Elio

The House of Representatives has approved a White House request to claw back two years of previously approved funding for public media. The rescissions package now moves on to the Senate. This move poses a serious threat to local stations and public media as we know it. Please take a stand for public media today at goacpr.org. Thank you.

In the new Pixar film, Elio, a lonely kid dreams of being abducted by aliens. And then one day, it happens. And these aren't just any aliens. They are aliens who need his help to save themselves from a dangerous enemy. Elio, eager to find a place to belong, thinks he's just the one for the job. I'm Linda Holmes, and today we're talking about Elio on Pop Culture.

your happy hour from NPR. Decades ago, Brazilian women made a discovery. They could have an abortion without a doctor, thanks to a tiny pill. That pill spawned a global movement, helping millions of women have safe abortions, regardless of the law. Hear that story on The Network, from NPR's Embedded and Futuro Media, wherever you get your podcasts.

These days, there is a lot of news. It can be hard to keep up with what it means for you, your family, and your community. Consider this from NPR as a podcast that helps you make sense of the news. Six days a week, we bring you a deep dive on a story and provide the context, the backstory, and analysis you need to understand our rapidly changing world. Listen to the Consider This podcast. On the plus side, you get sponsor-free listening to over 25 NPR podcasts.

On the minus side, you get fewer chances to tap fast forward on your podcast player. On the plus side, you get to support something you care about. On the minus side, you like challenges and think this makes it too easy. So why don't you join us on the plus side of things with NPR. Learn more and sign up at plus.npr.org.

With a major shift in our politics underway in this country, 1A is drilling down on what's at stake for you and our democracy. In our weekly series, If You Can Keep It, we put these changes into focus and answer your questions about the impact of the Trump administration on the... Join us every Monday for If You Can Keep It on the 1A podcast from NPR and WAMU. Joining me today is my co-host, Aisha Harris. Hello, Aisha.

Hello, hello, Linda. Also joining us today is the Philadelphia Inquirer's arts and entertainment editor and film critic, Bidatri D. Chaudhry. Hello, Bidatri. Hello, hello. Lovely to be here. And also with us is culture writer Margaret H. Willison. Hello, Margaret. Hi, Linda. Elio Solis is a kid who's pretty lonely. His parents died, so he lives with his Aunt Olga, an Air Force major.

He's fascinated by space, and because Earth is a hard place for him, he dreams of being abducted by aliens and finding a new place to be. One night, to his great surprise, it actually happens. The craft appears, the beam drops. him upward. He meets the occupants of something called the Communiverse, where the smartest and most special beings from different planets gather to think big thoughts and share big ideas. They offer Elio an opportunity to join their ranks, but first they need...

his help. A big scary monster is after them, and they need Elio to negotiate on their behalf. Along the way, he makes a friend named Glorden, he reconsiders his relationship with his aunt, and he even starts to think about Earth a little differently. Elio comes from directors Madeline Sharafian, Domi Shi, and Adrienne Molina. Melina co-wrote and co-directed Coco, and she directed Turning Red. Elio is in theaters now. Aisha, I'm going to start with you. What did you think of Elio?

I came away thinking, oh, that was very cute and funny. There are several moments where I kind of chuckled to myself out loud. And I really thought that there was a lot of beautiful visual imagery here. most of the Pixar movies are very visually stunning but this one felt a little different sometimes it kind of looks like Mario World which is fun and then other times it kind of there's some slow motion effect that looks really cool in animation which we don't often get

So there are some things that it's playing with here. I think it's one of the more memorable of Pixar's more recent outputtings. I don't think it quite rises to the level of the top tier Pixar movies. But it is solid and I enjoyed it. And I think a lot of kids are probably going to enjoy this as well. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's fair. But actually, how'd you feel? I agree with Aisha 100%.

I am a little older than the, I'm guessing, than the aimed demographic of this film. So, led to my reading of it as, you know, this larger question of all of us today asking, especially as... immigrants, what is this idea of home? Where is home? Should we leave when we don't belong? And I don't know, maybe the news is making me read all this into the film. And yeah, it's an extremely cute film. And I laughed.

