Elio (2025) review

Eleven-year-old orphan Elio Solís (voiced by Yonas Kibreab) is under the care of his aunt Olga (Zoe Saldaña) - a major in the Air Force - and is so unhappy with living on the planet (and is constantly getting into trouble) he wishes he could be abducted by aliens ... and then when he is nabbed by extraterrestrial life, he claims he's the ambassador of Earth, offers to help them deal with destructive Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett) and befriends Grigon's meek son Glordon (Remy Edgerly), who looks like a tardigrade.  Although this Pixar-Disney collaboration had behind-the-scenes issues (Molina left the production) and didn't perform well with audiences - probably because it wasn't a part of "larger franchise" - it's actually a cute story for kids that has a solid message about family (with the queer angle toned down to keep the Mouse executives happy): Elio learns to "accept" Olga as his new parent, and Glordon finally bonds with ol' pop (despite being, ahem, "different").  It's a little too indebted to Lucas and Spielberg for its rather skimpy plot, but a lot of effort went into the character designs (I'm personally fond of the soap bubble-shaped computer called "Ooooo"), and it should be reappraised on Disney+.  My favorite line comes courtesy of Glordon: "Are you a treacherous dissident?"