It’s a solid premise that, viewed one way, has all the makings of a classic Pixar film. It’s existential but cute. It might make you cry and also want to buy a cuddly Glordon toy. Glordon (Remy Edgerly) is the toothy, slug-like young alien with no eyes who befriends Elio (Yonas Kibreab).

The new Pixar animated film “Elio” takes up a question famously posed by astrophysicist Carl Sagan: “are we alone?” It’s in reference to the search for extraterrestrial life, but the idea, according to Sagan,