And I teared up in a few places. But I do think this is like five different Pixar films rolled into one, which doesn't always have to be a bad thing. But yeah. Yeah, I think that's a very reasonable take. Margaret, how about you? I guess I'm the Grinch on this panel. I didn't hate the movie. If you have to take your child to this movie... You'll have a perfectly lovely time. It makes good use of the 90 minutes it keeps you there. It's well paced and everyone in it is roughly appealing.

But then my like snarky critics quip is I just don't understand why Disney felt the need to remake Lilo and Stitch twice in one summer. And that's a quip that I guess also speaks to. I feel like there's like a. specificity to Lilo and Stitch and a spiritedness and a spikiness to the original cartoon that is really lacking in this for me. I just don't feel like...

I had as many hooks into the characters I wanted to. I don't feel like I had as clear an understanding of who they were and how they related to each other outside of some very trite. like established framing devices like oh of course he's an orphan

We're not really going to engage with what it's like to lose a parent in any meaningful way. But, like, you should have that context. He's an orphan. And, of course, his aunt is overwhelmed. But that also describes the movie Megan. And I prefer that movie.

This is not on my bingo card. No, I did not have that. No. I think that I am maybe the person who liked this movie the most on this panel. And I... I really felt like it was a very charming example of the adventure Pixar movie as opposed to sort of the more giant gut punch. of movies like Inside Out or Up or some of those or even like, you know, Toy Story 3, some of those. But I do think that it's a very good example of kind of, like I said, an adventure story with this kid who...

Goes and meets a lot of, I agree with Aisha, a lot of really like fun design in the communiverse, fun design of the critters that he meets. friend glorden that he makes i i really really liked the way that glorden was conceived and animated those sort of critters are cool looking i also really liked the way that they incorporated kind of this more more cuddly Pixar look with the look of this kind of monster being that they have to fight who is sort of from more of a Transformers kind of.

world of kids movies, I liked the way those two things were kind of brought together in a way that I thought worked. I think one of the reasons why...

kids movies when you're an adult can feel trite and can feel repetitive is that you know this is what happens in children's stories is that they often return over and over to these same ideas about wanting to belong and wanting a place where you feel comfortable.

which, you know, as Badatri was mentioning, has a lot of applications for kids and for adults. It's one of the most foundational emotions there is, is that desire to feel grounded in a community. You know, is the way to join a community. to prove yourself to them, right? Is that the way that you wanna do it? Do you wanna do it by proving your worth? Do you wanna do it by getting to know people? Do you wanna do it by making a friend? There's a moment that I really liked at one point.

point in the movie where Elio's aunt kind of perks up because he says he made a friend. And it's clear that that's really important to her. The other thing that I would just mention. One of the things our producers brought up, you know, when we were talking about this film, there are some signs that Elio may be autistic or maybe otherwise neurodivergent. There's a little card about showing your feelings. There's a...

reference to the idea of swaddling and some of those things suggest that they're not overt about that I think there's always a fair question about do you wish they would say it if that's what they're saying or do you want to leave it more open because you know lots of kids do feel kind of out of place on earth and you don't want to necessarily say the movie is is only about feeling that in one particular way but I really liked it I thought it was really sweet I thought it was really funny

I really did like Elio as a character. He kind of jumped up at me from the beginning. I felt like I really loved this kid. I loved his kind of colander on the head love of space. And his enthusiasm when you heard it in that clip when he's being abducted. by aliens. And he's like, Yahoo, I'm so excited. Like, I think that's a really cute idea. Yeah. And I, you know, appreciate that Reed of Elio could be a person with autism.

But also, you know, and if you take a larger view, it can speak to kids who feel quote unquote different for whatever reason. Their skin color might not be the same as most of their classmates or they could be queer or like. They just don't want to be what their parents want them to be. So this has always been the fascination of children's literature. Like Wizard of Oz, Dorothy just wants to go home. You know, everyone wants to come back to a place that is safe and accepting, which can...

be as political as you might want to make it, but it's also a very simple idea. So I think I appreciated that about this film as well. Yeah, I mean, butting up against that idea of wanting to be long is... this idea of what it means to be strong and powerful. And you see that in the Glurdon character that Elio befriends, Lord Grygon, who is his father, voiced by Broad Garrett.

