A cosmic wonderland unfolds in this trippy tale of longing and belonging-OxBig News Network

Have we not all wished at some point in our lives to escape into magical, colourful worlds where everyone gets us? So it is with 11-year-old Elio (Yonas Kibreab), who after losing his parents, comes to live with his aunt, Olga (Zoe Saldaña), a US Air Force major. Olga gives up her dream of becoming an astronaut to care for Elio.

Things are not going well for aunt and nephew as Elio takes every opportunity to communicate with aliens, begging them to abduct him. When conspiracy theorist Melmac (Brendan Hunt) insists aliens have responded to the Voyager I’s communication, Elio sends a message causing the power to go out and Olga to nearly lose her job.

Furious with Elio, Olga sends him to camp where he gets into a fight with two boys Elio tricked for their HAM radio. Just as things are getting hot for Elio, he is spirited away by the aliens from the Communiverse, an intergalactic hub where beings from different planets share knowledge. They welcome Elio imagining he is “Uh Earth’s” leader.

Elio is all set to become ambassador when the war-mongering Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett), annoyed at being rejected as ambassador, decides to destroy the Communiverse. Elio promises to negotiate with Grigon and stave off the attack. After quickly studying how to be the ace negotiator he is pretending to be, and making crib notes on his palm, Elio sets off to face Lord Grigon.

While on Grigon’s spaceship, he makes an unlikely friend in Glordon (Remy Edgerly), Grigon’s equally larva-like cuddly son. With clones, super computers, carapaces loaded with flamethrowers and other weapons, a dangerous asteroid field, a daring space flight and important lessons on belonging, friendship, family and home, all comes right in the end in bright pops of colour and action.

A still from ‘Elio’
| Photo Credit:
IMDb

Elio is a creative masterpiece with zany aliens including Questa (Jameela Jamil) who resembles a radiodont (an ancient arthropod) and OOOO (Shirley Henderson), the shape-shifting liquid supercomputer.

A perfect holiday film, Elio shines through with gentle warmth and wit, taking parents and children along on an intergalactic adventure swaddled in vivid hues and humour.

Elio is currently running in theatres