Luca
Year: 2021
Directed by: Enrico Casarosa
Starring: Emma Berman, Jack Dylan Grazer & Jacob Tremblay
Runtime: 95 mins
BBFC: PG
Published: 28/07/21
Directed by: Enrico Casarosa
Starring: Emma Berman, Jack Dylan Grazer & Jacob Tremblay
Runtime: 95 mins
BBFC: PG
Published: 28/07/21
When I was younger, I often felt like I didn’t fit in anywhere. I wasn’t into the same things that my peers were into, I didn’t act the same way they did, and even in the eyes of adults I was seen as the weird kid that just didn’t really belong.
So, Pixar’s newest film Luca did strike a particular chord within me with the whole ‘finding yourself’ premise, and reminded me a lot of myself, stumbling through life not knowing how to act or what to like until I eventually found it. But just because I connected with Luca doesn’t mean that it manages to achieve the same high-quality standard that Pixar’s films typically do.
Luca (Jacob Tremblay) is a sea monster that lives off the coast of a small Italian fishing village, Porto Rosso. He has an insatiable curiosity of what life is like above the waves, but his overly protective mother forbids him from going anywhere near the surface for fear of being discovered by humans. Luca obeys his mother’s wishes until he meets Alberto (Jack Dylan Grazer), a fellow sea monster who spends most of his time living above the waves on an island isolated from Porto Rosso.
Alberto is a self-professed expert of humans and their ways of life. Luca spots a poster for a Vespa scooter in Alberto’s shelter and the two decide that they will travel to Porto Rosso to get a Vespa and use it to travel the world.
When they arrive at Porto Rosso, they discover that getting a Vespa isn’t quite as easy as they thought, and as a result befriend Giulia (Emma Berman) so that the three can enter a race so that the boys can win the money needed to buy one.
Luca’s story is unfocused to say the least, and it doesn’t really settle on what the story is going to be until almost halfway through with the whole Porto Rosso race. But even then, the goals and motivations for the characters shift so much that it can feel like the story isn’t going anywhere particularly fast. It’s definitely not a bad story, but it does lack the tightness and nuance that Pixar films usually have associated to them. This feels more akin to The Good Dinosaur than Toy Story for example, it’s an enjoyable film that particularly kids will have a fun time with, but I’d be surprised to see Luca being a serious contender come awards season.
So, Pixar’s newest film Luca did strike a particular chord within me with the whole ‘finding yourself’ premise, and reminded me a lot of myself, stumbling through life not knowing how to act or what to like until I eventually found it. But just because I connected with Luca doesn’t mean that it manages to achieve the same high-quality standard that Pixar’s films typically do.
Luca (Jacob Tremblay) is a sea monster that lives off the coast of a small Italian fishing village, Porto Rosso. He has an insatiable curiosity of what life is like above the waves, but his overly protective mother forbids him from going anywhere near the surface for fear of being discovered by humans. Luca obeys his mother’s wishes until he meets Alberto (Jack Dylan Grazer), a fellow sea monster who spends most of his time living above the waves on an island isolated from Porto Rosso.
Alberto is a self-professed expert of humans and their ways of life. Luca spots a poster for a Vespa scooter in Alberto’s shelter and the two decide that they will travel to Porto Rosso to get a Vespa and use it to travel the world.
When they arrive at Porto Rosso, they discover that getting a Vespa isn’t quite as easy as they thought, and as a result befriend Giulia (Emma Berman) so that the three can enter a race so that the boys can win the money needed to buy one.
Luca’s story is unfocused to say the least, and it doesn’t really settle on what the story is going to be until almost halfway through with the whole Porto Rosso race. But even then, the goals and motivations for the characters shift so much that it can feel like the story isn’t going anywhere particularly fast. It’s definitely not a bad story, but it does lack the tightness and nuance that Pixar films usually have associated to them. This feels more akin to The Good Dinosaur than Toy Story for example, it’s an enjoyable film that particularly kids will have a fun time with, but I’d be surprised to see Luca being a serious contender come awards season.
The biggest thumbs down I can give the film though, is the character of Alberto. We all know someone who thinks they know everything and as a result acts like they’re the most important person in the room. Alberto goes out of his way at almost every opportunity to be unlikable, and Luca continues to hang around with him because he doesn’t know any better and sees Alberto as this fountain of knowledge. Now that’s not the issue, but what is the issue is how we are supposed to view the character later on in the film when he and Luca fall out. I won’t spoil the moment, but the act that makes them no longer friends is entirely Alberto’s fault, and is extremely hurtful to Luca, and yet the film tries to frame Luca as being in the wrong for wanting to stay with Guilia (a girl who has shown him nothing but kindness) instead of staying with Alberto who has been treating him awfully.
This moment wouldn’t have been so wrong had Alberto not been a smug, self-centred know-it-all the entire film. But because Luca is clearly making the right choice by cutting someone toxic out of his life, it feels so weird that the film tries to say that Luca was wrong for doing that.
As always though, Luca’s greatest strength lies in the immeasurable talent of Pixar’s animators. The film is stunning with such rich colours and highly detailed environments. Some elements like grass and stone can at times look as though they’re real with the level of detail visible on them. The character models are also richly detailed and have some very slick animations. The transitions between monster and human are also very impressive, as well as the way the water behaves when it comes upon the shore. Pixar have been refining their water physics all the way back as far as Finding Nemo, and to see just how much better they are now compared to then is a truly remarkable feat.
Whilst Luca is a fun film that will certainly entertain the whole family, with a heartfelt story to boot. I feel like it will quickly be forgotten about amongst Pixar’s large and extremely high quality back-catalogue of genre defining films. It’s small mistakes in the story department that truly let it down, which for a pedigree as high as Pixar’s makes the small problems even more egregious.
This moment wouldn’t have been so wrong had Alberto not been a smug, self-centred know-it-all the entire film. But because Luca is clearly making the right choice by cutting someone toxic out of his life, it feels so weird that the film tries to say that Luca was wrong for doing that.
As always though, Luca’s greatest strength lies in the immeasurable talent of Pixar’s animators. The film is stunning with such rich colours and highly detailed environments. Some elements like grass and stone can at times look as though they’re real with the level of detail visible on them. The character models are also richly detailed and have some very slick animations. The transitions between monster and human are also very impressive, as well as the way the water behaves when it comes upon the shore. Pixar have been refining their water physics all the way back as far as Finding Nemo, and to see just how much better they are now compared to then is a truly remarkable feat.
Whilst Luca is a fun film that will certainly entertain the whole family, with a heartfelt story to boot. I feel like it will quickly be forgotten about amongst Pixar’s large and extremely high quality back-catalogue of genre defining films. It’s small mistakes in the story department that truly let it down, which for a pedigree as high as Pixar’s makes the small problems even more egregious.