Luca review: An unambitious but thoroughly charming Italian escapade

Pixar’s Luca is an unambitious but thoroughly charming entry that doesn’t reinvent the wheel but still captures the studio’s signature magic.

After being bumped from a theatrical release to a Disney+ digital-only debut as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, this Friday will finally see the release of the latest addition to the Pixar portfolio, Luca. While relatively tame and simplistic as far as Pixar concepts go, there’s more than enough charm and vivacity in Luca to make for a sweet, lighthearted summer flick.

Luca follows the titular 13-year-old Luca (Jacob Tremblay), a sea monster who’s spent his entire life herding fish in a secluded undersea community with his mother (Maya Rudolph), father (Jim Gaffigan), and grandmother (Sandy Martin). Luca has been warned his entire life not to go to the surface, lest he undergo “the change” – becoming human when he’s no longer touching water – but after forming a close friendship with the freewheeling Alberto (Jack Dylan Grazer), his sense of adventure begins to grow.

Alberto and Luca decide to enter a triathlon contest to win the prize money for a Vespa, teaming up with a strong-willed human girl (Emma Berman) from the local fishing town to win. Together, the trio prepares to take on the local bully (Saverio Raimondo) in the triathlon, as Luca dodges his worried parents and struggles to keep his and Alberto’s true status as a sea monster a secret.

Luca review: Is Luca worth watching?

What’s odd about Luca is that, unlike Pixar’s last film Soul, which tackled the weighty topic of death, the afterlife, and what it truly means to live, Luca is an incredibly simplistic film – one might go so far as to say unambitious. The surface-level details bear an obvious resemblance to the Disney classic The Little Mermaid, but the idea of a sea monster trying to participate in a triathlon while hiding his identity almost sounds like a concept more fit for an animated short than a full-blown feature film.

The plot’s simplicity instead leaves ample room for Luca to explore its setting and characters in much more depth – even within the brief hour-and-a-half – and the film takes full advantage, crafting three engaging, dynamic protagonists and a gaggle of supporting characters, all of whom are well-rounded and given substantial time to shine. Luca is remarkably balanced in this regard – it never dawdles or bloats itself with excessive scenes, instead opting to put in the work early to world build and develop a trio of heroes who are easy to understand and root for.

At the center of it all is, of course, Luca – played with wonderful charm and charisma by Jacob Tremblay, far and away the most prolific child actor currently working in Hollywood. Tremblay is, as expected, more than capable of a leading role – as Luca he’s endearingly awkward while still maintaining the whimsy and trademark rosy-eyed Disney view of the world. His inexperience and lack of knowledge about the human world is wonderfully contrasted with the older and more rough around the edges Alberto, and Jack Dylan Grazer is similarly well-suited to the role.

Though Luca is the titular character, it’s Alberto whose arc is most well-defined and compelling, even if we could’ve stood to see a little more time devoted to developing his dynamic with Luca before Giulia is tossed into the mix. While she may join the film later than her fellow heroes, Giulia is still as charismatic and winsome as Luca and Alberto – perhaps even more so, given her heartfelt relationship with her father Massimo, and her underdog attitude towards taking down Ercole, the town’s bully.

Together, the trio does more than enough to keep the audience engaged and rooting for them the entire time – though it would’ve been easy for individual arcs to get lost in the wake of trying to craft three solid characters and a group dynamic, Luca is remarkably efficient and delivers on both the heartfelt bond between the children and the fundamental differences that often cause friction between them.

While at points the choice to split time between three main characters does perhaps rob Luca of a clear strong central idea or thesis, it doesn’t feel particularly lacking in this regard either – just an odd change from the typical structure of a Pixar film, especially considering Luca is incredibly by-the-book in almost every other aspect. In some cases, being so trademark Pixar does work against it – though inoffensive, Luca is entirely predictable and not all that dynamic when it comes to establishing stakes or any significant tension – but the strength of the voice acting and the charm of the individual character arcs makes up for the relative lack of urgency.

Also working in the film’s favor is its lush backdrop of a coastal Italian fishing town – a setting towards which Luca bounces between genuine reverence and gentle mocking. The scenery provides for some stunning tableaus and beautiful animation, as well as incredibly compelling use of Italian music to comprise the film’s soundtrack. Other elements, though, feel more on the side of affectionate stereotyping.

In the triathlon, pasta eating is substituted for running, Giulia frequently prays to cheeses instead of saints, and local bully Ercole is practically every Italian stereotype rolled into one.  Even with the gentle ribbing, though, Luca honors Italy more than it pokes fun –  making ample use of its decadent setting for both plot and aesthetic purposes.

If you’re not already a fan of Pixar, Luca may not sell you on the studio’s ingenuity in animation, but for audiences heading into the film with a love of Pixar (like us), you won’t leave disappointed. Though at times a little too inoffensive and simplistic to land among the studio’s greatest achievements, Luca is a thoroughly charming seafaring adventure that serves as a love letter to the Italian coast and a heartfelt tale about self-discovery and friendship.