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FILMTRACKS.COM
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Review of Elio (Rob Simonsen)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... for Rob Simonsen's core character themes' performances
and the wondrous, albeit short moments for the Communiverse, the tender
and wondrous side of this score providing all the highlights.
Avoid it... if you have difficulty enjoying album presentations that are simply too long, this one padded with unnecessary filler cues and featuring action that doesn't sustain itself long enough to appeal.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Elio: (Rob Simonsen) Another of Pixar's original
concepts, 2025's Elio 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 Elio 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 Elemental 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 The Adam Project had been included in the temp tracking,
because the resulting score represents a stylistic blend of that and
Kris Bowers' immensely popular The Wild Robot 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. ****
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 81:39
NOTES & QUOTES:
There exists no official packaging for this album.
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2025, Filmtracks Publications. All rights reserved.
The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Elio are Copyright © 2025, Walt Disney Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 6/29/25 (and not updated significantly since). |
