Elio – The Disney Pixar 2K Blu-ray Edition

Elio marks Pixar's return to the exploration of loneliness and the sense of belonging, doing so through an unusual lens: that of a child who dreams of being abducted by aliens just to escape his pain. Young Elio lives with his aunt Olga, a strict and distant military officer, and his only hope seems to lie among the stars, where he imagines a world capable of understanding him better than Earth.

The beginning of the film is melancholic, almost disorienting for a young audience: Pixar ventures into risky territory, touching on themes of isolation and emotional escape. But then, when Elio is actually “contacted” by extraterrestrials, the narrative changes tone: he is mistaken for humanity's representative and catapulted into a surreal and colorful adventure, in pure Pixar style. 

Visually impeccable and rich in invention, Elio alternates poetic moments and spectacular scenes, but struggles to balance its emotional intensity with the typical lightness of the Studio. A work that entertains and moves, while leaving a lingering question: how ready are we to look within ourselves, before searching for intelligent life elsewhere? Here you can find Elisa Giudici's complete artistic review.

Orphans of 4K, the 2K edition is equally excellent

Shot digitally at native 6.5K resolution with a final 4K master, the best Italian edition remains the 2K on a dual-layer BD-50. Image format 2.39:1 (1920 x 1080/ 23.97p), AVC/MPEG-4 encoding. Visually impeccable for solidity and detail, even for background elements and backdrops, despite the greater SDR dynamic compression and limited color space, we are faced with a spectacle for the eyes from the very first moment. Although the 4K edition is exclusive to the foreign market (with ATMOS English), the Full HD solution is fully satisfying.

The Dolby Digital Plus 7.1 channel (754 kbps) Italian audio is decent, with an interesting musical soundstage and effects that are also audible from the rear speakers. Relatively deep but present sub, listening recommended beyond TV speakers. Excellence for the original DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (24 bit), which literally ignites the show, while remaining below the reference podium. Instead of finding a second English DTS-HD High Resolution 5.1 track, we would have appreciated a different local offering.

Substantial extras, with a character overview and narrative context (10'); astronomy Q&A with young actors Yonas Kibreab and Remy Edgerly, who voiced Elio and Glordon, at the Johnson Space Center (10'); drawing lesson (5'); tour through some hidden elements in the film (4'); “on-set” bloopers (3') and approximately 19 minutes of other material not included in the final cut, in the company of the co-directors. Subtitles in Italian.