Elio – A Review by a Dad Who Didn’t Want to Go Out!

Movies with Mike Castle

I didn’t want to go. It’s Friday night, and on Fridays, I want to chill. Be home. Be showered, teeth brushed, and shaved by 8 or 9 p.m. That’s my routine. My rhythm. I’ve earned that peace. But it never happens. I haven’t shaved in weeks. I haven’t done anything I’ve wanted to do in months. I can’t win.

And my wife and kids had other plans, they always have other plans: “Let’s go to the movies!”

I sighed. “Fine,” I said, “but I’m going to write while the movie’s playing.”

Also: “No soda. No candy. No junk food. You’re messing up my diet.”

Spoiler alert: I didn’t write a single thing. And I ate junk. Popcorn grease on my fingers, a fistful of my son’s gummy bears and Nerds, I even stole a gulp of my daughter’s Slushy. So much for discipline.

We saw Elio, and from the moment it started, I was hooked. The animation, the colors, the heart, it got me. Maybe I was extra soft because my nephew Elio just turned one the other day. So the whole time, I’m watching this kid on the screen, and in my heart, I’m seeing our Elio. My sister’s baby. This sweet, wide-eyed little boy who could one day grow up and save the world as well.

What I loved most was that the movie didn’t try to do too much. It didn’t preach or try to push some complicated adult agenda. It was just wholesome. Just a darn good movie for families. For kids. For parents like me who don’t want to go out, but get dragged anyway, and then are glad they did.

The people who made Elio, I swear, they’re my age. There were echoes of War Games, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Karate Kid, E.T., and Alien. Not the horror, but the cosmic scale, the awe, the suspense. I also picked up shades of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, that sense of adventure and danger wrapped in wonder. Then, Shark Tale for the charm and humor, Arrival for the curiosity, The Lord of the Rings for the way a small, unlikely hero gets chosen by something bigger, and Terminator 2, the bond between kid and protector, that feeling of being thrust into something larger than life. Thumbs up to the team. Plus, little touches of the second Star Wars trilogy and a sprinkle of Infinity War. And I’m sure there were more easter eggs I missed.

It felt like a love letter to everything I grew up on, but updated for today’s world, with sharper animation, more empathy, and a fresh, original story. Well, not really all original; everything old is new again, huh? But when it works, it works.

And yeah, Elio’s Hispanic. That hit me too. My kids don’t really care about that stuff right now, and maybe they don’t have to. But I care. Because I remember when we didn’t get to see kids like us in movies like this. And now we do. I also loved that the diversity in this film wasn’t forced; it was so natural. Honest. Reflective of the world we actually live in today.

Bottom line: Elio was beautiful, and for everyone. Funny. Sweet. It reminded me that sometimes the best stories are the ones that surprise you. The ones you didn’t plan for. The ones that pull you out of your stubborn little cave and wrap you up in something full of wonder.

So yeah… I didn’t write tonight. But this was better. Maybe I’ll write tomorrow. Maybe I won’t.

But go see Elio. The movie, not my nephew. You won’t regret it.