is a coming of age story wrapped into the
setting of interstellar intrigue. An ostracized boy dreams of making
contact with aliens and, because his mother is in the military, he
manages to accidentally send a reply to an extraterrestrial signal that
had been directed at Earth. The aliens then abduct the boy and assume
that he is the ambassador tasked with representing the planet in the
universe. While off world, he befriends another lonely youth, a
worm-shaped creature dissatisfied that his father is the evil overlord
of his own world. The bond between the two helps shape Earth's position
in the interspecies community and heals the relationships between both
youngsters and the parent they had become disconnected from. There are
topics of bullying explored along the way, but
is one more
personal fulfilment story from a studio proven to master at such
concepts. In a busy 2025 summer season for children's films, however,
this one fared poorly at the box office, emulating the disappointing
fiscal performance of
a few years earlier. The
filmmakers had intriguingly placed the music of composer Rob Simonsen
into the movie during development, and they approached him directly
about writing the final score. It wouldn't be surprising if his music
from
had been included in the temp tracking,
because the resulting score represents a stylistic blend of that and
Kris Bowers' immensely popular
from the prior
year. Two existing pop song placements were already in the movie before
Simonsen spotted it, so he worked around them. The project represents
Simonsen's first animation score, and he had the luxury of over two
years of involvement in the production, writing a concept suite early on
that became the main theme for Elio. The resulting music is in-character
for the composer, who has never been afraid to blend orchestral and
electronic elements into hybrid soundscapes.
Simonsen approached
Elio with the strategy of
exploring different instrumental tones for each location in the film.
The Communiverse, where all the species come together, applies choir
dolls encoded with gibberish language sounds. The world of Grigon the
villain, Hylurg, uses ominous low brass and deep choir. Earth is given
plainer keyboarded tones in a wishy-washy fantasy atmosphere. Some of
the synthetic tones in these facets are decent, reminding of Lorne
Balfe's upbeat and innocent
Home, while others are outright
obnoxious. The presence of the supercomputer character is applied
modernized 8-bit digital sounds. A wet electronic tingling for the Earth
sequences has a Jerry Goldsmith feel. The seemingly obligatory
manipulation of the mix to stutter it is annoying in parts but not
entirely disqualifying even though it hampers some of the best cues. The
most famous moment in the score is the source-like space disco in "Hold
My Glorp," which is glitzy and could be either a highlight or horror for
a particular listener. As for the organic presence in the mix, the
general orchestral and synthetic balance reminds of Silvestri's vintage
Mac and Me at times, but not as deep nor resonating in the
symphonic half. There is some really good woodwind writing, as in
"Activate Supernova," but it's swallowed up by the adjoining synth
lines. Unfortunately, there is not much redemptive orchestral tonality
of fantasy appeal for any great length in
Elio, moments like
"Abduction" promising greatness but never quite achieving satisfaction.
The Communiverse theme offers the best sustained material in this mode,
but it is fleeting. Simonsen's action music is wayward, not applying any
of the themes as sustained, truly rousing fanfares when needed, which
reduces the memorability of the identities. There are several moments in
the score that miss the opportunity to really push the themes in ways
that connect with audiences, but cues like "The Signal" and "Bring Us
Your Leader" don't do anything to advance the musical narrative. The
composer's thematic adaptations and manipulation are actually very good,
though, but not particularly obvious. The average listener will likely
notice the pretty main theme for Elio himself, but the rest of it will
wash away in the ambience of the renderings.
