“Elio” is a fun look at colorful aliens, yet at times, it feels derivative and I wonder, considering the cultural context of the US at this moment, if it is coming out at the right or wrong time.

I attended a Monday press screening, just a few days after a singer, Nezza, performed the FDR-commissioned Spanish version of the US National Anthem at an LA Dodger game (14 June 2025). From the negative press that garnered, I wondered about the mood the country.

The Story

Elio Solis (Yonas Kibreab) is an 11-year-old boy who is interested in space and believes in the possibility of aliens. We first meet him at the restaurant attached to the Montez Air and Space Museum that he used to visit with his parents.

He’s been recently orphaned and now lives with his aunt, Olga Solis (Zoe Saldaña). Olga was a potential astronaut candidate until she got custody of Elio. Now she’s put her dreams on hold .

Elio sneaks into a new exhibit which is “coming soon” that features Voyager and mentions its golden record. The exhibit touches his imagination and he tries to contact aliens, using a radio in various configurations and often frequents the local beach where he draws in the sand a clear message for the aliens (“Aliens Abduct Me”).

Both Elio and Olga are deeply frustrated by the sudden changes in their lives. Olga is an Air Force major working at the Montez Air Force Base as an orbital analyst. There’s plenty of space trash orbiting the Earth it seems. On the day that Gunther Melmac (Brendan Hunt) believes to have discovered evidence of aliens responding to the Voyager’s golden record. Elio sends a message with his name to the aliens and causes a power outage on the Air Force base.

Tia Olga almost loses her job as a result and after catching Elio fighting with other boys and cutting classes, resolves to send Elio to Camp Carver. Camp Carver seems to be miserable place and while being chased by a gang of boys ready to beat him up, aliens answer Elio’s message. Elio is transported to an interplanetary community of peaceful alien ambassadors living in the Communiverse. There he passes himself off as the leader of Earth, but when the Communiverse is threatened by the warmongering robotic forces under Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett), he volunteers to save the Communiverse. First, he consults

with the cutie liquid computer OOOOO (Shirley Henderson), then he must figure out how to drive his special red spherical spacecraft and once on Lord Grigon’s ship, Elio must find a bargaining chip. During his time there, Elio meets and makes friends with Glordon (Remy Edgerly).

Despite having three directors, Adrian Molina (“Coco,” 2017), Madeline Sharafian (the 2021 Oscar-nominated animated short “Burrow”), Domee Shi (“Turning Red,” 2022), the film is coherent and well-paced. The script is also credited to three people: Julia Cho (“Turning Red“), Mark Hammer (“Shotgun Wedding,” 2022) and  Mike Jones (“Soul,” 2020 and “Luca,” 2021).

“Elio” in its setup resembles “Lilo & Stitch.” An orphaned misfit, finds a friend in an alien and an intergalactic community becomes involved. The misfit orphan has an older female guardian, in “Lilo & Stitch” it was an older sister–Nani, whose career goals are stymied by the responsibility of the young child. In “Elio” there are other little boys, but no intrusion of little girls. The development of the other boys isn’t particularly well-done which I would blame on the script over the direction.

There is a logical flaw where travel from Earth in the red spacecraft requires help due to orbiting debris, but re-entry does not. However, the different depictions of space travel and the differentiation of the colorful ambassadors from around the galaxy is beautifully rendered. The world building is lovely, but the story is not exceptional.

Diversity

According to IMDb, the lead voice actor, Yonas Kibreab, is a diversity double. The 14-year-old is both Filipino and African American. Remy Edgerly is self-verified on IMDbPro as Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino and White. Zoe Saldaña is Latina–Dominican and Puerto Rican. Kibreab’s casting might inspire conversations about Spanish colonialism and the Philippines as well as Filipino history in the US because the two are connected. That’s a good thing because I don’t think the general population knows enough about Spanish history in the Americas and without that, one can’t really understand Asian American history either.

There’s also diversity behind the camera. Director Adrian Molina is Mexican American and co-wrote (with  Matthew Aldrich) and co-directed (with Lee Unkrich) the 2017 “Coco.”  Domee Shi is a Canadian of Chinese descent won an Oscar for Best Animated Short film for her 2018 “Bao” and became the first woman with sole director’s credit for the 2022 feature film “Turning Red.” Madeline Sharafian is of Armenian descent and she wrote and directed the Oscar-nominated 2020 short “Burrow.”

The screenplay was written by Julia Cho (“Turning Red”), Mark Hammer and Mike Jones. Jones was also no the writing team for the 2021 “Luca.”

Pixar animators studied larval insects and microscopic creatures like the tardigrade in developing the aliens. Glordon and his father are inspired by the tardigrade (as well as Japanese Mecha science fiction), but Ambassador Questa is inspired by an extinct order of stem-group arthropods: Radiodonta. For character reference, Ambassador Questa (Jameela Jamil) of the planet Gom is the pink floating creature with antenna. Ambassador Helix (Brandon Moon) is the round pleasantly plump character from the planet Falluvinum. Ambassador Tegmen is the rock-like character (Matthias Schweighöfer). Ambassador Mira (Anissa Borrego) is the big-headed red-eyed alien. There are more ambassadors and the casting takes full advantage of their presence to give this film diversity: Ana de la Reguera (Ambassador Turais), Atsuko Okatsuka (Ambassador Naos), Naomi Watanabe (Ambassador Auva) and Anissa Borrego (Ambassador Mira).

References to the Past

The film has nods to the past such as Gunther’s last name, Melmac, which is the name of the planet that the alien in the 1980s sitcom “Alf” was from. Fans of the feature film “Elemental” might recognize OOOOO which had a cameo. The rabbit from the Pixar short “Burrow” is briefly seen on Elio’s phone case.

I wondered if the name of the Air Force base (Montez) was a reference to Dr. Rodolfo Montez Jr., an astrophysicist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.

• Astronomy Chat with Rodolfo Montez Jr. (18 February 2017)
• Rodolfo Montez Jr., Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian

Star Trek fans might recognize the voice of Kate Mulgrew (Captain Janeway in “Star Trek: Voyager’),  who is the narrator for a museum exhibit.

“Elio” will be released in the US on 20 June 2025. Go for the beautifully imagined Communiverse and the wonderful costume Elio gets to wear as the Earth ambassador. After the press screening ended, I immediately looked in the Disney Store for the cape and cool shoes, but was terribly disappointed. Don’t forget to stay for a mid-credits scene.