By LINDSEY BAHR

Elio is a lonely 11-year-old just looking for big answers about life.

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He’s recently lost his parents, the only people who understood him and wanted him, and the one thing that seems to give him comfort and hope is the idea that we’re not alone in the universe. So, in Pixar’s latest (in theaters Friday), he starts waging a campaign for aliens to abduct him. Mostly, this involves laying down on the beach and waiting, his sand notes getting ever more desperate. Then one day it works.

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).

From a more cynical vantage point, however, it also doesn’t stray far from the formula. It’s another kid realizing that the things that make him different might just be his secret power played out on a heightened, fantastical scale. It’s safe and familiar, but also perhaps getting a little tired. “Elio” might even be the film that will have you wishing that Pixar would tone down the self-help sessions. Dead parents and a kid with a single tear running down his face is a brutal way to start an intergalactic adventure movie for the whole family. We’ve cared about protagonists with far less immediate trauma.

Elio and his aunt Olga ( Zoe Saldaña ) are barely holding on when we meet them living on an army base. She’s had to abandon her dreams of being an astronaut to be Elio’s primary caregiver, and he is a tricky subject — consumed with grief that he can’t quite verbalize and channeling all of his energies into a quest to communicate with extraterrestrials. Olga is trying but overwhelmed and Elio feels like a burden. On top of it all, he can’t seem to stay out of trouble, whether it’s his own making or in self-defense against a local bully. It’s no wonder he wants to flee for a world of infinite knowledge, voice powered anti-gravity devices and spectacular colors.

But life in the cosmos is no walk in the park either. Elio gets immediately entangled in a web of lies, in which he convinces the (we’re told) wise aliens of the Communiverse that he is the leader of Earth. Fake it until you make it, Pixar-style? He’s sent to negotiate with Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett), a warmongering leader who wants to lead the Communiverse, and learns techniques like “start from a position of power” and to use a “bargaining chip.” Like most Pixar movies, it’s building towards a message of empathy. But for a good long while it we’re also being taught something akin to the art of the deal.

“Elio” is the work of many people — there are three credited directors, Adrian Molina ( “Coco” ), who left the project but retains the credit, Madeline Sharafian and Domee Shi (“Turning Red”), and three credited screenwriters involved. And the story stretches in a lot of different directions, making the overall experience a little disjointed and strained. It’s most fun when it lets its kid characters be kids — Elio and his new pal Glordon have a ball just playing around in the Communiverse. But the film just takes so long to get there. Dazzling visuals will only get you so far. And those are not without their pleasures and irreverent homages to film tropes in various genres. One of the more questionably intense sequences involves a bit of clone body horror, but perhaps that’s an adult projecting a horror element onto something that a kid might just find funny.

There’s a nice overriding message about parental acceptance and unconditional love – there always is. But in playing it so safe and so familiar, “Elio” is missing a bit of that Pixar wonder, and mischief.

“Elio,” a Walt Disney Company release in theaters Friday, is rated PG by the Motion Picture Association for “thematic elements, some action and peril.” Running time. 99 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.

By MAE ANDERSON, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — The trade disputes involving global economic powerhouses such as the U.S. and China are being felt even in such distinctly local places as your regional amusement park.

Families who balk at the cost of a summer vacation at big amusement parks like Disney World favor trips to regional parks, which typically are within driving distance, so expensive flights aren’t necessary. But if tariffs lead to economic uncertainty, they may just stay home.

For park owners, tariffs could subject them to extra costs that their customers might not think about. Parts of the rides are made of imported steel that’s currently subject to tariffs. Those prizes and toys people win after they shoot basketballs into a hoop? They usually come from China, which has been subject to varying tariffs.

So far this year, however, there’s been no letdown.

“We’ve had good crowds, and everyone seems excited to be here,” said Brian Hartley, vice president of Playland’s Castaway Cove, in Ocean City, New Jersey, which boasts 30 rides, miniature golf, go-karts, and other beachfront attractions. “As long as the weather is good, they’re ready to come down.”

