THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Sometimes, being yourself is a big step in life and Luca reminds us just that.
PLOT
The film takes place in a fictional 1959 where sea monsters live off the coast of the Italian town of Portorosso. The young titular creature lives with his parents Daniela and Lorenzo. One day, he meets another boy like him named Alberto, who lives on his own. Unbeknownst to the parents, he spends time with him on the surface, learning that he has a human form whenever his skin is dry. When they find out though, they intend to send him to live in the deep sea with his uncle Ugo (Sacha Baron Cohen). Not wanting to live there, Luca decides to run away with Alberto in hopes to travel the world above the sea. When they make their presence known in Portorosso, they do encounter the local bully Ercole Visconti, but befriend a little girl named Giulia Marcovaldo. Since all three desire to have a Vespa scooter, they agree to be a team to win a local children's triathlon known as the 'Portorosso Cup'. Wanting to avoid reveal their true identities, the boys agree to do the eating & biking portion instead of the swimming. Since they are without parents at the moment, they live outside Giulia's home and rest on a tree. Between training, they would also fish with her father Massimo (Marco Barricelli). As Daniela & Lorenzo look for their son, Luca hangs out with Giulia more than Alberto, becoming extremely fascinated of learning more about the world, including astronomy in particular. He does share with Alberto that he wants to go to school instead of traveling with him. This angers him because he feels ignored and replies that he wouldn’t be accepted if others found out who he is. He reveals himself to Giulia to prove his point and just when she is scared of him, Luca keeps his own cover by selling him out to Ercole, resulting in him to flee to the sea. Giulia finds out the truth of Luca later on at night and makes clear that he shouldn’t live in the surface since Massimo hunts for sea monsters. When he does find Alberto in hopes to reconcile, he discovers that he has been on his own since his father abandoned him. Despite being aware that he won’t budge, Luca makes clear that he wouldn’t be inspired to embrace life had they never met. The next day, he competes the Portorosso Cup on his own. He uses a scuba suit to complete the swimming section. And when he dries up, he finishes the eating portion. But when he starts the biking section, it begins to rain and his identity is at risk. When he tries to hide, Alberto returns and gives him an umbrella to keep going. His friend gives himself away to give him a chance to finish but when Ercole attempts to capture him, Luca caves and reveals himself to protect him. The boys and Giulia share a landslide victory as their bikes crossed the finish line during the conflict with Ercole. The townsfolk consider killing them, but Massimo convinces all except Ercole to spare them as he understands that they mean no harm. Luca’s parents and grandmother Paguro (Sandy Martin) reveal themselves as well after seeing him and Alberto quickly become accepted by humans. Although the kids win the Vespa, Alberto sells it to buy a train ticket for Luca to go live with Giulia and her mother. He even convinced his parents to let him go, with the condition that he writes to them. He shares the good news to his friend, along with the fact that he will live with Massimo. The film ends with Luca saying goodbye to his family as he leaves for a whole new chapter in his life to begin.
THOUGHTS
Pixar is known to satisfy audiences with their films and when getting the chance to see this one on Disney+ during the summer it came out, it is proven to be no exception. In between the fascinating animation style and Dan Romer’s pleasant score, Director Enrico Casarosa makes this movie work by sharing messages more powerful than ever at this point in time: He is encouraging viewers to always be explorative in life and be yourself no matter what. And while it is nice to be accepted by others, accepting yourself is more important because you can never be happy if you don’t embrace what makes you different. It is clear that we wouldn’t not caught without the titular lead. Jacob Tremblay lends his voice to portray a kid who is going through the hat will definitely be the biggest crisis in his life. He is bright for his age, but is easily shy since he doesn’t know how to express himself. That all changed when he met Alfredo because he taught him to be courageous and take things head on. The more they spent time together, the less reluctant he got. This backs up why he wanted to go to school, as he wanted to broadened his horizons more than ever. It is painful to see him sell out Alfredo as it can be a reflection for people to avoid ‘coming out’. Hence the said lessons being taught. He didn’t he was ready to share the truth. However, Luca knew friendship was more important than self discovery, which defends botching the race. He knew at that moment that his own acceptance was more important than what the surface thought. Lucky for him, once his kind became at peace with humans, his adventure got to continue and I hope he enjoys every second of it. Leaning into the rest of the cast, Jack Dylan Grazer’s first voice performance could be his best yet because he made Alfredo memorable by expressing the same free spirited independence that defined the sea creature. However, he makes it clear that this positivity is a shadow of personal pain he is dealing with. When his father abandoned him, he feared that he wasn’t good enough for anyone, which led to encountering Luca being a blessing for him. Sadly, his fear of losing him led to him unintentionally being aggressive and making bad decisions, hence revealing himself to Giulia to prove a point. However, him doing right by Luca in the climax only proves that he was in the wrong for how he acted and should’ve thought of what his friend wanted. Massimo adopts him because he sees that he needs guidance and is giving him the opportunity to have a parent he never had. With that in mind, I’m sure that he will be just as happy as Luca is because now he has a new chapter in life to excite over. Emma Berman made Giulia likable as well for embracing the same enthusiasm that Alfredo was all about. She knows that there is so much in the world to do and with that mindset, she doesn’t hesitate enjoying everything around her. She gets along with the boys so we’ll because she is treated as much of an outcast as they are. Despite initially being afraid of what they really are, she knows like her dad that they mean no harm and just want to fit in. Seeing how she stands up for them is the kind of friendship everyone deserves and I don’t think otherwise. Maya Rudolph & Jim Gaffigan were highly as both Daniela & Lorenzo respectively. They are both gullible parents whose overprotectiveness prevent them from understanding their son like they thought they did. That one insecurity drove him away and when they see him get accepted, that is where they realize they were preventing him from being happy, which is why I respect their decision to let Luca go as all that mattered to them was for him to be happy. Lastly, I thought that Saverio Raimondo was pretty entertaining as Ercole. To briefly put it, he’s like an Italian version of Sid from Toy Story, where he just enjoys being cruel to those around him for his own satisfaction. So when his minions stand up to him by throwing him into a fountain, you can’t deny that he had it coming. I know I’ll never stop loving this film, but that won’t mean it’s perfect as I caught a few things that bothered me. First off, I know it can be funny to see Luca when realizing his flock of fish were out of the barn, but did he really need to check when they were already around him? That’s just a random way to show off a trait of him. I really don’t want to overthink this, but how is it even possible for sea monsters to farm underwater when the fish are just gonna be as difficult as land animals? I feel like hunting should be enough for them to get by. I also wonder why didn’t Daniela send Luca to the deep immediately? If she was so worried, they would’ve taken off the second he came back from his first set of shenanigans with Alfredo. And yeah it’s funny that she & Lorenzo get every kid in town exposed to water to find their son, but how come no kid reported this crap? They would’ve been called out for bullying and would’ve had to flee back to the sea had a kid spoke up. It does look cool when Ercole has a radio set behind him when he drives, but that thing should’ve fell off after one cobble on the street. Also, why do Luca & Alfredo risk again sleeping outdoors after it first rained? Theses kids really enjoy taking risks way too much. And lastly, how did no one in the crowd of the triathlon not notice Luca’s sea form when his helmet came off? Yes there are other kids competing, but that can’t mean someone other than Giulia wouldn’t notice what happened. The kid was living on luck here. However, I still think you can have a good time with this if you ignore what I called out. To wrap up, Luca is another Pixar hit for teaching kids to be themselves no matter what, which earns itself the Best Animated Feature Oscar nomination in the process. If you got Disney+ and admire friendship, check this out.
Comments