Luca

RATING: B+

Luca is another recent Pixar movie that, much like Soul, suffered the fate of "skip theaters and go straight to Disney Plus," which seemingly caused it to get forgotten pretty quickly. After a series of sequels with mixed results with the excellent Coco smashed somewhere in there, Pixar started a pretty good streak of originals again with Onward and Soul last year--particularly the latter, which was arguably the best thing they have made since their 2000's prime age. Both of those films were more ambitious, albeit for different reasons; Luca is much more simplistic, possibly their most so. 

Luca centers around the protagonist who is named just that, and his friend Alberto, who are both... sea monsters. Luca normally lives life underwater in what looks like a Finding Nemo spin-off, until his friend Alberto takes him to the surface--where he's not supposed to go because humans are bad. And it is shown that when their "kind"--whatever sort of sea monster they are--take to the land, they take on a human appearance. Which means that with a little observance, they can totally blend in among the humans that fear them in the nearby Italian coastal town. Just so long as nobody splashes water on them, that is. 

Normally, a Pixar movie has a certain unique theme or gimmick about it that they build the story around. What if toys came to life? What if the monsters in the closet were just doing their job? What if the emotions in your head were sentient? There has been an exception or two along the way, but this is possibly the first time that a Pixar *idea*--sea monsters that shapeshift to humans on land--almost plays second fiddle. The concept/mythology of these creatures is not given much thought at all; in fact, it's never explained *how* exactly these sea monsters can turn into humans when on land.

Instead, the focus here is the coming-of-age story centering around the three main characters, with the Italian setting and the sea monster trope mostly playing as the backdrop. The latter is set up solely so that two of the main characters can be outsiders with secrets. We have Luca, the curious but nervous protagonist; Alberto, the overly confident friend who thinks he's got it all under control; and Guilia, the actually-human girl who befriends them because she also is an underdog with her own goals (though she doesn't know their actual secret). 

The movie thus ultimately does revolve around the friendship dynamics of these characters. In that sense--and in its aspirations as a "coming of age" story--it's quite successful. The characters are likable and interesting enough, and the film also handles the unhealthier side of Luca and Alberto's friendship quite well. The character development is also strong, particularly with how things culminate in a final act that would be otherwise unremarkable. 

Also working in the movie's favor is the humor; from literally invoking the "2 hours later" card meme, to some of the inevitable "blending in" mistakes that occur. It does a good job at seldom feeling forced, which has been a bit of an issue with some Disney-owned productions lately. 

If there is anything inherently wrong with Luca, per se, it's a lack of ambition or anything inherently special about it. Luca succeeds at what it is setting out to do and does this well; but if anything, it feels rather simplistic. Even though Pixar is no longer as consistently elite as they once were, there are still general expectations with them, particularly with an original feature. And it's not even like the film is particularly original, even if (aside from parts of the first 10-15 minutes) it doesn't feel at all like a tired derivative of what came before. 

But as has been said before, Luca still does well at what it *does* set out to do. And it's a pretty enjoyable, undemanding adventure. While some might find themselves wishing for a little more, there still is not much to complain about with what we do get.