That’s true for park-goer Chris Del Borrello, who visited Castaway Cove on a bustling Friday evening with a group of 10 family members, including his four children.

“We come here every year because it’s so fun, and we build memories every single summer,” he said.

Tariffs loom over the summer tourism industry just as leisure travel is expected to get back to pre-pandemic levels. The U.S. Travel Association expects Americans to take 1.96 billion trips this year, up 2% from 1.92 billion last year. Travel spending is also expected to increase 2% year over year.

Tariff Pressures

As park operators prepared for the summer travel season, President Donald Trump unrolled on-again, off-again tariffs against U.S. trade partners that made planning difficult. For example, additional tariffs on goods made in China started at 10% in February, rose to 20% in March, ballooned to 145% in April, and were reduced to 30% in May. On Wednesday, the Trump administration put the number at 55%.

Hartley said he ordered items like stuffed animals for games from China early to beat the tariffs – and benefited from the reduction announced in May.

“We loaded up. We’re tripping over stuff at this point,” he said. “We tried to purchase as much stuff as we could to be ready for the season, because that little bit makes a big difference in the bottom line at the end of the day,” he said.

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In particular, the park added two new rides this year, but parts were delivered back in the fall.

Not all parks were as fortunate. At Adventureland, in Farmingdale, N.Y., the steel structure for a new ride, Wave Twister, and some China-made game prizes like plush toys and basketballs were affected by tariff costs, said manager Jeanine Gentile.

“We ordered them months ago before the tariffs were in place, but they typically arrive for delivery at this time of the year, and so obviously the tariffs were in before we received the product,” she said. “We did have to pay additional for those tariffs in order to get the product.”

So far, the park is absorbing the cost. Its operators made the decision not to raise ticket prices this year. But that could change next year.

“We’ve just sort of felt that if we can do this (not raise prices) for Long Island and for our guests, let’s do it where we can afford it, at least for this season,” Gentile said.

Economic Uncertainty

Aside from tariffs, economic uncertainty is the biggest challenge for amusement parks this season.

Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, which is co-owned by country legend Dolly Parton and Herschend Family Entertainment, opened a week later in March due to concerns about the economy, Director of Communications Pete Owens said. But attendance at the park, nestled in the Great Smoky Mountains, so far is up 4% from last year. Attendees are spending but looking for deals.

A promotion giving discount tickets to public employees has proved popular. Owens said he is seeing customers buy tickets for their families closer to their actual visits instead of several days or weeks in advance. Some are even waiting until they’re in the Great Smoky Mountains to make a purchase.

“I think they’re all still looking very closely to see what value pricing there is or what opportunities there are,” he said.

The same holds true at Silver Dollar City near Branson, Missouri, an 1880s Western-themed park, which draws its visitors from what president Brad Thomas calls “America’s heartland,” an “oval” in the middle of the country, including Minneapolis, Denver and Memphis and Houston, Texas.

“What those families tend to say as they visit us is that they want their families just to escape, even though there’s a lot of concerns in every family’s life, they’re all dealing with time pressure and money pressure and inflation pressure and all kinds of other things,” said Thomas.

He said this year families coming to the park are sticking to a plan, moneywise.

“They have carved the money that they’ll spend in their day with us or their days with us,” he said. “They’ve planned that into their budget.”

Back at Castaway Cove, Hartley said that while the season is going well, he worries about the mood of consumers as economic uncertainty persists. That could affect trip planning later in the summer.

“People that really haven’t already booked a vacation … it may affect, do they come down here for a weekend? Do they not? Do they come for two days instead of four or five days?” he said. “I think people don’t know what the future is going to hold.”

By GEOFF MULVIHILL, Associated Press

The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming surgery for transgender youth in a ruling that’s likely to reverberate across the country.

Most Republican-controlled states already have similar bans.

In his majority opinion Wednesday, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that Tennessee’s ban does not violate the Constitution’s equal protection clause, which requires the government to treat similarly situated people the same.

