Look out! Lisa Johnson Mandell’s Elio review places this children’s alien buddy movie near the bottom of Pixar’s illustrious heap. But that’s still not so bad.

I need to ask this question yet again: why do so many Disney films lead with a protagonists who have lost their parents, either permanently or temporarily? I mean, it’s even more evident with Elio following so closely on the heels of Lilo and Stitch.

With all those wildly creative imagineers on hand, can’t these consummately creative professionals come up with a more original, less hackneyed setup?

We’re not sure exactly what happened to the parents of Elio (Yonas Kibreab), but at the beginning of the film, he’s living with his tia (Zoe Saldaña), who is involved with the military’s space program, and is constantly wearing fatigues.

Elio doesn’t feel like he fits in anywhere or with any one earth, and spends his spare on a campaign to convince friendly aliens to come and get him.

The story takes off when Elio gets his wish—he has an adorable meet cute with a group of kindly aliens, is mistaken for the Leader of Earth, and ultimately and inadvertently becomes essential to interplanetary life as they know it.

Elio review — They can’t all be winners

Most of the plot points are borrowed from myriad other alien movies (both live action and animated) and video games. Young children won’t recognize them and won’t care, and some adults might find them nostalgic. I just found them surprisingly unoriginal by Pixar standards.

Also surprising by Pixar standards is the visual quality. Relentlessly saturated, the non-stop barrage of sweet candy colors in motion made me feel as if I’d been trapped in an It’s Sugar store for 100 minutes.

I found that annoying “sweet” factor amplified to the point of being overwhelming, from the cutsie kid voices to the music to the alien play land exploits. Could this be the result of the three directors (Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina) trying to out-precious each other?

Does it really matter? Even though Elio will likely rank closer to the bottom of the Pixar output heap, young children will enjoy it, and it has some nice messages about self esteem and fitting in. Their parents will dutifully deluge the theaters. No harm, no foul, for all its overpowering candy colored sweetness, at least it won’t give them tooth decay.

Rated PG

1 Hour 39 Minutes

If this Elio review inspires you to grab the kids and zoom over the the cineplex, get times and tickets at Fandango.com.

Look out! Lisa Johnson Mandell’s Elio review places this children’s alien buddy movie near the bottom of Pixar’s illustrious heap. But that’s still not so bad.