In “Elio,” a grieving young boy finds community and connection in outer space

By Kai Curry
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY

Images © 2025 Disney/Pixar

A young boy loses his parents. Feeling lost, left out, and misunderstood, the boy, Elio, played by Yonas Kibreab, looks to outer space for salvation. The new Disney/Pixar animated movie by the same name, “Elio,” coming to theaters June 20, charts how the young boy is able to do in space what he could not do on Earth: make friends and be himself.

In spite of the depressing premise, “Elio” starts hilariously, with Elio discovering the wonder of space and desperately seeking aliens to abduct him. While under the care of his aunt, Olga (Zoe Saldaña), Elio wanders off inside a museum and finds the golden record sent to space with the Voyager 1 space probe. The record plays the voices of Earth, in multiple languages, reaching out in the hope of finding life in space. Inspired, and convinced that no one on Earth understands him, Elio records his own version of the message and launches it into the universe. (Yes, he’s that creative; he builds his own HAM radio.) Every day, Elio waits on the beach, a message in the sand asking, “Aliens, please abduct me,” or along those lines. The humor is in Elio’s enthusiasm, the wackiness of the animation (Elio’s rhythm is not unlike Stitch’s) and the unusualness of a human begging to be kidnapped—by aliens! (Elio is quick to assure, not by people.)

Yonas Kibreab at the Museum of Flight to promote “Elio.” Photo by Kai Curry.

The Northwest Asian Weekly had the privilege to speak to Kibreab and “Elio” producer Mary Alice Drumm at a special press interview held at Seattle’s Museum of Flight.

“Elio, he’s very quirky and he’s such a high energy kid with an amazing spirit,” Kibreab told us. “I can relate to him on multiple levels.”

Kibreab is a Filipino and African (Eritrean) American young actor who has starred in several TV series, such as “Sweet Tooth,” and a few movies, with more in the making. He has done voiceovers before, such as in “Merry Little Batman,” a 2023 Christmas film. Kibreab said he likes the challenge of voiceover in comparison to movies where the audience can see the actor’s face, movements, etc.

“Voiceover is a little bit more complicated than on camera, because if you have to cry, for example, on camera, they can see your tears, and they can see you cry. When you’re doing a voiceover, …you have to communicate it through your voice, through your breath.”

As you might have guessed, Elio gets his wish, and is taken to space by a United Nations of aliens, of sorts, who inhabit a place called the “Communiverse.” The aliens mistake Elio for the leader of Earth, which isn’t a hugely impactful error until Elio takes it upon himself to negotiate on behalf of the Communiverse with an aggressive alien named Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett).

Elio, left, voiced by Yonas Kibreab, makes a best friend in Glordon, voiced by Remy Edgerly, and the other friendly inhabitants of the Communiverse. Images © 2025 Disney/Pixar

Elio immediately comes out of his shell in space. Surrounded by colorful, friendly, accepting aliens, he is able to let his own light shine. He’s set free, mostly, from the grief that entrapped him on Earth, in his “real” life. Importantly, he’s able to make friends, such as the weirdly adorable Glordon (Remy Edgerly), the son (oops) of Grigon. There is a particularly amusing scene, one that Kibreab pointed out as memorable for him (you can see it in the trailer), wherein Elio tells Grigon that he has taken Glordon hostage to use as a “bargaining chip” and Elio then proceeds to “torture” Glordon by tickling him. Grigon is hilariously horrified.

“Elio” is probably Kibreab’s favorite voiceover role so far, he said. While he wasn’t a big sci-fi or outer space fan before filming the movie, he’s gotten into both since. He prefers soccer, and was able to catch a Seattle Sounders game while he was in Seattle to promote “Elio.” But he did a lot of research on science and space while working on this movie, which started production a few years ago, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Kibreab was impressed with the team at Pixar, who were able to create a unique universe for this film.

“The people at Pixar, they’re amazing artists, and the fact that they came up with this completely different universe that you’ve never seen before…it’s like eye candy; it’s so amazing to look at.”

Images © 2025 Disney/Pixar

This was a purposeful move on Pixar’s part. Drumm talked to us about how “Elio” has some things in common with prior Pixar films, and some new.

“We wanted this to be a different kind of Pixar film, and we also wanted it to be a love letter to sci-fi.” According to Drumm, there are several homages within “Elio” to other sci-fi movies. Pixar is historically great at creating worlds inhabited by multiple types of creatures that all gel together into one community (think “Monsters, Inc.”), but for “Elio,” perhaps the universe they create is a little “edgier” and also very beautiful, said Drumm. At the same time, what it’s not is hard, metallic, and dark, like so much sci-fi; and it features aliens of all sizes and shapes, not just bipedal, as are often the majority.

In the film, there is a purposeful contrast between the joyous world of Communiverse and a harsher world on Earth made up in part of the military bases where Elio’s aunt works. The “Elio” team did their research in person, visiting military bases in California and meeting with a founder of SETI Institute, Dr. Jill Carter (SETI stands for “Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence). In an advance for the film, Drumm explained that Carter taught the team to “think about space in a more expansive way that in turn made us feel more connected here. We’re all Earthlings. There’s a strong theme of connection in this story that really resonated with all of us.”

Images © 2025 Disney/Pixar

Ironically, going to space is the most “grounding” thing that could have happened to Elio. In a press preview of the film that included words from director Domee Shi (well known for “Bao” and “Turning Red”), Pixar noted its mission to explore themes such as social anxiety in “Inside Out” and now loneliness in “Elio”—a mission to help kids manage these difficult emotions and understand that they are normal. The fact that movie production of “Elio” started during the pandemic drove that home even more. Everyone gets lonely, said Drumm, the difference is reaching out. It’s common for traumatized kids to think they need a way out—it’s hard to stay home and face the problems; even well-intentioned caregivers like Aunt Olga remind the child of the tragedy. However, Elio eventually finds that he can connect on Earth the way that he did in the Communiverse. He finds home in both places.

In Kibreab’s words, Elio goes to space and meets a best friend. Along the way, “he discovers who he’s truly meant to be.”

Kai can be reached at newstips@nwasianweekly.com.