"Elio" Talkback (Spoilers)

[Classic Speedy]

We don't actually have a talkback for this movie, just a thread worrying about whether it'll be successful. So let's rectify that.

Anyway, I saw it today. My initial reaction is that it's... fine. Not great, but hardly bottom tier Pixar. More thoughts later as I formulate them.

EDIT: As promised, some more thoughts, done in my oh-so-predictable Pros/Cons style.

Pros: -The movie's a lot better than the trailer makes it out to be. I seriously think that trailer is one of Pixar's worst, it makes it look completely derivative (which unfortunately may explain its less than stellar box office).

-The floating alien city is a sight to behold and looks like it would be fun to visit. The scenes on Earth look positively flat by comparison, which might be the point.

-I liked the scene where Elio and his mom have to navigate back to the alien city and get relayed instructions on comets and other floating objects to avoid as they're traveling at near light speed.

-One of the bullies confides to Elio that he doesn't really hate him like the other one does; that was a nice touch, to show how easily one can succumb to peer pressure in a group.

-Some of the music was just beautiful. I'm thinking of the first ten minutes in particular, when Elio gazes at the heavens and wants to go there.

Cons: -Some of the alien creatures aren't very developed. This has been a problem of Pixar's for a while, to be honest; in the process of giving us a ton of background characters, few break through as memorable.

-

Spoiler

The villain of the movie wants his son (Glordon, the white thing in the forefront of the poster) to become a war machine, following in his footsteps. The last third of the movie is a conflict over that, but what happens when his son almost dies? He basically goes "it's okay, you don't have to". Underwhelming.

-Speaking of, was it ever made clear what Glordon was dying from? Maybe there was an explanation and I missed it, but it just seemed to come out of nowhere.

-The whole "clone Elio taking real Elio's place while he's having fun in space" isn't a very original idea. And it took his mom a little too long to realize that was an imposter- she goes for a couple scenes thinking that one night in boarding school caused a complete 180 of his personality? Come on.

-Why do so many kids' movies start with the parents dead? That WAS a cliche, I can't believe they're still doing this. It did give Elio a motivation for wanting to leave Earth behind, but why did it have to be due to tragedy? Why can't he just be really curious about the unexplored?

-I'm kinda getting tired of this recent Pixar art style. We've seen variants of it in Luca, Turning Red, Elemental, and now this... time to switch it up, guys.

 

[RoyalRubble]

From the front page of AnimeSuperhero.com.

"Elio Had A Pretty Lousy First Weekend"​

"Pixar’s latest idea, Elio, did not exactly blast off. The space adventure took in just $35 million globally during its opening weekend, and just $21 million domestically. Elio landed at #3 on the box office charts, behind the opening of 28 Years Later and the second domineering week of Dreamworks’ How To Train Your Dragon remake. It’s officially the lowest-opening film in the studio’s history.

There are many theories being thrown around for why this happened. First off, let’s throw away the grim “people don’t want original movies” idea, because it’s not true. We can’t claim Elio had a bad reputation, either, as most critical reviews have been very positive. So why the snub?"

Click here to continue reading.

 

[Spacething7474]

I thought it was decent, but it's definitely one of the weakest Pixar films (at least bottom 5); It had good jokes and visuals and some interesting plots, but a good amount of issues, like:


-Elio's parents being dead is cliche and lame

-Elio and Olga are meh characters and I didn't care for their plot that much

-the conflict between Bryce, Caleb and Elio and how it started was beyond stupid (and just way too convienient that they also have relatives in the Air Force)

-the conflict about Elio not being the chosen one and lying to them or something was confusing and dumb

-Lord Grigon's introduction and apology both kinda come out of left field

-While the space debris scene was nice in proving Melmac right and redeeming Bryce (though it should've redeemed Caleb too since the conflict was largely Elio's fault), it kinda felt like padding since Grigon likely could've killed all the aliens during that time

-Elio choosing to leave the aliens to go back to "Uh, Earth?", is very weak, as the aliens are advanced enough to come with him and Olga (and powerful enough to stop the Air Force and others that could attack them)


Also at one point I think I spotted an error were the real Glordon (the one on the right in that scene) gets in the hiding ship even though the clone Glordon was the one on the right earlier, I thought the twist would be that the real Glordon acidentally went to his Dad and that would've been kinda interesting.

