Spoilers ELIO movie discussion thread

[Admiral Archer]

How is this movie so far under the radar? My spoiler free review is as follows:

"Elio" is a fantastic science fiction animated film with an original story concept, released by Disney and Pixar. The film follows a young boy named Elio who is obsessed with aliens and spends all his time trying to make contact with them.

For such an obscure film that has bombed at the box office, Elio is incredibly refreshing and beautifully heartwarming. It definitely is an emotional roller coaster with an incredible soundtrack score. For us trekkies there is a wonderful Easter egg that will make you tear up for sure.

I highly recommend Elio. It's my favorite movie of the summer and of the past two or three years at least. In a world filled with unnecessary prequels, sequels and remakes that go on and on, Elio is proof that original story concepts in Hollywood should still be worth investing in.

EDIT: although my review is spoiler free, I did post this in a Spoiler tagged thread for a reason. So spoilers are welcome to discuss! If anyone wishes to avoid spoilers, go back now! You have been warned.

 

[Caretaker]

I'll probably go see this on Independence Day.

 

[JD]

My mom and I saw it on Tuesday and we both thought it was great. It's admittedly not the most original story, but it was very well told. It had a great cast and characters, and the designs for the aliens and the Communiverse were spectacular.

Spoiler: Star Trek Easter Egg

And having Kate Mulgrew narrate the Voyager documentary at the museum was brilliant, and I'm assuming that was not a coincidence.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I saw it today and I loved it. In fact, I enjoyed it a lot more considering the rough production history the film had (a large portion of the film was reworked...after the first trailer was released) and I felt like the final trailer gave off a generic kids space adventure vibe. I was delighted that not only was my assumption wrong, but that the film had a strong core message about repairing damaged familial relations while struggling with loneliness due to the loss of both parents. I thought that was a lovely message to deliver to children, which continues a long Pixar tradition of depicting child conflicts in a mature manner. Because of that, it's no surprise that Domee Shi (Turning Red) and Adrian Molina (Coco) were two of the directors for the film.

For such an obscure film that has bombed at the box office...

While I wouldn't say any Pixar film is obscure, I am disappointed that it has done so poorly in the box office. This was one of the best Pixar films in recent years and I hope the studio doesn't have the wrong takeaway from it because I want Pixar to continue to create stories like this one.

Spoiler: Star Trek Easter Egg

And having Kate Mulgrew narrate the Voyager documentary at the museum was brilliant, and I'm assuming that was not a coincidence.

I recognized her voice right away but I couldn't place it until she said "Voyager" and then I broke out in a great big grin. No way that was a coincidence. The moment felt akin to Peter Davison narrating the planetarium in an episode of Sherlock (even if Mulgrew doesn't have any connections with Pixar or this film's directors).

 

[Samurai8472]

The director speaks about that cameo

Spoiler

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[JD]

It's nice to hear how that came about.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

The Hollywood Reporter has publsihed some extremely disappointing news. Following the heels of Win or Lose, Elio also made major cuts to change Elio's portrayal as a queer-coded character:

According to multiple insiders who spoke to The Hollywood Reporter, Elio was initially portrayed as a queer-coded character, reflecting original director Adrian Molina’s identity as an openly gay filmmaker. Other sources say that Molina did not intend the film to be a coming out story, as the character is 11. But either way, this characterization gradually faded away throughout the production process as Elio became more masculine following feedback from leadership. Gone were not only such direct examples of his passion for environmentalism and fashion, but also a scene in Elio’s bedroom with pictures suggesting a male crush. Hints at the trash fashion remain in the released film, with the boy wearing a cape decorated with discarded cutlery and soda can tabs, although without any explanation for the unusual attire.​

The article goes into details about how, after the film's initial screening in Arizona, there was a major exodus of talent leaving the production including Adrian Molina and America Ferrera:

Sources tell THR that Ferrara had already recorded dialogue for the film but that her decision to exit was attributed to Molina’s departure, not to mention that frequently being called back to rerecord lines due to script changes likely took its toll. Says the former Pixar artist, “America was upset that there was no longer Latinx representation in the leadership.” (Ferrera did not to respond to a request for comment, nor did Molina.)​