There's this whole thing about like masculinity, this idea of at a certain age, they put on an armor. It's very literal. It is. You are shedding your innocence and you are becoming a man or you are becoming a war machine, a war machine. Yes. Yes. Because the mother is mentioned. But she's not seen. She's a warrior. She's off fighting wars. Yeah. She's off fighting the blood wars or something. Something like that. It's really interesting because when I think about that and the fact that.

the movie Mufasa, which came out not too long ago, which was, of course, the prequel to The Lion King, that was also dealing with this idea of masculinity and sons being taught a certain way of looking at life. And it's interesting.

to see that coming up in this era especially when we are seeing all this posturing in the real world of these ideas of what masculinity is and I think that's what kind of made this a little bit more interesting than I think it would have been otherwise if it had just been about

Elio wanting to belong somewhere. I think you could argue that maybe that is too many ideas and they don't gel. But I think for me, it gelled okay. And it was nice to sort of see this pushing back against what masculinity or what... I mean, masculine, because they're not men. They're not humans. But you know what I mean. No, but it is. And you can certainly also say that it's maybe interested in speaking to...

Broad political spectrum of men, because there is a character who's coded as sort of like a male loner character who is having problems with his female supervisor who has. conspiracy adjacent belief in aliens. And he gets to have a really big hero moment in this because he is the one, you know, attending his ham radio at a critical moment when he can help this adventure. move forward and again we don't specifically

get him coded as anything. He's written in such a way that a lot of people could identify with him and it could be a significant identification and like a legitimate identification. And I'll say that that's artfully done in the movie.

across the board, right? That they do a good job of that. Honestly, I think I would have a much better time with this movie if he wasn't an orphan. It's the Disney Pixar way. I know, but I... I guess as somebody who has lost a parent, I think a lot about whether grief is depicted for people experiencing grief, right? Or whether it's depicted for the ease and comfort of an audience that wants to like imagine that.

possibility but not really engage with it in a heavy way and it's so often the latter and so rarely the former and like I'm surprised to see that Adrian Molina is a major force behind this because he's also the person who wrote Coco and directed Coco and I would say that is a movie about grief like for people who have experienced grief right it doesn't alienate people who haven't but like it really speaks in a detailed and

meaningful way to people who have whereas this I honestly think the story could have worked better if instead of having this conflict with an aunt Elio was having this conflict with parents. I think that's absolutely a fair point. And I think what they're trying to do is create a situation where it's believable that he might really think, I don't want to be on Earth anymore. There's nothing here for me. Nobody cares about me. It's not the kids.

never feel that way when their parents are alive. I don't want to say that at all. But I think for them, they're telling this particular kid's story and they decided... The way for it to work with him is he's lost the people that he felt closest to. And he doesn't have confidence in his relationship with his aunt. And she doesn't really have confidence in it either, which I really liked about it that you also get a little bit of her side. of what it's like to be taking care of this kid, but...

At the same time, as Margaret said, the purpose of the movie is not to be about grief. And I think it's a lot of grief to give a story when the story is not really a story about grief.

Yonas Kibriab, who voices Elio, I think is so good in this because it is so hard to be a quirky little kid who is super hyper enthusiastic. And to be specific and not annoying. And I really, really like this performance. As I said, I keyed into this kid right away. I think the voice performance is part of it. It definitely feels like a kid. It feels like an actual.

kid with all this sort of enthusiasm and self-doubt. There's some really good comic timing in this performance. There's a good sense of how to deliver a joke. I really did like this casting. And as I said... This is not kind of first... tear pixar where i'm sobbing and crying and where there are emotional elements that seem to be really for adults um which i think is true of inside out and a few other things coco and a few other things yeah with that said

there's some really fun playing around with this phrase of like, bye, I love you, that I thought was really cute. Yeah, that is well used. That reminded me of Mindy from Animaniacs. Do you remember that character, the baby? Okay, I love you, bye-bye. Really quickly, back to your point, Margaret, about this sort of lack of specificity in certain places. I do think it's...