I hear this film went a lot of revisions (like Olga being Elio's Mom instead of his Aunt) and it kinda shows.

 

[Surreal Kangaroo]

Also at one point I think I spotted an error were the real Glordon (the one on the right in that scene) gets in the hiding ship even though the clone Glordon was the one on the right earlier, I thought the twist would be that the real Glordon acidentally went to his Dad and that would've been kinda interesting.

Yeah I noticed that too. I was expecting the clone to go in the ship and their plan to unravel that way.

Anyways I saw it today. I liked it. It’s not the best Pixar movie but it was still solid. I really liked the character designs and how they designed the alien worlds. I hope it catches on in streaming because I would like a sequel where Glordon (and the others) visit Earth.

Maybe slightly off topic but am I the only one who was expecting more out of the teaser to Hoppers.

 

[Spacething7474]

I hope it catches on in streaming because I would like a sequel where Glordon (and the others) visit Earth.

Maybe slightly off topic but am I the only one who was expecting more out of the teaser to Hoppers.

I do too, since I feel the premise would work a bit better as a show over a movie.

The teaser to Hoppers at the end was bizarre since (for all we know) it's a seperate film and a sequel to something connected to it like post-credits scenes usually are, it just had me trying to think back to a scene from Elio that featured that lizard.

 

[Surreal Kangaroo]

Here’s the original teaser showing a radically different plot. It makes me wonder why a trailer was even made before the plot was finalized and/or why did they overhaul the plot so much when a trailer was already out. Also I’m guessing Glordon didn’t exist in this version (or he was a much smaller role).

 

[Classic Speedy]

I thought it was decent, but it's definitely one of the weakest Pixar films (at least bottom 5);

I'd rank it better than Toy Story 4, Onward, The Good Dinosaur and Cars 2. Definitely not as good as its previous films Inside Out 2 and Elemental though.

 

[Spacething7474]

I'd rank it better than Toy Story 4, Onward, The Good Dinosaur and Cars 2. Definitely not as good as its previous films Inside Out 2 and Elemental though.

I like Toy Story 4 and Onward but they aren't my favorites, Good Dinosaur's also in my bottom 5 (might even be bottom 1) but it's okay, and Cars 2 is actually my favorite of the trilogy. Inside Out 2 and Elemental were definitely better.

 

[AdrenalineRush1996]

Saw Elio on Saturday and I really enjoyed it but it’s a huge shame that it’s not performing well at the box office, not helped by the fact that it came out on the same day as 28 Years Later.

If I’m honest with you, Disney could’ve just moved the film to later this year to avoid competition with next month’s tentpole film treble that are Jurassic World Rebirth, Superman and The Fantastic Four: First Steps.

Here’s the original teaser showing a radically different plot. It makes me wonder why a trailer was even made before the plot was finalized and/or why did they overhaul the plot so much when a trailer was already out. Also I’m guessing Glordon didn’t exist in this version (or he was a much smaller role).

They overhauled the film after the original director left to do Coco 2, so it was definitely after the teaser’s release.

 

[Spacething7474]

Wait I just remembered that the blooper reels they made for Elio didn't even appear during the credits so 0/10 worst Pixar movie ever.

On a more intriguing note, here's someone's theory about how the bloopers come from the initial version of the film.

 

[19MagiswordLane]

The Hollywood Reporter has the deets on all the behind the scenes troubles for the film, one of them being the confirmation that Elio himself was supposed to be a LGBTQ character.

Inside ‘Elio’s’ “Catastrophic” Path: America Ferrera’s Exit, Director Change and Erasure of Queer Themes

Creatives at Pixar who saw the original director's previous cut of 'Elio' tell THR about the movie's challenging production process: "'Elio' just [became] about totally nothing."

www.hollywoodreporter.com

 

[Elijah Abrams]

The Hollywood Reporter has the deets on all the behind the scenes troubles for the film, one of them being the confirmation that Elio himself was supposed to be a LGBTQ character.

