--- name: "Adrian Molina" canonical: "https://film.one/person/adrian-molina" fi1m_id: "adrian-molina" imdb_id: "nm2937122" tmdb_id: 1684652 wikidata_id: "Q27975427" roles: ["Director","Writer"] born: "23 August 1985" reviewed_on_fi1m: 2 average_fi1m_score: 74 average_as: "director" average_over: 2 updated: "2026-09-30T21:55:11.896252+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Adrian Molina ## Identity Adrian Molina - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/adrian-molina - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** adrian-molina - **IMDb ID:** nm2937122 - **TMDB ID:** 1684652 - **Wikidata ID:** Q27975427 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Molina, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q27975427, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2937122/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1684652 Director and writer. Born 23 August 1985 in Yuba City, California, USA. ## Details - **Work:** Director, Writer - **Born:** 23 August 1985, Yuba City, California, USA - **Active:** 2017–present - **Also known as:** أدريان مولينا, 阿德里安莫里納 - **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar nomination - **Average Fi1m score:** 74, as director, over 2 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 2010s 84 (1), 2020s 64 (1) - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Molina, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q27975427, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2937122/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1684652 ## Coming up - *Coco 2* (2029-11-20), Co-Director ## Streaming the US now - **Disney+:** [*Coco*](https://film.one/film/coco.md) (84), [*Elio*](https://film.one/film/elio.md) (64) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Adrian Molina > Adrian Molina's strongest work keeps a particular family at the centre of the adventure. We recommend *Coco* despite its busy plotting; *Elio* is less assured, though its shared direction makes it a poor measure of him alone. In *Elio* (2025), an orphan living with his aunt wants nothing more than to leave Earth. We were moved by that opening half hour, because his wish to be taken away makes his loneliness painfully clear. Once he reaches the council of alien ambassadors, the film becomes busy with a story whose turns are too easy to anticipate. It stays kind, but the boy's unhappiness was more interesting than much of the adventure that follows. Molina's move from storyboarding into writing and co-direction found its strongest result in *Coco* (2017), made with Lee Unkrich. Its Día de los Muertos setting gives the family story the particulars that *Elio* too often lacks. The fear of being forgotten is taken seriously, without preventing the film from being funny or making room for music. The detailed Land of the Dead and the voices keep us interested in the family even when the plotting begins to feel familiar. The trouble comes when Molina and fellow screenwriter Matthew Aldrich have to move Miguel from one complication to the next. Some passages feel as though they are there to postpone the scene we actually want to reach. Editors Lee Unkrich and Steve Bloom keep the adventure brisk, which helps without making the extra complications necessary. The opening also asks us to absorb plenty of explanation. We can admire Molina's care for the family while wishing he and Aldrich had given the story fewer obstacles. With *Elio*, assigning responsibility is harder. Molina left the production in 2024 but retained a directing credit; Domee Shi and Madeline Sharafian are credited alongside him. We cannot fairly give him sole credit for the opening's tenderness, or sole blame for the routine plotting that follows. We would like to see him keep a family's worries in view without adding quite so many complications. Choose *Coco* for a family evening, with some patience for the plotting. ## Biography Adrian Molina is an American animator, storyboard artist, screenwriter and director at Pixar Animation Studios. Born in Yuba City, California, he graduated with a BFA in character animation from the California Institute of the Arts in 2007 and joined Pixar that year. He began as a 2D animator on *Ratatouille* (2007) and worked as a storyboard artist on *Toy Story 3* (2010) and *Monsters University* (2013), later contributing additional screenplay material to *The Good Dinosaur* (2015). Molina co-wrote the screenplay and story for *Coco* (2017), which he also co-directed. He is credited as director and story writer on *Elio* (2025). *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (2) - *Elio* (2025), Fi1m 64, Director, Story — [page](https://film.one/film/elio.md) - *Coco* (2017), Fi1m 84, as Additional Voices (voice) — [page](https://film.one/film/coco.md) ## Complete filmography (9) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Coco 2* (2029), Co-Director - *Elio* (2025), Story, Director — Fi1m 64, [page](https://film.one/film/elio.md) - *Turning Red* (2022), as Other - *Coco* (2017), as Additional Voices (voice) · Screenplay, Co-Director, Original Story — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/coco.md) - *Dante's Lunch* (2017), Producer - *Monsters University* (2013), as Additional Writing · Title Designer — Fi1m 72, [page](https://film.one/film/monsters-university.md) - *Ratatouille* (2007), Opening/Ending Animation — Fi1m 91, [page](https://film.one/film/ratatouille.md) - *Imaginary Friend* (2006), Thanks - *CuddleBee Hugs n Such* (2006), Director ## Gallery - ![Adrian Molina au festival international du film d'animation d'Annecy 2017](https://film.one/media/person/8374/gallery-28e0216a5d66.jpg) Adrian Molina au festival international du film d'animation d'Annecy 2017 — Boungawa, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Adrian_Molina.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Adrian Molina](https://film.one/media/person/8374/gallery-b7dfd46c2b20.jpg) Adrian Molina — Simon Dall'Aglio, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/Adrian_Molina_2017.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) ## Awards ### Academy Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated - 2026: Best Animated Feature (nominated), for *Elio* *From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.* --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/adrian-molina