In ‘Luca’, Pixar Animation Studios’ 2021 animated coming-of-age feature, the story centres around Luca Paguro (voiced by Jacob Tremblay), a young sea monster living with his family off the coast of the Italian Riviera. In what has a lot of parallels with the plot of ‘The Little Mermaid’, Luca is taught to fear the human world (humans are referred to as ‘land monsters’), but has a curiosity and eagerness to learn. Unlike Ariel, however, he doesn’t need to visit a villainous sea witch to blend in physically with the human world, as the sea monsters have the ability to assume a human form when they emerge on dry land. The catch is that their aquatic form will re-emerge whenever they come into contact with water.
At the beginning of the film, Luca crosses paths with fellow adolescent sea monster Alberto Scorfano (voiced by Jack Dylan Grazer), who has been living a carefree, independent existence on land, and teaches Luca to embrace life, and the bolder, more adventurous side of his character. The two are soon forming plans to travel the world on a Vespa, after spending time constructing and crashing their own makeshift vehicles, but this is thrown into jeopardy when Luca’s cautious parents discover that he has been spending time on land, and decide to send him to stay with his strange, deep ocean dwelling uncle (brilliantly voiced by Sacha Baron Cohen). To avoid this, Luca and Alberto decide to escape to the local town, Portorosso, with the hopes of realising their dream to acquire their own Vespa. They subsequently end up joining forces with local girl Giulia Marcovaldo (voiced by Emma Berman) to compete in a triathlon event and win the money to purchase their Vespa.
First and foremost, I thought the film was beautifully animated, with the bold blues and greens in the opening section, which takes place primarily under water, contrasting wonderfully with the pastels and terracottas used to bring Portorosso to life. I also thought the use of the montage sequences throughout the film to capture Luca’s thoughts and reactions (notably, with the ‘wild Vespas’ at the beginning of the film, and later when Giulia is introducing him to the concept of space and stars) was inventive and entertaining.
In terms of character development, it was interesting to see Luca gain in confidence as he interacts closely with Giulia and learns more about the human world, whereas Alberto, who appears to be the more outgoing of the two central characters initially, is increasingly unsettled and insecure, particularly when Luca develops ambitions that may put their travel plans at risk. We, as the audience, gradually see Luca shift from the cautious, timid individual we are introduced to at the beginning of the story, to the bolder, more self-assured character he becomes by the film’s close.
There are plenty of supporting characters in the film to provide entertainment for younger audience members, including Machiavelli, the Marcovaldo family’s burly, suspicious black and white cat, who is the first character in the film to discover the truth about Luca and Alberto after an unfortunate incident involving a spilled glass of water. Ercole Visconti (voiced by Saverio Raimondo), a brutish and self-centred competitor in the triathlon and the main villain in the film, is also suitably ‘pantomimish’ for young children to enjoy seeing him foiled by Luca and the team. Adult audience members will also get a chuckle from Sandy Martin’s portrayal as the blunt, wise-cracking Grandma Paguro.
I felt that the pace of the story seemed to slow a little in the middle section, but gathered momentum towards the end in the build up to the triathlon event. Although charming and enjoyable to watch, the film does not quite pack the emotional punch of other Pixar works such as ‘Inside Out’ and ‘Up’. There are a lot of endearing moments, with one of the notable scenes for me involving Giulia’s burly fisherman father, Massimo (voiced by Marco Barricelli), in the aftermath of the triathlon. However, the film seems to float over, rather than take a deeper dive into, the more emotive aspects of the story and tribulations of the characters, with the focus instead being on providing light, unassuming entertainment. For me, this was particularly evident at a key junction in the story when Lucas and Alberto’s friendship is tested by a betrayal, and Alberto makes a revelation about his background.
While ‘Luca’ may not be considered Pixar’s most ground breaking work, it delivers a warm and heartfelt message about friendship and being accepting of others, conquering your fears, and embracing life.
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