Since President Donald Trump returned to office this year, the federal government has been trying to restrict access.

Here are some things to know about gender-affirming care and the court’s ruling:

What is gender-affirming care?

Gender-affirming care includes a range of medical and mental health services to support a person’s gender identity, or their sense of feeling male, female, neither or some combination of both. Sometimes that’s different from the sex they were assigned at birth.

FILE – People gather outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Oct. 8, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

The services are offered to treat gender dysphoria, the unease a person may have because their assigned gender and gender identity don’t match. Studies, including one from 2023 by researchers at institutions including London Children’s Hospital and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, have found the condition is linked to depression and suicidal thoughts.

Gender-affirming care encompasses counseling and treatment with medications that block puberty and hormone therapy to produce physical changes. Hormone therapy for transgender men causes periods to stop, increases facial and body hair and deepens voices. The hormones used by transgender women can have effects such as slowing growth of body and facial hair and increasing breast growth. Fewer than 1 in 1,000 U.S. adolescents receive gender-affirming medications, a study released this year found.

Gender-affirming care can also include surgery, including operations to transform genitals and chests. These surgeries are rarely offered to minors.

There are documented uses of genital surgery for adults dating back to the 1920s. But for youth, gender-affirming care has been more common since the 1990s.

What is the controversy?

As a medical consensus emerged in support of gender-affirming care for youth, the issue also became politically divisive in other ways. Some states approved measures to protect transgender people, who make up around 1% of the nation’s population.

Many critics dismiss the idea that gender is changeable and lies along a spectrum. About two-thirds of U.S. adults believe that whether a person is a man or woman is determined by biological characteristics at birth, an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll conducted in May found.

FILE – A protester is silhouetted against a trans pride flag during a pro-transgender rights protest outside of Seattle Children’s Hospital, Feb. 9, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson, file)

In the last five years, most GOP-controlled states have passed laws to block transgender girls from sports competitions for girls. About half the Republican-controlled states have now banned transgender people from using school bathrooms that align with their gender identity.

Opponents of gender-affirming care sometimes refer to it as “mutilation” and say people who transition when they’re young could later regret it.

What could the ruling mean for bans in states besides Tennessee?

In addition to Tennessee, 26 other states have passed bans or restrictions on gender-affirming care for youth. Judges have struck down the bans in Arkansas and Montana, though the legal fights there aren’t over.

All of the laws have been adopted in the past five years and nearly all have been challenged in court.

The Supreme Court’s decision may doom some of those challenges. But lawyers who challenged Tennessee’s law said the ruling applies only to that policy – and that it doesn’t automatically end the cases against other bans on gender-affirming care.

Lambda Legal lawyer Karen Loewy noted that the opinion focused on the fact that it involved minors and that the court did not find sex-based discrimination against transgender people.

Further, some of the lawsuits against the bans — including in Kansas, Montana, North Dakota and Ohio — are based on arguments rooted in state constitutions. It still possible that judges could find more protections in those state constitutions than are in the U.S. Constitution.

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What will the ruling mean for states without bans on gender-affirming care?

It probably won’t make any difference immediately.

Several of those states have laws or executive orders intended to protect access to gender-affirming care for transgender minors.

But the question about whether the care will continue isn’t only about what’s legal. It’s also about funding.

That’s where Trump comes in.

Trump campaigned last year pledging to rein in rights of transgender people. He’s followed through on many fronts, though court challenges have resulted in some of his efforts being blocked, at least for now.

What has Trump done on transgender issues?

He has ordered that no federal taxpayer money be used to pay for the care for those under 19. Enforcement of that order is on hold.

Trump has also tried to block federal funding from institutions — including hospitals and the universities that run some of them — that provide gender-affirming care for youth. A judge has blocked that effort while challenges to it proceed.

His administration published recommendations that therapy alone – and not medication – be used to treat transgender youth. The position contradicts guidance from major medical organizations. But it could impact practices.

Other actions Trump has taken including initiating the removal of transgender troops from military service; ordering that transgender women and girls be kept out of sports competitions for females; erasing the word “transgender” from some government websites; and saying the government would recognize people only by their sex at conception.