Really fascinating that we've already mentioned Adrian Molina, who was one of the directors on Coco, but also Domishi, who did Turning Red, which is, to me, one of the best Pixar's of the last, like... 10 years. And like so specific. And so specific again.

And she has both her parents. It's very interesting to see them working on something that is less specific. And it's very hard to know where that is coming from. But I do hope that we get more stories that feel... steeped in specificity of culture and a specificity of just like relationships in a way that I do agree is not quite here.

in a way that I want. This movie feels like it was sanded down to be a little less specific and like expertly sanded down. Like you couldn't ask for a better finish. But I feel like I want there to be like 11 more minutes of movie. And in that, just like something a little bit more concrete I can hold on to about some of these characters on the earth. Yeah. I mean, to that point, I know, you know, we know the family is Spanish speaking, right? We don't quite know where the family is.

from and again like I'm not saying it's important to the film's story, but it might have been a nice touch. You know, there's this scene and it stuck out to me. It's like a few seconds where Elio is in Come Universe and they're having a great time with every, like, you know, he's made this friend.

and they're having a great time. And on the table of treats, there are burgers, but very prominently, there's concha. And I'm like, wow, it sounds trite. What does it mean to feel, quote unquote, seen? You know, everyone has talked about it. But I do think that those are very nice little touches. And also there's something to be said about...

Cute aliens, right? Like, you know, aliens. I absolutely relate to this because my work visa calls me an alien. So, you know, to show that... With exceptional talent, I hope. Absolutely. Why else would I be here? jokes apart but like you know to see Aliens who are cute. Aliens who don't want to abduct you and steal your jobs. I have read way too much adult into this film. Because we grew up in the 90s. Aliens were really scared.

blood dripping like there was something always wrong with them and they were hideous so I'm very happy that you know we aliens get our chance to shine

As cute means. That's fair. Hear, hear. Well, tell us what you think about Elio. Find us on Facebook at Facebook.com slash PCHH and on Letterboxd at Letterboxd.com slash NPR Popcorn. We will have a link in our episode description to that. And that brings us to the end of our show. Aisha Harris, Benatry D. Chaudhry, Margaret H. Willison. Thanks so much for being here. You are always welcome in this hour home. Thank you for having us. Thank you.

you thank you and as cute beings we can collectively say that this is a good summer watch for people of all ages absolutely absolutely and just a reminder that signing up for pop culture happy hour plus is a great way to support our show and public radio, and you get to listen to all of our episodes sponsor free. So please go find out more at plus.npr.org slash happy hour or visit the link in our show notes. This episode was produced by Liz Metzger, Hafsah Fathamah.

and Mike Katziff and edited by our showrunner, Jessica Reedy. And Hello, Come In provides our theme music. Thanks for listening to Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR. I'm Linda Holmes, and we'll see you all next week. Bleep bloop. On the indicator for Planet Money, we like to zoom in on big economic issues like tariffs and crypto and...

Healthcare. Let's have a healthcare system where people are kept healthy and not treated only when they're at the most expensive moment when they're sick. Economic deep dives in 10 minutes or less every weekday. Listen to the Indicator from Planet Money. wherever you get podcasts. On NPR's ThruLine. Schoolhouses are less expensive than rebellions. We've been debating the government's role in education since the Civil War.

A tenth of our national debt would have saved us the blood and treasure of the late war. How the Department of Education tried to fix a divided nation. Listen to Throughline wherever you get your podcasts. Hola, it's Sarah Gonzalez. At Planet Money, when we say we want you to understand the economy, sure, we mean tariffs and global supply chains and interest rates, cosas así, but also...

We shot a satellite into space. We made our own vodka, became a record label, made a comic book, all to help you make better sense of the world around you. Listen to the Planet Money podcast from NPR.