Disney/Pixar’s animated “Luca” sets its sights in Italy. Dealing with two teenage sea nymphs who crave to explore the non-aquatic life, this is a gorgeous-looking but expendable addition to the ever-growing Pixar canon.
The titular protagonist (voiced by Jacob Tremblay) is in wonderment at what could possibly be beyond his underwater world, especially when he notices a poster with a Vespa pictured on it. His family forbids him to find out what's beyond the surface of the water (they are voiced by Maya Rudolph, Jim Gaffigan), even if Granny (Sandy Martin) claims to have gone “to the surface” and “done the change.”
Of course, when you forbid a kid to do something, they only want it more, and so Luca goes above the surface, and experiences “the change,” which means he turns into a fully fleshed human. And that’s when he meets Alberto (Jack Dylan Grazer), another sea monster who transitioned to a human boy. Together they enter an Italian town filled with the usual stereotypes (“Ey, what’s-a-wrong with you, Stupido?”).
Looking for shelter, they meet Giulia (Emma Berman) and her squinty-eyed and one-armed fisherman dad (Marco Barricelli). There’s an annual tradition in this picturesque Southern Italian town, a triathlon that involves running, swimming and, of course, eating pasta. This gets Giulia and the boys hungry to compete and win the top prize: a Vespa.
The theme here is acceptance. The humans believe that the creatures beneath the sea are dangerous, ditto the sea monsters in regards to the humans. 2016’s “Zootopia” tackled the similar territory (fear, prejudice), but in much more original ways (and deservedly won the Best Animated Oscar for it).
This, the 24th feature from Pixar, is also one of the weakest of the toon company’s history. This is not to say it doesn’t have its merits, it can be sweet, charming and the visuals are, again, top-notch, which is to be expected. With that being said, this is a slight, watchable affair, but one expects much more as far as Pixar’s standards go, — we’d rather they don’t play it this safe again next time around.
SCORE: B-/C+