to watch Elio make a friend for the first time, as the pair's epic adventure unfolds towards one of those classic Pixar endings that will keep children satisfied - and will have adults wiping away tears as the credits roll.
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