It was a very exciting day in the Burns family household, our children’s first movie theater experience! While we have weekly Friday movie nights at home, I wanted to wait until they were a little older to take them out. When my youngest turned three, I started a hunt for a movie that they would like: animated ONLY, preferably with animals, no princess storyline necessary. While “Elio” didn’t have animals, it had ALIENS, so I considered that close enough.
“Elio”
Right off the bat, it’s a typical Disney movie, i.e., dead parents. Little Elio (Yonas Kibreab) is sent to live with his Tia Olga (Zoe Saldaña) on the military base. I enjoyed the military representation here; it’s not something I have seen a lot of in children’s films.
Olga’s job has something to do with tracking space debris. Elio, from the start, is OBSESSED with space. The kid builds a special helmet, learns radio signals, and lies out on the beach with an “Aliens Take Me” message written in the sand. At this point, I’m concerned about where Tia is with this kid running amok at all hours, but TBH, if I took my niece in, I’d probably do the same.
Well, lo and behold, Elio is able to send a message to space, and aliens beam him right up! It’s a good day for Elio. They provide him with tools to use for antigravity control and to translate the various alien languages into English. If you’ve seen “True” on Netflix, it reminds me of some of the wishes she receives.
Elio’s fascination with space is rooted in his desire to belong. He feels like the aliens get him in a way that humans don’t. When Elio steps up as “The Leader of Earth,” he volunteers to negotiate with the evil commander in order to join the intergalactic communiverse.
Children’s Review
The film was a fun adventure with a sweet message about friendship and belonging. My 3-year-old daughter left about 70% of the way through to play outside. When I asked her how she felt about the movie, she replied that she was “very nervous.” I questioned if she was nervous about the aliens, or the spaceship crashing, or running out of popcorn, and she stated that it was due to running out of popcorn.
My 4.5-year-old said that she was scared because there were a lot of loud sounds (reminder, this is her first time in a theater, so I attribute that to the theater setting versus the film specifically), but she also said it made her feel very happy.
Movie Times: Click Here
Genre: Animated, Space Sci-Fi
Director: Adrian Molina, Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi
Actors: Yonas Kibreab (Elio), Zoe Saldaña (Olga), Remy Edgerly (Glordon), Brandon Moon (Ambassador Helix)
Run Time: 1h 39m
Rating: Rated PG for some action/peril and thematic elements.
