Elio - 4K Digital Review

[Michael Scott]

Elio

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
As an '80s and '90s child, I was there at the dawn of Pixar’s founding. I was there, watching in rapt attention, when Toy Story hit in 1995 and literally took the movie-going world by storm. Then became that quintessential teen who watched every single one of their movies right around the turn of the century. As the years progressed, so did my role in the world and in cinema, but I was still no less of a fan of Pixar’s work. Instead of that eager kid, I was that eager uncle who introduced the younger generation to Buzz, Woody, and the rest of the crew, all the while still eager as could be to watch what was next. Then came the fall of the largest animated giant since Disney’s golden era decades and decades ago. John Lasseter left the company, Covid hit, and Pixar’s rule as king of the roost for the last 25 years was coming to an end. Dreamworks and 20th Century Fox productions started to rise in quality (How to Train Your Dragon was a massive paradigm shift for the other studios), and both Pixar and Disney proper were becoming interchangeable. Pixar films were looking more and more like Disney productions, while Disney Productions' animation style and storytelling became more and more like Pixar, to the point where they almost seemed like one mono-studio anymore. Couple that with a massive cultural shift during the Covid lockdowns, and we started seeing the cracks expanding at an ever rapidly increasing pace. Films were becoming less and less unique, with each subsequent Pixar film doing less and less at the box office. Starting with Onward, the studio’s animated films seemed to lose what made them so special and unique, with the stories becoming more and more bland as time went on. There were some fun movies like Luca, Inside Out 2, and even Elemental (which wasn’t that great, but had some strange legs to it that turned it into a hit, surprisingly), but overall, the films coming out were barely making money. Lightyear was the one that shook the studio to its core, as what was supposed to be a massive tentpole animated film from the beloved universe that started the entire studio just fizzled at the box office. Then came Elemental, which looked like it wasn’t even going to make a profit, only to have some incredible legs. But, no matter the reason, no matter the cause, Pixar no longer could just print money indiscriminately like they had in the past with their animated films. Elio came and went in the box offices in record time, flopping so hard that it has become Pixar’s Waterworld or Cutthroat Island. The film earned a paltry $21 million domestically and $153-$154 million world wide on a budget that was estimated to be almost $200 million (and don’t forget, that $154 million doesn’t take into account for the theaters cuts, nor the lesser amount they pull from worldwide licensing), marking it as one of the very few actual LOSSES that Pixar has sustained over the last 30 years.

All of that pontificating to say, Elio is not going to be a smash hit. Honestly, going into this, I had no idea what I was going to see. The marketing had been pretty weak, and online theories regarding the box office flop were coming from every angle. It was too woke, it was too boring, it was safe, it didn’t have enough representation, it had too much, it was just Guardians of the Galaxy for kids, it was too adult, it was too childish. The list goes on and on. But after watching it, I think there’s a much simpler answer that is hidden inside of a more complex one. That answer is that Elio is a perfectly serviceable animated kids' film. But that’s the problem. It’s perfectly serviceable amidst an entire history of legendary hit after hit after hit. Pixar had flown so high that if they weren’t on their A game, then a single misfire could mean they put out an “OK” movie, instead of a summer event that the entire film swarmed to the theater to go see. The other side of the coin is that Pixar is really struggling with creativity lately. Like much of the cinematic world, they’re either working on remakes and sequels (something that Pixar refused to do for YEARS), and anything new IP just doesn’t have the creativity behind it to make things work. But no matter the reason, Elio is simply a middle-of-the-road animated film with a cute storyline, good graphics, and not much else.

Elio tells the story of young Elio Solis (Yonas Kibreab), a young boy who has just lost his parents, and is now living with his aunt Olga (Zoe Sadana) in the meantime. Poor Elio suffers from low self-esteem and loneliness after his parents' loss, which is only made worse as he and his aunt butt heads over their new living situation. Olga is swamped with her job as a Major in the U.S. Space Force, and is struggling to learn how to parent when she’s just been thrown into the role. Elio sees her frustration as just another sign that no one wants him, so when he overhears a conversation on base about a possible message from extraterrestrials, the lad slips in and sends a message back in hopes that the aliens would come and take him away from Earth, where he could possibly belong. And guess what, they do respond, by beaming him up in their spaceship and taking him to an intergalactic space station that houses ambassadors to every known race and species in the universe. A federation….errr….community of like-minded individuals dedicated to peace and exploration.

