It’s poetic that after numerous production delays, director switches, and screenplay rewrites, Pixar’s latest animated feature, Elio (2025), is finally hitting theaters in the shadow of the massive success of Lilo & Stitch (2025), the live-action remake of the 2002 animated film. There’s no denying that Elio boasts plenty of visual flair, crafted by a highly capable creative team at Pixar. However, almost everything about this story feels indebted to what Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois (who has now directed a live-action remake of his own in How to Train Your Dragon) innovated with Lilo & Stitch decades ago.
The similarities between Elio and Lilo & Stitch are obvious from the plot synopsis alone. Elio Solis (Yonas Ascunsion Kibreab), a troubled young boy with a hyperactive imagination, struggles to connect with his peers and even his aunt and caretaker, Olga Solis (Oscar-winner Zoe Saldaña). He spends his time obsessing over space and the idea of alien lifeforms that exist in the vast stars above him. As Olga struggles to balance her military career with raising her nephew, a rift forms within their small family right before he’s accidentally beamed up to the Communiverse, an interplanetary council comprising representatives from galaxies all over.
Structural Issues Expose a Messy Production History
Things get further complicated when Elio is mistakenly identified as Earth’s leader by the other intergalactic ambassadors. Despite his dreams of making extraterrestrial contact, Elio must learn the responsibility and burden of being Earth’s sole representative and set a good example for the human race. But when Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett) threatens the Communiverse with his fleet of attack ships, Elio is then additionally tasked with negotiating peace with the worm-like warlord, and from there on forms an unlikely friendship with his larval son Glordon (Remy Edgerly).
If this summary of Elio’s adventures reads as convoluted, it’s because the movie itself is. There are three directors attached, and eight different writers have received different screenwriting credits for the numerous iterations of this screenplay. Elio suffers from severe structural and pacing problems that are especially noticeable given its relatively breezy one hour and forty-minute runtime. After nailing the first act and successfully introducing the audience to these colorful characters, most of the narrative cohesion and emotional stakes disappear once Elio reaches the stars, which is the entire selling point of this project.
Elio Strives to Be as Emotionally Complex as Pixar’s Best
Notwithstanding the troubled production, the 3D animation on display is incredibly polished. The jumbled story almost seems like an excuse to throw as much style at the viewer as possible. Elio yearns for abduction by drawing into the sands of a beach that is fully textured and lit with immense detail, the sterile and vast Communiverse is appropriately scaled through a child’s perspective, and there is a sense of “squishiness” to the visuals that previous Pixar movies often neglected to opt for realism. There’s even an edge to Elio that many children’s media lacks nowadays; some entry-level body horror moments hilariously stand out as a much-needed pulse of energy to the film.
Elio also pays homage to classics such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and Alien (1979). However, I’ve made such an emphasis on comparing Elio to Lilo & Stitch because, obviously, both are Disney-produced animated family dramas hidden underneath the spectacle of an alien invasion movie. Furthermore, both were initially difficult to market to general audiences and are subversive in their approach to tackling complex and emotionally poignant topics, such as loneliness, grief, and unconventional family units. In this sense, you can tell how ambitious the filmmakers behind Elio were, and their willingness to explore tough themes to give kids the language to express their juvenile emotions is always honorable.
Due to Pixar’s Obsession with Mass Appeal, Elio Loses in Specificity
I would take a flawed but well-meaning animated flick like this over the cynical and manipulative Lilo & Stitch remake any day. It’s especially ironic that these two Disney projects demonstrate the endurance of animation, even when it’s a mid-tier Pixar film versus a live-action remake of a universally beloved classic. Still, for all of its good-hearted thrills, Elio constantly reminded me of last year’s Bloomberg article about Pixar. It was revealed that the higher-ups at the prestigious animation studio want to focus more on IP-driven sequels and movies with guaranteed mass appeal, stepping away from personal stories like Luca (2021) and Turning Red (2022).
Elio is the first Pixar movie led by a character of Mexican and Dominican descent. While brief moments of cultural specificity exist in the script, they feel like odd leftovers from a prior draft that probably had richer representation. When compared to previous Pixar works that have celebrated cultural identity — even in Elemental (2023), director Peter Sohn went to great lengths to code his protagonist as Korean — Elio’s identity is just a minor detail. Perhaps that’s fine, but if it were given more time to exist outside of subtext, there could be a beautiful tale of a Latino boy forging communities in space that feels extremely relevant in the troubling times we live in.
Like Elemental Before It, Elio is Well-Meaning But Fundamentally Flawed
Moreover, Elio himself could easily be read as an autistic child, and this, not being an explicit representation, is a huge missed opportunity on Pixar’s part. It’s hard to imagine that aspect never came up once in the film’s long development phase. It’s also hard to argue whether elements like this were intentionally erased from the movie. Yet, we know for a fact that the corporate powers over Pixar have been silencing the creatives for years when it comes to spotlighting diverse backgrounds and identities. Look no further than the edited trans plotline in the Win or Lose series on Disney+ as proof.
Pixar was originally put on the map for its brave storytelling in the animation medium, but the corporate disinterest that has been poisoning the iconic studio will, unfortunately, continue to hinder projects as ambitious as Elio. While its conflicting visions and prolonged production have severely kneecapped it, the film ultimately has its heart in the right place. Elio is the only original animated movie in theaters right now, too, and that might be enough of a reason to support it. If you can open your heart to its imperfections and let its visuals sweep you away, there’s still enough childlike wonder to be found in Pixar’s Elio.
Elio hits theaters on June 20!
Release Date: June 20, 2025.
Directed by Domee Shi, Madeline Sharafian, & Adrian Molina.
Screenplay by Julia Cho, Mark Hammer, & Mike Jones.
Story by Domee Shi, Madeline Sharafian, Adrian Molina, & Julia Cho.
Produced by Mary Alice Drumm.
Executive Producers: Pete Docter & Lindsey Collins.
Main Cast: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldaña, Remy Edgerly, Brad Garrett, Jameela Jamil, Shirley Henderson, Matthias Schweighöfer, Brandon Moon, Naomi Watanabe, Ana de la Reguera, & Anissa Borrego.
Cinematographers: Derek Williams & Jordan Rempel.
Composer: Rob Simonsen.
Production Company: Pixar Animation Studios.
Distributor: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.
Runtime: 99 minutes.
Rated PG.
