Largely dismissed on release, the latest PIXAR animation opens with a series of hurdles to get over: First - explain period details on Space Exploration history; Second - introduce the analogue properties of HAM radio (and its nerdy devotees); Third - cite author/space expert Carl Sagan to a target audience born decades after his heyday. So, extra credit to PIXAR for clearly laying out the prologue that sets up orphaned Elio as an interplanetary junkie hoping to hitch a ride on the next visiting UFO. Lucky for him, his guardian Aunt works as a space techie, so Elio’s always in the know and on track to suss out cutting edge info.* The gimmick is that Elio’s suspicions are correct. And he’s soon on his way. The end also neatly finessed with the writers cleverly borrowing tropes from THE WIZARD OF OZ/39 and ONE HUNDRED AND ONE DALMATIANS/’61 (those HAM radio operators playing out a variation on the call-of-the-hounds sequence) to get Elio back home. The problem is all the stuff that comes in the middle. So many layers of species, society and antagonists to keep track of in space. And they all think Elio’s Earth’s Leader. While we get few characters to connect to. The animation as messy as the story development. (Story development once PIXAR’s trump card.) Perhaps three directors (Adrian Molina, Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi) and nine writers was too many cooks.
SCREWY THOUGHT OF HE DAY: *Always orphans in these things. (Indeed, LILO AND STITCH, which quickly buried this release critically & commercially, features two of them.) But its hard to see why the film wouldn’t work just as well with two living parents at home. Mom & Dad worried about a kid who daydreams about space adventure all day and misses out on what’s happening around him at school and in his own backyard. (Fits right in with the WoO stuff at the end, too. (On the other hand, Dorothy also an orphan.)
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: Is this PIXAR’s least physically appealing film?
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