What also stands out is how I (and others I've seen on social media) have enjoyed Elio and thought we got the better version based on the vastly different first trailer, but those who worked on Molina's original version far preferred it over the released version:

The changes to Elio were clear to one former Pixar artist who worked on the film and asked to remain anonymous: “It was pretty clear through the production of the first version of the film that [studio leaders] were constantly sanding down these moments in the film that alluded to Elio’s sexuality of being queer.”​

.​

.​

.​

“Suddenly, you remove this big, key piece, which is all about identity, and Elio just becomes about totally nothing,” says the former Pixar artist. “The Elio that is in theaters right now is far worse than Adrian’s best version of the original.” Adds another former Pixar staffer who worked on the film: “[The character] Elio was just so cute and so much fun and had so much personality, and now he feels much more generic to me.”​

​

Perhaps most concerning and most disappointing is how this appears to be coming from Pixar itself and not Disney and how this direction will be effecting future productions including Hoppers, their next film:

​

But did the decisions to downplay Elio’s queer themes actually come from the parent company? Insiders aren’t so sure. “A lot of people like to blame Disney, but the call is coming from inside the house,” says the artist. “A lot of it is obeying-in-advance behavior, coming from the higher execs at Pixar.” The person cites such examples as next year’s animated feature Hoppers having to tone down themes of environmentalism and also reveals that a movie in early development got a startling note: “That director was told, ‘You can’t have divorce in this movie,’ which is so wild.” A different source with knowledge of the project downplays the notion of this representing major meddling and sees such suggestions as typical of any early development process, noting there was no mandate prohibiting divorce.​

 

[suarezguy]

From the trailer it looked way too much like Lilo & Stitch, not itself really original and now some 20 years old and by unfortunate coincidence getting its own it's-been-enough-time LA remake just a bit earlier this summer.

Pixar does tend to be pretty un-subtle, not sure what having (strong) environmentalist themes and/or still having them them but in toned down form would be, either form could be really embraced and/or pretty rejected, was big obvious part of widely beloved WALL-E but I guess outside of future setting, even still in sci fi/futurist-y setting, and now a lot of people being yet more extreme/divided, could seem pretty different, more risky, shouldn't be that risky to where can't be included but when so much money is spent, at stake toning down seems not really surprising.

 

[JD]

The Hollywood Reporter has publsihed some extremely disappointing news. Following the heels of Win or Lose, Elio also made major cuts to change Elio's portrayal as a queer-coded character:

According to multiple insiders who spoke to The Hollywood Reporter, Elio was initially portrayed as a queer-coded character, reflecting original director Adrian Molina’s identity as an openly gay filmmaker. Other sources say that Molina did not intend the film to be a coming out story, as the character is 11. But either way, this characterization gradually faded away throughout the production process as Elio became more masculine following feedback from leadership. Gone were not only such direct examples of his passion for environmentalism and fashion, but also a scene in Elio’s bedroom with pictures suggesting a male crush. Hints at the trash fashion remain in the released film, with the boy wearing a cape decorated with discarded cutlery and soda can tabs, although without any explanation for the unusual attire.​

The article goes into details about how, after the film's initial screening in Arizona, there was a major exodus of talent leaving the production including Adrian Molina and America Ferrera:

Sources tell THR that Ferrara had already recorded dialogue for the film but that her decision to exit was attributed to Molina’s departure, not to mention that frequently being called back to rerecord lines due to script changes likely took its toll. Says the former Pixar artist, “America was upset that there was no longer Latinx representation in the leadership.” (Ferrera did not to respond to a request for comment, nor did Molina.)​

What also stands out is how I (and others I've seen on social media) have enjoyed Elio and thought we got the better version based on the vastly different first trailer, but those who worked on Molina's original version far preferred it over the released version:

The changes to Elio were clear to one former Pixar artist who worked on the film and asked to remain anonymous: “It was pretty clear through the production of the first version of the film that [studio leaders] were constantly sanding down these moments in the film that alluded to Elio’s sexuality of being queer.”​

