Luca is a captivating story about a coming-of-age sea creature who is curious about life on dry land. This story takes place in the 50s in the small Italian Riviera village and has plot foundations from The Little Mermaid, Splash and Studio Ghibli’s Ponyo.
Pixar hasn’t gone its usual way with this movie but has certainly won hearts with its sweet story with the lesson of acceptance and friendship. It is worth mentioning that the movie has also grabbed attention with the immaculate underwater scenes.
Luca is a curious boy
Luca(voiced by Jacob Tremblay) is a curious boy. Not the usual kind of boy, but a sea creature boy with gills and seahorse tail. Though not unusual his hair also has an underwater vibe with a wavy coral look. His family consist of his mother Daniela (voiced by Maya Rudolph), his carefree dad Lorenzo (Jim Gaffigan) and his cool Grandma (Sandy Martin), who all live together in the water outside the Italian Riviera fishing village Portorosso. As the movie progresses, it is seen that sea monsters have a prominent local store in this stated place.
The movie starts with Luca wondering on a bright happy morning, underwater, as he acknowledges and nods and waves at several of his friends from his water community. It is in this while that the audience gets the first hint of the characters surrounding, believes and habits, as his mother tells him “The curious fish gets caught,” as he wanders off a bit far than desired. This scene seems to come with a hint from Finding Nemo.
Luca is then shown to be a curious fellow, always coming in contact with junk like alarm clock and gramophone, which is like a treasure for him, getting him more curious about the world above sea level. He then gets help from Alberto (Jack Dylan Grazer), who teaches him how to walk like humans. With this, and after living through objections from his parents, he finally enters “the human town.” Pretty much like every other water-land movie, Luca gets human legs when dry and becomes a sea creature when wet. Needless to say, the monsoon wasn’t their favourite climate.
Real Magic of the movie: Voice and Visuals
The movie’s voice cast was amazing. Every character had a matching voice and played well with the movie and other sound effects. But what was evening more applaudable were the visuals. The water world and the land world were both depicted with great details. From the play of light in the sunset to the terracotta walls to the fresh green countryside, everything was done with utmost care.
It is worth mentioning that it is nowhere specified but the movie takes place in the 50s, but the movie scenes and detailing have appropriately put forward that information. The look of the village and the clothing adorn by the people in the movie, all point towards this time range. These features by Daniela Strijleva’s production design clearly define the time zone. It also helps that Italian pop hits by Mina, Gianni Morandi and Rita Pavone were infused in Dan Romer’s melody. All in all, the movie has succeeded in delivering the time and style desired by the makers.
The movie, released on the 18th of June on Disney+ has a bit of musing from the movie released last year, Soul and the boy’s adventurous movie, Onward. Nevertheless, it does have its own taste with the sweet and calm story, unlike the other two, which were much louder with its eches of Dungeons and Dragons. Lua, is, however, by no chance boring, as the movie brings in wonder from its magic elements.
With this movie, it has become much difficult to distinguish between movies by Disney and Pixar. Nevertheless, Casarosa has retained the talent of folding the wonderment found in fairy tales into the fun of old-fashioned storytelling. This movie comes with much colour and adventure, but with a touch of warmth.