The main theme in
Elio represents the titular
boy, a delicately appealing melody that coincidentally shares some
progressions and harmonies with Brad Fiedel's famous theme from
The
Terminator. Its series of six-note phrases of dreamy likability
leads to a closing five-note descent is that is pure Goldsmith in
character. This idea defines "Elio" on piano with an electronic tilt to
its presence, the tone of that instrument always the default
representation for concepts of family and home. It persists in "Are We
Alone?" for a moment of whimsy, maintains its emotional sadness on the
piano with less synthetic support in "Rooftop," and vaguely informs the
crescendo of fantasy bravado in "Abduction." The theme barely survives
in the second half of "Lord Grigon" on lighter shades after the
villain's material and continues in fragments against the Grigon tones
in "He Found the Mint." After adjusting its progressions for a tender
moment on piano in "Escape Attempt" and becoming a bit obscure early in
"Lava Tubes," Elio's theme guides the humorous space disco explosion in
"Hold My Glorp" with hand clapping and electric bass. Returning to its
base piano sensitivity for a slow rendition in "SkiddoPOP-PUH," the
theme lends redemptive single phrases to "Another Glordon" and is
transformed into a panicked action motif in "Not Fooled," with an
evocative string solo late in the cue. Its chords only guide most of
"Reunion" in warm but oddly distant shades while the dramatic action
orientation of its chords continues in "Escaping Earth." Opening up as a
hero's identity at 3:08 into "Debris Field" with good ensemble size, the
theme is lengthened on strings in "The Return" for dramatic effect, but
the rendition robs the idea of power; the idea finally finds footing at
3:43 for the whole group but with an altered personality. Simonsen
focuses back on its piano origins at the start of "Elio Suite" before
switching to its action build nicely at 2:20. Also introduced relatively
early in the film is the theme for the Communiverse, the work's main
fantasy element but one that is fleeting in its progressions. A tad
reminiscent of James Horner's representations of imagination, this idea
enjoys a major performance in "The Communiverse," arguably a highlight
of the score if you can forgive some of the manipulation of the
soundscape outside of the major symphonic passages. This idea doesn't
factor too obviously in the rest of the score, though, really only
achieving the same level of impact the second half of "Elio
Suite."
The other two major themes in
Elio represent the
villain, Lord Grigon, and his bumbling protagonist son, the two
identities destined to come together at the end of the story. The Lord
Grigon theme uses simple descending phrasing on deep choral and brass
tones, all of those melodic phrases four notes in length and posturing
threateningly. Defined several times in "Lord Grigon," this idea growls
for a moment early in "He Found the Mint" and then turns rhythmic,
announces its resonating stature at the outset of "You're the Alpha"
over slapping percussion, and is translated into electronic silliness in
"Bargaining Chip, Cool!" It darkly interrupts Elio's theme late in
"SkiddoPOP-PUH," appears similarly at the end of "Something's Off," and
erupts into a chanted force of malice in "Carapace" with exotic pitch
slurring. The Grigon theme then conveys one last moment of fright early
in "Father and Son" before appropriately shifting its harmonies at the
end of the cue to give it a comforting evolution. It's finally
reinforced by snare in the second minute of "Elio Suite." Meanwhile, the
theme for his son, Glordon, is a playful, warm and fuzzy synth woodwind
melody that sometimes teases the Grigon choir as an apt connection. The
effect used for the character's unique style almost sounds like a
Tribble from the "Star Trek" realm. The melody prances delicately with
some minimal charm in the latter half of "Glordon," continues at 0:22
into "Lava Tubes" with lighter percussion, and bumbles in the background
in the first half of "Bargaining Chip, Cool!" It staggers through parts
of "Another Glordon" before consolidating at the end, and the melody is
altered by Simonsen intentionally in "Something's Off." The Glordon
theme doesn't factor as much in "Father and Son" as needed, a
disappointing strategic miss, but Simonsen does include it in "Elio
Suite," where it bubbles out of the Elio theme early. Overall, these
themes are adequate but not as impactful as they could have been. If
this score was striving to resurrect the creative orchestral and
synthetic blend and thematic grace of
The Wild Robot, then it
doesn't achieve that goal. But it's still a solid outing for Simonsen
with some charming highlights, good enough to merit a fourth star. Its
album is overly long, with too many atmospheric moments that drag down
the presentation. The final suite ends on a cliffhanger with no
resolution to the listening experience, too, leaving you unfulfilled.
With the action portions of the work a bit anonymous and unsustained,
you'll find yourself returning to the core character themes'
performances and the wondrous, albeit short moments for the
Communiverse.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
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