.​

.​

.​

“Suddenly, you remove this big, key piece, which is all about identity, and Elio just becomes about totally nothing,” says the former Pixar artist. “The Elio that is in theaters right now is far worse than Adrian’s best version of the original.” Adds another former Pixar staffer who worked on the film: “[The character] Elio was just so cute and so much fun and had so much personality, and now he feels much more generic to me.”​

​

Perhaps most concerning and most disappointing is how this appears to be coming from Pixar itself and not Disney and how this direction will be effecting future productions including Hoppers, their next film:

​

But did the decisions to downplay Elio’s queer themes actually come from the parent company? Insiders aren’t so sure. “A lot of people like to blame Disney, but the call is coming from inside the house,” says the artist. “A lot of it is obeying-in-advance behavior, coming from the higher execs at Pixar.” The person cites such examples as next year’s animated feature Hoppers having to tone down themes of environmentalism and also reveals that a movie in early development got a startling note: “That director was told, ‘You can’t have divorce in this movie,’ which is so wild.” A different source with knowledge of the project downplays the notion of this representing major meddling and sees such suggestions as typical of any early development process, noting there was no mandate prohibiting divorce.​

It seems strange to me that they're suddenly banning all of that stuff from their movies, when I'm pretty sure we've seen all of them in past Pixar movies. What changed? Did some new super hardcore conservative right winger suddenly take over the company or something?

 

[The Nth Doctor]

It seems strange to me that they're suddenly banning all of that stuff from their movies, when I'm pretty sure we've seen all of them in past Pixar movies. What changed? Did some new super hardcore conservative right winger suddenly take over the company or something?

Capitulating to the current president (as talked about in the article but I chose not quote here). Pure and simple.

 

[JD]

That's incredibly aggravating.

 

[Orac]

Wait, what? Does the POTUS get final cut on Pixar movies now?

Spoiler: Spoilers for Elio

Watched it last night and I liked it. I enjoyed the parts with Carl Sagan and Kate Mulgrew in them.

I wonder if the original cut of the movie will one day be a special feature on a generation 3 DVD?

Many such futures are possible.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Sorry to keep dredging this up, but this is really disappointing:

io9: Pete Docter Defends Cutting LGBTQ Content From Pixar Movies With Cowardice

Longtime studio alum Pete Docter spoke to the Wall Street Journal recently about a number of things, including some recent duds like Elio and Lightyear. The former had an LGBTQ storyline cut that many who worked on it argued made for a better and more complete movie than what hit theaters in 2025. According to Docter, this aspect of the film was cut because the studio didn’t want kids seeing things they weren’t prepared for or hadn’t talked about with their parents. “We’re making a movie,” he said, “not hundreds of millions of dollars of therapy.”​

​

Now, it’s worth noting that over the decades, Pixar has explored topics such as, but limited to: becoming a widower, suddenly becoming a single or adoptive parent, environmental collapse, existential dread, motherhood, and job burnout. The first Incredibles has a subplot where Elastigirl thinks Mr. Incredible is having an affair, Toy Story 3 has the toys accept death by furnace, and Elemental is about interracial relationships. The last two movies Docter directed were Soul, which is about a Black man finding joy in his life again, and Inside Out—maybe the most therapy-ass movie (and series) in the studio’s entire 40-year tenure—is about messy preteen emotions that lead to its main character running away from home.​

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Suffice to say, Pixar specializes in playing therapist or mediator for many things parents probably wouldn’t want to chat about with their young’uns. Docter’s comment sucks, and illustrates how empathy and personhood only goes so far.​

​

I'd go to the original source, Wall Street Journal, but the article is paywalled so we'll have to settle for io9's coverage of the article. I've already seen this pop up on social media (well, Blue Sky anyways) and I'm really bummed about this comment. Especially from Pete Docter who I've largely respected since the beginning of his career at Pixar.

 

[JD]

Yeah, that's a bullshit reason. Kids shows and movies have a long history of dealing with topics like this. Isn't that a big part of why shows like Sesame Street exist?