"Elio," in theaters Friday, is another of Pixar's seamless combination of engaging story with deep, resonant themes.

An orphaned boy is whisked away on a visually wondrous cosmic adventure, but he returns home with mostly reassuring lessons.

If a movie is a bowl of breakfast cereal, “Elio” is Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs, and the audience is Calvin. The title hero is a Calvin, too: a hyper-imaginative orphaned boy who lives with an aunt ...