Elio, a space fanatic with an active imagination, finds himself on a cosmic misadventure where he must form new bonds with alien lifeforms, navigate a crisis of intergalactic proportions and somehow discover who he is truly meant to be.

Pixar’s recent output has certainly been weaker in recent years, with an overreliance on sequels and originals that don’t hold a candle to their finest works, and sadly ‘Elio’ is another entry in the mediocre category. It’s not as if coming of age movies have been a new thing for Pixar, but their latest movies (‘Luca’, ‘Turning Red’ and now ‘Elio’) lack the punch or spark that made a new Pixar release event cinema previously. In the case of ‘Elio’, it’s a combination of a weak story and the lack of humour or surprise that underpins their top tier material.

In any case, what is ‘Elio’ all about? It tells the story of a lonely young boy (Elio, voiced by Yonas Kibreab) with a tragic backstory (living with his busy aunt as his parents have died), who dreams of being abducted by aliens on the basis it may help him find somewhere he truly belongs. This dream comes true (of course), where a case of mistaken identity and opportunism on the resourceful Elio’s part leads the aliens he encounters to think he is the leader of planet earth, setting him up to be their chief negotiator with the ruthless Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett), who wishes to take over the aliens spaceship. From here onwards we’ll follow Elio as he tries to keep up this pretence, while also attempting to keep Grigon at bay, with the ultimate aim of being welcomed into the alien community.

In terms of the plot, there will be dramas along the way, involving both earth and the space environment, and themes such as loneliness, grief and empathy will be explored to varying degrees of success. It’s not a bad movie by any stretch, but the problem ‘Elio’ has is we’ve seen this all before and it’s been done much better with more nuance and pathos. Usually Pixar movies have a stellar voice cast to fall back on, but I thought the voice cast was nothing special here with even the aliens not really having quirky or distinctive voices. All in, it leads to a movie that will pass some time if you want to take your kids to something over the summer, but it’s one you’ll likely forget about shortly after seeing it, and it’ll be more likely to join the ranks of Pixar movies such as ‘The Good Dinosaur’ and ‘Luca’ than ‘Wall-E’.

Rating: 3/5

Directed By: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi and Adrian Molina

Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldaña, Remy Edgerly, Brandon Moon, Brad Garrett and Jameela Jamil

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4900148/