Mistaking Elio for the leader of Earth, the community of ambassadors offers him the chance at being the ambassador for Earth, as long as he can pass their screening tests. At first, Elio is absolutely ecstatic. It’s all he’s ever wanted in life. A purpose, meaning, and with aliens that actually exist, proving his kooky “theories” correct. But there comes a catch in the form of Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett), a blood thirsty warlord who also wants into the community as an ambassador for his people. But when the other ambassadors see his blood lust, they refuse acceptance to the group, setting in motion the battle-obsessed warlord’s need for revenge. Now it’s up to Elio to see if he can save the entire community by talking down Lord Grigon, and POSSIBLY making a few real friends along the way.

At the end of the day, Elio is actually pretty cute. I like the movie way more than the box office suggested I would, which surprised this jaded cinema goer quite a bit. From the scuttlebutt online, it was one of the biggest flops of the year, and I expected another snoozefest like Lightyear or Onward. But honestly, Elio was simple, but rather fun. The story is a bit more “early 2000s” in feel than 2025 (which is actually a good thing), and the film leaves a lot of the controversial stuff off the table. Personally, I found it a sweet and heartwarming story whose only real downside is that it never goes beyond surface deep. Which leaves the film feeling a bit hollow and cheaper than it could have been. Pixar is legendary for crafting deep and intricate stories about friendship, love, caring, and life. But Elio suffers from some of the same hiccups that early 2000s Disney proper suffered from regarding not being that deep and exploring complex themes. The themes were there, but the tale just touched on them briefly and then jumped straight ahead. That being said, it's not a problem per se, just a limitation that keeps Elio at mid-tier status rather than one of the Pixar greats.




Rating:

Rated PG for some action/peril and thematic elements.




Video:

As usual, I’m refraining from giving an official score to the audio and video sections due to the fact that this review was taken from a streaming source. But the results were fantastic on my 4K Sony X950H, with an amazing array of bright and rich colors and shades due to the extraterrestrial nature of the story. Bright blues, purples, deep shades of black, and everything in between dominate the color palette, and detail levels are superb. That being said, the Pixar “creativity loss” doesn’t just extend to the story, but also the animation style as well. Elio looks a bit TOO MUCH like the last 5 or 6 Pixar films, just with a different color grading. The unique designs of the '90s and 2000s are gone, and in their place is a fairly generic “Pixar look” of the last 7 or 8 years. But that’s not really a knock about the encode, but rather another introspective look at the state of the studio. End result, this picture looks GREAT, even with a bitrate-starved stream. I can only imagine what the Blu-ray and 4K look like.








Audio:

Much like the video, the audio is quite impressive, though it does suffer from the typical level balancing issue that Pixar/Disney titles are known for. A good 3 DB push on my receiver and everything sounds normal again, with a solid dynamic range, good vocals, and some nice surround usage with the space conflict with Lord Grigon. The bass was a bit anemic, but not surprising, as most Atmos streams seem to suffer from compression issues that affect LFE the most. Overall, the track sounds good and robust, and should please most people.







Extras:

• Deleted Scenes
• The Making of Elio
• An Astro Q&A
• Astronomic Art Class
• Extraterrestrial Easter Eggs
• Galactic Gag Reel

Final Score: ​

Elio is a fun little story about a kid learning that people and acceptance come from many different areas, and not just when we’re scared and hurt after life throws a curveball at you. It may not be top-tier Pixar, but I certainly feel the film got a worse rap online than it truly deserves. This is one of those kids' films that is 99% safe and harmless, doesn’t really attempt greatness, and got lambasted at the box office due to poor marketing and a worn-out audience. But it certainly is a solid watch, and I’m giving it a single thumbs up as a cute watch.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Lewis Pullman, David Harbour, Wyatt Russell
Directed by: Adrian Molina, Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi
Written by: Julia Cho, Mark Hammer, Mike Jones
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos
Subtitles: English, Spanish
Studio: Marvel
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 97 Minutes
Digital Release Date: August 19th, 2025

Recommendation: Decent Watch

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