That’s resulted in efforts to move transgender women inmates to men’s prisons and change how passports are issued to transgender and nonbinary people. A judge this week blocked the Trump administration from limiting passport sex markers for many transgender and nonbinary Americans.

Associated Press writers Matthew Brown in Billings, Montana; Jack Dura in Bismarck, North Dakota; and Kenya Hunter in Atlanta contributed to this report.

By Kimberly Palmer, NerdWallet

Mykail James is not ashamed to call herself a “recovering overspender.”

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The Washington, D.C.-based financial educator, who also goes by “the boujie budgeter” online, says she used to spend too much money on splurges like concert tickets and clothing.

But today, she has her spending under control thanks to a set of rules she follows.

One rule? She gives herself a limit for how much she can spend in certain categories. She can buy a concert ticket, but not if it costs more than $45, for example.

She also keeps her spending money separate from her bill-paying money. That way, she has a set amount dedicated to “fun” each month. Once it runs out, she can’t spend any more.

That technique allows her to enjoy herself without added financial stress.

“I don’t avoid concerts, but I set limits,” she says.

Setting boundaries with plenty of wiggle room for enjoyment is a key to tackling overspending without burning out, according to financial experts.

Here are five more tips:

Go category by category

James suggests taking a close look at where your money is currently going. Are there certain monthly expenses that continue to be bigger than you expected?

That information will help you figure out where to focus your efforts. Food, entertainment and subscriptions are common culprits for many people, she says.

“Think about how that spending fits into your overall lifestyle,” James adds, and what you might want to tweak.

Define your wants and needs

“Identifying where the line between needs and wants lies can be healthy in terms of deciding where to cut back,” says John Jones, certified financial planner and investment advisor representative at Heritage Financial in Newberry, Florida.

While needs are essential costs like groceries and housing, wants include discretionary purchases such as restaurant meals or entertainment.

Opting to delay or modify certain splurges can alleviate budget strain.

Perhaps you “need” a vacation, but can opt for a lower-cost hotel instead of the luxury resort, Jones says. Or maybe you need new clothes but can shop sales instead of paying full price.

“We can still satisfy those needs, but not frivolous needs,” he says.

Save before spending

Like James, Jones also recommends separating out money designated for essentials before spending on any wants.

“As soon as your paycheck hits the bank account, put a certain percentage into savings so you don’t have the urge to spend it,” Jones says.

Those savings could be for retirement, college or an emergency fund. Setting the money aside first helps you prioritize whatever savings goals you may have.

Plan splurges in advance

Jones loves buying guitars, but he tries to wait until he has the money saved up in cash. He takes a similar pay-in-advance approach to travel. To pay for his honeymoon to the Bahamas, Jones booked the cruise with a 0% interest loan, which he pays off every month in advance of the trip.

“That way we don’t have to tap into any reserves,” he says.

Trae Bodge, a shopping expert at TrueTrae.com who is based in the New York area, offers a similar tactic. If she sees something she wants online or in a store, she doesn’t buy it right away. Instead, she walks away.

“If I forget about it, I know it’s not important,” she says. If it’s on her mind days later, then she might make the purchase.

Turn saving into a social game

Start a friendly competition with friends to see who can save more, suggests Molly Ward, a CFP with Equitable Advisors based in Houston, Texas.

“You can share savings tips and check in to see how it’s going for each other,” she says.

Having those conversations with friends also helps reduce any stigma around prioritizing saving over spending, Ward adds.

It can be easier to save money if your friends are doing the same. You don’t have to keep explaining why you’re opting to stay in instead of paying for a night out.

That’s why James doesn’t hold back when it comes to sharing her goals around spending less.

True friends, she says, will understand and support efforts that help you achieve your goals.

Kimberly Palmer writes for NerdWallet. Email: kpalmer@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @kimberlypalmer.

The article Practical Ways to Tackle Overspending originally appeared on NerdWallet.