The North News
Chandigarh, June 10
In most stories, alien abduction is a terrifying twist. But in Elio, Pixar’s upcoming animated film, it’s the beginning of something beautiful—a cosmic adventure wrapped in vulnerability, wonder, and the universal search for connection.
Elio isn’t your typical sci-fi hero. He’s an 11-year-old with a vivid imagination and no real sense of where he fits in. While other kids are busy trying to make friends or follow rules, Elio is daydreaming about the stars—more curious about what’s out there than what’s around him. When a mix-up causes a galactic assembly of alien civilizations to believe he’s Earth’s ambassador, Elio is swept off the planet and into the role of a lifetime.
But Elio isn’t just about space travel and alien encounters. It’s about feeling different—and the quiet, aching hope that somewhere in the universe, there’s a place where you belong. Director Domee Shi, known for the Oscar-winning Turning Red, explains that the story’s emotional core came from real experiences. “We all remember that feeling of being the odd one out. For Elio, space isn’t an escape—it’s the promise of finally being understood.”
The film’s roots go back to Adrian Molina, who created the original concept inspired by his own childhood growing up on a military base. Elio’s sense of displacement mirrored Molina’s own, but when he stepped away to co-direct Coco 2, Shi and co-director Madeline Sharafian took over. They infused the story with their own personal histories—memories of feeling unseen, out of place, and deeply longing for connection.
That emotional truth is echoed in every frame of the film’s design. On Earth, Elio’s world feels muted and strange, reflecting his inner dissonance. But in space, the color palette shifts dramatically—bursting into vivid, kaleidoscopic tones. “We wanted the galaxy to feel like his version of paradise,” says Sharafian. “It’s vibrant, overwhelming, and alive—a place where he starts to feel whole.”
Among the film’s most memorable creations is Ooooo, a shape-shifting alien unlike anything Pixar has done before. Ooooo isn’t bound by the usual animation rules—she morphs, stretches, and moves like liquid emotion. “She was the most challenging character to design,” says animator Jude Brownbill. “At first, we didn’t know how to even animate her. But one demo changed everything and unlocked her fluid identity.”
Technically, Ooooo pushed Pixar into new territory. VFX supervisor Claudia Chung-Sani describes her as “topology-free”—not built from traditional surfaces but from mathematical shapes. “She exists in a way that wouldn’t be possible in the real world,” Chung-Sani says. “But she makes perfect sense in the Communiverse, the strange and beautiful world we’ve created.”
Despite its sci-fi setting and visual dazzle, Elio never loses sight of its message. “This isn’t just a story about finding your place—it’s about making one,” says Shi. “Belonging doesn’t mean walking into a room and being accepted immediately. It means reaching out, connecting, and creating that space together.”
As Elio navigates distant galaxies and unexpected friendships, his real journey is the one that brings him back to himself—to self-acceptance, to courage, and to the realization that belonging isn’t a destination. It’s something you build.
Elio releases in India on June 20 in English, Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu.
