Luca (2021) | Film Review

Over the last year, many people have battled to feel included and have their voices heard. From the Black Lives Matter movement in the wake of George Floyd, to the 2020 Election where Red and Blue ideologies collided, and even today, where masked and non-masked humans are becoming politicized. It is only natural that Hollywood would make a movie to tap into these themes. Who better to inspire the next generation of humans than Pixar. 

Maybe it was planned or just a lucky coincidence that the latest installment from Pixar – Luca – debuted on Juneteenth, the day Americans celebrate the emancipation of Blacks from slavery. While not exactly enslaved, the humans and sea monsters in this movie do not get along and have long standing prejudices against each other. The humans from the local town even hunt the sea monsters for sport. 

Enter Luca, voiced by Good Boys’ Jacob Tremblay, a young sea monster that lives in the ocean just off the coast of the Italian Riviera who is curious about the land but has been prevented from visiting by his parents due to the “land monsters” that walk its shores. One day Luca meets his new best friend Alberto, voiced by Jack Dylan Grazer (young Eddie in 2017’s IT), who introduces him to not only the land, but a long hidden secret that they, the sea monsters, can turn into humans! As long as Luca and Alberto stay dry, they remain in human form. The plot thickens if they get wet however, since the people of this small seaside town aren’t too fond of sea monsters. 

 
As the movie progresses, Luca and Alberto run into Giulia, a local delivery girl who ends up befriending the two and invites them to stay with her and her father. The two boys are trying to earn money to buy a Vespa, so they go to work for her dad helping him catch fish and make deliveries. Dad also cooks a mean pesto pasta, because the town is known for its pasta company and sponsors a triathlon race every year. Eventually Luca’s parents come looking for him, the only challenge is how do you find your son when he is now a human boy. 

Overall, the film does what Pixar is know for by making great visuals, telling a good story, and bringing out the feels in the end. Luca’s downfall is that it is all forced and very predictable. What should be fun, interesting gimmicks of how to avoid getting wet, the story hits you over the head with cliches that will make you groan like a sea monster. Luca is about 100 minutes long and by the halfway point, it feels like a regurgitated telling of the Little Mermaid: boy edition. 

Tremblay and Glazer do excellent work conveying the emotion of both their characters’ human and sea monster form as they build their friendship through the course of the story. Relatively new to the scene, Emma Berman lends her voice to the spunky human Giulia, who has been trying to win the triathlon race for years. Giulia is the one saving grace of the film as you see her overcome challenges in her life and her fears, while befriending Luca and Alberto to give them the full human experience.  

 
Once Luca and Alberto arrive in town, Luca picks up in action and salvages the slow burn open. However, those of us that have become accustomed to Pixar giving us movies that speak to all four of the audience quadrants, Luca,  directed by Enrico Casarosa who has been with Pixar since Cars, lands squarely in the younger-tween quadrant only. 

In the end it is a great message of facing your fears, accepting people for who they are, and becoming the person you always wanted to be.  So take a swim with Luca this summer if you have young ones, and if you nod off during the first 30 minutes, blame it on all the pasta! 

Follow our further discussion on Luca via this episode of The Hollywood Outsider podcast: