REVIEW: Luca Lacks the Pixar Magic
Pixar’s 24th film Luca arrives June 18 and, unfortunately, doesn’t live up to the standard of its predecessors. Luca is the tale of a young sea monster, Luca (Jacob Tremblay), curious about the world on land. After defying his parents’ orders to never break the water’s surface, Luca heads to land where he meets another young sea monster, Alberto (Jack Dylan Grazer).
Living on his own, Alberto takes Luca under his wing to teach him the ways of life on land. The pair’s shared love of the Vespa, the Italian scooter, leads them to the little seaside town of Portorosso. They believe that town holds the keys to their Vespa dream and while there encounter characters who will change their lives forcing Luca to decide if life is really better out of the sea.
A sea creature wanting to see what’s beyond the surface is a tale many are familiar with, and a tale Disney has told before. <em>The Little Mermaid</em>’s Ariel’s desire to live among the humans was much different than Luca’s but the base is essentially the same. Because of this, Luca felt unoriginal which is not often something one associates with Pixas films.
The other challenge the film faced was the focus of one major storyline. There were too many smaller storylines going on at one time leaving the viewer unsure what the main point is. The storylines the film started were interesting but the film never quite completes one, leaving an unfinished feeling on the film.
To go along with the unfinished stories was the animation. The colors throughout were beautiful, but of all of the Pixar movies that have been released, this one lacked the Pixar magic. The under the sea portions of the film are especially captivating but the switch to land animation did not stand up to Pixar standards.
Tremblay and Grazer were great choices to voice Luca and Alberto. Both brought emotion and a whole lot of fun to their vocal performances. Emma Berman voiced Giulia, a spunky Italian girl who befriends Luca and Alberto, and also did a great job. Maya Rudolph and Jim Gaffigan voiced Luca’s parents, Daniela and Lorenzo, and were probably the best parts of the movie. I wish the writers had given their characters more dialogue to work with because of how good they were.
Luca is not the best movie to come out of Pixar studios, but kids will still enjoy it. Adults may not enjoy it as much, but if you are looking for a family movie to sit down and watch, give it a go. Thankfully, it is being released straight to Disney+, so you can watch it whenever you want.
Grade: C