My Review of "Luca"

Luca is the latest Pixar full feature length animated movie in 2021. It wasn't too long ago that the movie Soul had come out and we're already treated to another Pixar movie. It certainly comes to no surprise that Pixar has pretty much mastered the coming of age storyline. All of their movies talk about growth of an individual. Each movie however has a different tone and spin to it.

The movie starts off with some fishermen out at sea. It takes place in a place called Portorosso Italy. They are fishing late at night when all of a sudden it seems some creature is watching them from the water. The creature is curious of the men and seems to start taking things from the ship without the fishermen knowing. When the fishermen discover the sea monster they quickly head back home.

This is how we get introduced to Luca. He's basically a child sea monster. He's oblivious of everything and wants to be a good kid but curiosity gets the better of him. He starts finding items from the surface at the bottom of the sea. Since his parents are very protective of him, fear has been instilled onto him about the surface. He knows it's a dangerous place but his imagination sometimes gets the better of him.

Not too long after, we get introduced to another child sea monster by the name of Alberto. He's more of a carefree kid as he doesn't have parental supervision. With his sense of freedom he doesn't really worry about dangers surrounding him.

The two hit it off really fast. Alberto convinces Luca to come to the surface to see what it's like. This is when we realize that they become human like when they are dry. They only go back into sea monster form when they get wet.

Of all of the artifacts that Alberto has collected, they both have the same ambition of getting a Vespa. At this point I thought this is probably the best Vespa commercial ever because they talk about the scooter company non stop in this movie.

Their dream is to get a Vespa and ride it around Italy. That will come at a cost though. These two "fish" out of water will have to go into the land of humans in order to do this and that's really what this whole story is. They are trying to win a competition to get money to buy a Vespa.

With their adventures they meet a young human girl by the name of Giulia and the three of them train to win the Portorosso race to win the big cash prize. Giulia is basically the connection the two boys have to the real world. She shows them the ropes and develop their friendship with one another.

Their coming of age story is a result of their struggles to adapt into this new world. They learn what interests them because prior to visiting the land of humans they weren't really aware of much else. There is obviously tons to learn and I guess the boys were in a little bit of a rut. They didn't really seem to have any real direction other than to get away from home. Learning of the new possibilities really shined a new light in their lives.

I think this is the relatable part of the movie where we ourselves sometimes get caught in the monotonous mode of life. We have duty and responsibilities and sometimes it puts us into a rut in our lives. This movie is trying to tell us that there's a whole bunch of possibilities that we have yet to explore.

It's also a very bright and colorful movie. Everything is absolutely vibrant with tons of details. Computer animation has come a long way where now you can see each pebble at the beach and it's breathtaking. These vivid colors really brightens up your mood while watching this movie. It's pure joy as the kids are running around in the village of Portorosso.

Another very interesting element is the amount of Italian cultural Easter eggs sprinkled throughout the movie. I recognize this movie is based in Italy but they really sprinkled a lot of Italian flavor to this movie. The sports, the food and even the way people interact with one another is a joy to watch. It sort of made me want to see Italy while watching this movie.

This movie is admittedly more themed for children but there are obviously jokes and visuals that adults will appreciate. Compared to Pixar's last outing the tone has gone a lot more jovial in this movie. So a lot of kids will enjoy this a lot more than adults in contrast to the Soul movie.

Overall, I really enjoyed this movie but then again you can't go wrong with Pixar. They have a stellar batting ration with their movies. This movie is no different. It's highly entertaining and very rewatchable. I have to give this movie an 8 out of 10. It's a movie you have to watch with your kids if you have kids. Adults can enjoy this movie too but I don't think that they'll be rewatching it over and over again.