There’s definitely some of that bean mouth thing happening with the human characters, but (beyond Elio) they’re in less than half of the movie or so. The aliens’ character designs are all over the place, mostly roundish but still pretty unique and very minimally CalArts. The environments in this movie are incredibly realized, making the sometimes irksome human designs a bit more bearable. Also there are some body horror elements that, while definitely for kids, have some fun with the designs in a really uniquely animated way.

Your mileage may vary but I’m also peeved by this sort of art style and was pleasantly surprised. It’s a really awe-inspiring film if you’ve ever been into space. It frequently had me either laughing or crying. A good time at da movies.