And though Elio is a wild space adventure jam-packed with all sorts of whimsical alien creatures, its answer to that question is surprisingly small and intimate. Elio follows Elio Solis (newcomer Yonas Kibreab), an 11-year-old boy who, after losing his parents, goes to live with his aunt Olga (Zoe Saldaña) on the military base where she works as a space debris analyst. Like Disney’s recent space adventure movie Strange World, Elio is a bit of a pastiche — dashes of Alien, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Arrival can be seen all over this film. PixarHowever many half-baked ideas Elio tries to tackle, its stunning visuals make it easy to forgive its flaws. Elio might have a few too many ideas in its head, but it ultimately delivers a thoughtful, lovely ode to the outsider in all of us.