Story

Since the dawn of time, humans have gazed at the stars and wondered if we’re alone. And no one feels more alone than young Elio (voice of Yonas Kibreab), who lost both of his parents when he was young and was taken in by his loving Aunt Olga (voice of Zoe Saldana), who sacrificed her career as an astronaut to stay on a military base and care for Elio.

When Elio comes across a deserted exhibit at a museum, he becomes obsessed with ‘Voyager’, a mechanical mission sent into space years before he was born. Voyager was programmed with an audio message that scientists were hoping would be intercepted by alien life forms, leading to a new age of intergalactic communication and shared knowledge. But as Elio grows older, he feels more and more alone, and more and more as though he doesn’t belong here on Earth. He lays on the beach begging to be abducted by a spaceship and does everything he can to communicate with extraterrestrials.

Finally, one night, he hears the message he’s been waiting for. The adults and military personnel completely ignore it, so Elio sends his own response and soon finds himself sucked onto a spacecraft and brought to the ‘Communiverse’ where all the greatest alien minds come to share their understandings. Wanting desperately to join them, Elio allows the community to believe that he is Earth’s ambassador and when the Communiverse is threatened by Lord Grigon (voice of Brad Garrett), Elio promises to negotiate with the warlord and broker peace for them all.

Things don’t quite go according to plan and Elio is placed in a dungeon, while Lord Grigon prepares his army for war. Meanwhile, Elio makes friends with Lord Grigon’s son Glordon (voice of Remy Edgerly), who doesn’t want to follow in the footsteps of his father and who agrees to be Elio’s bargaining chip to ensure that the Communiverse is left in peace. But once again, Elio’s plan falls apart when his betrayal is discovered and he’s sent back to Earth. It seems that all his efforts were in vain, until he discovers that there’s no greater love than that of a parent for their child, that parents come in many different forms, and that he's never been truly alone.

Themes

Bullying; aliens; loneliness; family breakdown; death of parents; separation from parents; cloning; revenge

Violence

Elio has some violence. For example:

• Elio attacks and bites a teenager on the beach.
• Elio is punched in the face by a bunch of bullies. Elio’s clone later takes the full hit.
• Lord Grigon threatens to destroy the Communiverse.
• Lord Grigon shoots a fluffy little creature. He does this repeatedly and encourages Elio to do the same.
• Elio tries to miss by shooting at a metal beam instead of the creature, but the bullet bounces off and hits the creature anyway.
• Lord Grigon uses a massive weapon capable of firing numerous rounds at once and shoots at hundreds of tiny creatures simultaneously.
• A cloned Elio cuts off his finger with gardening shears and then simply reattaches it.
• Elio is locked in a cell with a skeleton.
• Elio must crawl into Glordon’s teeth-filled mouth to escape being burned by lava.
• Lord Grigon and his army fire on the Communiverse and attack the aliens gathered there.
• Elio is shoved into a portal and, as he falls back to Earth, he watches the Communiverse leaders being pushed to the floor with weapons at their heads.
• Elio and his aunt are repeatedly hit by falling debris as they navigate their way back into space. Their shields begin to fail and Glordon slowly freezes.
• All the members of the Communiverse are imprisoned by Lord Grigon.
• Lord Grigon wants his son to be a war machine and he talks about death and destruction.

Sexual references

There are no sexual references in Elio.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

Elio has some substance use – for example, Elio is presented a drink in a fancy type of wine glass when he first arrives at the Communiverse.

Nudity and sexual activity

There’s no nudity and sexual activity in Elio.

Product placement

There’s no product placement in Elio.

Coarse language

Elio has some coarse language – for example, ‘butt’.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Elio is an animated, science-fiction adventure from Pixar Studios. The movie blends realistic animations, vibrant visuals and heartfelt emotion as it delves into the personal and complex topics of identity and belonging. It’s best suited to viewers over the age of 8.

These are the main messages from Elio:

• Embrace your individuality and stay true to yourself.
• Imagination can help you understand yourself and the world around you.
• Families come in all shapes and sizes.
• Feeling different can be isolating, but you’re never truly alone.

Values in Elio that you could reinforce with your children are creativity, determination, courage, resilience, open-mindedness, communication and co-operation.

Elio could also give you the chance to talk with your children about the real-life consequences of things like these:

• Letting the behaviour or opinions of others determine how you feel about yourself.
• Fighting, bullying or using violence instead of trying to find a peaceful solution.
• Being dishonest about who you are.
• Failing to communicate how you really feel.
• Cloning.