As much a love song to Italy as Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “In the Heights” is to Washington Heights, “Luca” is swimming in color, music and emotion.
This is a Pixar film, but you wouldn’t know that right away compared to the look previous Pixar pictures.
The character of Luca (voice of Jacob Tremblay, “Room”) is an adolescent sea monster, who lives with his family underwater near the Riviera. His parents warn him not to go on land, but he can’t help it – his curiosity gets the better of him.
He transforms into a human when he isn’t wet, and he makes a friend in Alberto, another sea monster who wants to be human. The two pals decide all they really need out of their life on dry land is a Vespa scooter – that way, they can travel wherever they like.
The two make another friend in the determined Giulia, who asks them to join her in the annual triathlon race so she can beat the town bully.
Guilia’s father, a fisherman, opens his home to the boys, and of course has no idea about their real identities. While the friendships grow and the contest looms closer, we know a single splash of water could reveal something that could prove deadly to Luca and Alberto.
Director Enrico Casarosa, who grew up in Italy, fills his environments with color and sound – some gloriously catchy Italian pop tunes are part of the soundtrack.
There are all kinds of Easter Eggs for Pixar/Disney nuts – I’m one of them – but I’m sure I missed several. The ones I spotted include a Donald Duck toy in Giulia’s room.
A113 refers to a classroom for character-animation students at the California Institute of the Arts. You’ll see that number on a train ticket toward the end of the story.
You also might spot a poster for the Disney movie “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.”
The adventure is great fun. I didn’t tear up until one of the last scenes, which is very poignant indeed..
I won’t spoil it for you by telling you more. This is as much fun as a Roman holiday (see what I did there?).
And yes, there’s an extra scene at the end.
3 ½ stars
Running time: One hour, 40 minutes.
Streaming on Disney+