Inside ‘Elio’s’ “Catastrophic” Path: America Ferrera’s Exit, Director Change and Erasure of Queer Themes

Creatives at Pixar who saw the original director's previous cut of 'Elio' tell THR about the movie's challenging production process: "'Elio' just [became] about totally nothing."

www.hollywoodreporter.com

Yeesh, after reading this, no wonder Disney didn’t market the film much and let it flop at the box office.

 

[Classic Speedy]

There was a curiously detached feeling to a lot of the movie, some early scenes aside. That article explains a lot why I felt that way.

 

[glennbyrnes]

I read that although Snow White did poorly at the box office, it's on top of the charts on Disney+ That means that there might be hope for Eilo there too.

 

[DeanBurrito25]

I got to see Elio over the Independence Day holiday. Disney's marketing really dropped the ball here, because I thought it was much better than advertised! Considering how much development hell the movie underwent, I still think what we got was a solid final product. I enjoyed the themes and loved the alien creature designs, but I'm a sucker for sci-fi, so that was going to win me over regardless. Glordon is best boy.

Spoiler

I swear the shot of the sun rising above the other side of the Earth as Elio and his aunt were navigating the debris field literally made my jaw drop. I didn't expect that at all! The final scene was poignant as well.

It sucks that we've reached a point where new (original!) Pixar movies are box office bombs, especially on the heels of the first Toy Story's 30th anniversary later in the year, but this is just where we're at in this post pandemic, IP heavy Hollywood landscape right now. These things tend to be cyclical and maybe we'll reach a point where it's not as tough anymore. For now, I hope Elio earns back its budget in the long run like "Elemental".

 

[Moe]

Yeesh, after reading this, no wonder Disney didn’t market the film much and let it flop at the box office.

It would be gamble, so higher marketing cost may not translate to successful at box office and Disney could lose more money on marketing that is not included in movie budget.

Also, competition, Disney+ effect and Disney forced filmmakers to make a change to LGBT that upset many audience hurt this movie.

Disney cares about sequel like Toy Story more than new IP.

 

[Elijah Abrams]

Disney cares about sequel like Toy Story more than new IP.

This is basically one of the reasons why I am so excited for Bob Iger to finally leave Disney (and never come back, no matter what happens) next year. The company needs a big overhaul so it can win its trust with its fans again, among other things.

 

[Moe]

This is basically one of the reasons why I am so excited for Bob Iger to finally leave Disney (and never come back, no matter what happens) next year. The company needs a big overhaul so it can win its trust with its fans again, among other things.

He will be gone soon and he has been CEO for like nearly 20 years, akin to Michael Eisner who served as CEO for 21 years until retirement in 2005 as many people wanted Michael Eisner to be gone too.

However, back in mid to late 1980s and 1990s, Michael Eisner was popular CEO at that time and Bob Iger was popular CEO in late 2000s and whole 2010s, so his popularity went downhill after pandemic.

Honestly, I don't expect the sudden changes with Disney after new CEO come in and new changes would be phased in, so it take a time. Real reason would be shareholders and investors, so CEO have to make them happy. Don't be surprised if you don't see much changes in short term.

 

[Elijah Abrams]

Honestly, I don't expect the sudden changes with Disney after new CEO come in and new changes would be phased in, so it take a time. Real reason would be shareholders and investors, so CEO have to make them happy. Don't be surprised if you don't see much changes in short term.

I know that. I just wish the changes made by the new regime would go a lot faster, like, as fast as Dash from The Incredibles.

 

[Moe]

I know that. I just wish the changes made by the new regime would go a lot faster, like, as fast as Dash from The Incredibles.

Good luck with shareholders and investors if changes cause Disney to lose the money.

That how they sacked Bob Chapek.

I think it is better to focus on Elio's and not turn into further CEO discussion.

I called situation with Elio's very unfortunate.

Also, I don't like an idea about movie coming to Disney+ within 90 days, so it should increase to 6 months to 10 months like they did back in 2019.