REVIEW: ‘Luca’ is simple and comforting, like a bowl of fresh pasta
Pixar’s latest feature Luca features the voices of Jacob Tremblay and Jack Dylan Grazer.
You’d be forgiven if the release of Pixar’s newest feature film almost passed you by. It was dropped on Disney+ this past weekend, after the spotty reopening of theatres this summer made the House of Mouse back down from a wide release. More than a few creatives at the studio were frustrated by the move; normally, a new movie from Pixar is big news, and if you’re not constantly refreshing Film Twitter, Luca might get buried with all the other offerings on Disney’s platform.
To be fair, Luca isn’t up there with Pixar’s recent list-topping achievements like Up, Inside Out or Coco. It takes some of the premise of The Little Mermaid, pairs it with a mid-20th century Italian setting, and renders it with their characteristic industry-leading visuals. It may not leave you sobbing, but it’s still an easy recommendation, especially if you already finished Netflix’s last standout family film, The Mitchells vs. The Machines.
The world of Luca is a divided one: the humans above the waves and a civilization of “sea monsters” below. These aquatic denizens live in constant fear of the humans, especially their harpoons. Luca (Jacob Tremblay) is a young sea monster who tends to his family’s flock of sheep-like fish. His mom Daniela (Maya Rudolph) is a classic worrywart type, who warns Luca constantly to avoid the surface at all costs. But Luca is curious nevertheless, leading him to cross paths with a slightly older sea monster named Alberto (Jack Dylan Grazer).
Luca and Alberto have to hide their sea monster nature from the humans of Porto Rosso.
Alberto has zero fear of humans, and shows Luca how when their species dries off above the surface, they magically transform into humans. Alberto is living on his own - his absentee father is mentioned but never seen - and he has developed an obsession with human culture. Specifically, he’s in love with Vespa motor scooters, which Alberto convinces Luca is the key to freeing them from their fearful life in the ocean. Alberto and Luca head off to the nearest town to try to win enough money to buy a Vespa of their own, which of course leads them to many close calls with the supposedly hateful humans living there.
Luca’s plot is instantly familiar - more family films than I can count rely on a variation of an outsider in foreign world, seeking acceptance. It’s a time-worn lesson for the kids in the audience, and here it’s put in the context of the Italian town’s annual summer triathlon for kids, where they complete a swimming circuit, a pasta-eating segment, and a bike race through the town. Luca and Alberto team up with a local girl named Giulia (Emma Berman) and they become fast friends, though Alberto slowly becomes worried that Luca won’t travel on with him when they win the race. Any kids who made friends during summer camp or during a vacation somewhere will quickly identify with the character dynamics here.
The area that Luca doesn’t develop quite as strongly is the material for the older audience members. Whereas Up and Inside Out have themes and references oriented directly at the adults, Luca doesn’t dwell on some of the narrative possibilities suggested by the premise. Exploring aspects like the humans’ possible speciesism, the origins of the sea monster culture, or even the threat of overfishing could have been worked into the script without killing the mood or alienating the kids.
Nevertheless, Luca packs in more than enough set pieces and jokes to keep everyone entertained on a rainy day. Luca is a straightforward base hit, and I’m just waiting for the studio’s next grand slam. Whoops - since we’re talking about Italy, should that be a football reference?
Luca gets three stars out of four.
Stray thoughts
Unsurprisingly, my favourite character is the deep-sea-dwelling Uncle Ugo (Sacha Baron Cohen). Wish we got at least one more scene from him, other than the post-credits one!
The filmmakers take some liberties with the wet-dry mechanics of the sea monster transformation, but it doesn’t kill your suspension of disbelief.
A shoutout to the little town for tolerating Luca’s parents becoming the local vagrants who bully children.