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The last year has definitely been a challenging one for the film industry. Studios have struggled as theaters closed down and film shoots were halted. But Pixar adjusted to their new situation, producing their latest Disney+ release, Luca, entirely from home.
Luca follows the adventures of lovable sea creature Luca (voiced by Jacob Tremblay), who spends his life herding his family’s fish and avoiding any of the murderous land monsters that may pass overhead in their boats. One day, though, he finds himself on the surface—magically transformed, with a human form—with a wild and free creature-turned-boy named Alberto (Jack Dylan Grazer). Luca dreams of being free and exploring the human world with his new friend. So when his parents find out about his trips to the surface and plan to send him away to the deep with his creepy uncle, Luca and Alberto decide to run away to the human village.
Set in a seaside Italian village in the 1950s, Luca is a lovable animated fantasy with classic Italian charm and the kind of gorgeous style that fans have come to expect from Pixar. The animation may have been completed while animators sat at home in their sweatpants and slippers, but you wouldn’t know it from looking at it. From Luca’s imaginative underwater home and its vibrant inhabitants to the colorful human village, everything here is absolutely striking.
But it’s not just the animation that makes Luca worth a look. Though the story is often reminiscent of the Disney classic The Little Mermaid (I swear there’s got to be a dinglehopper somewhere in Alberto’s tower—and I will find it), it also adds its own twist on the story of an underwater character falling in love with life on the surface. Luca and Alberto meet outsider Giulia (Emma Berman) in the village, and together they form their own band of underdogs—these kids who don’t fit in, who are seen as different, but who find support and friendship in one another. As always, there are plenty of clever humor here—and lots of adventure, too. But, in the end, Luca definitely has Pixar’s heart most of all.
Beautiful and heartwarming, Luca gathers a lovable band of outsiders, sets them loose in a gorgeous seaside town, and tells a story about friendship and overcoming our differences. It may not be quite as deep and sophisticated as some other Pixar films, but it’s easily one of the studio’s best in recent years.
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