It’s pretty obvious that the original intention was to celebrate the outsider and make a point about finding one’s tribe, but somewhere along the line that all got lost, and we’re left with spectacular film about the vastness of infinity that ends up an Earthbound parable about family ties.

Directed with vigor and dashes of humor and emotion by Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi (“Turning Red”) and Adrian Molina (co-director of “Coco”), “Elio” is laden with Easter eggs and has a killer end-credit bonus scene and pays snappy homage to numerous sci-fi films (“Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” amongst others).

I only got to see a selection of scenes from across the movie's run, but it successfully sold "Elio" as a fun-filled, sweet sci-fi adventure and put it near the top of my must-wat