Luca

This really had no damn reason to be as good as it is.




I have not heard anything about this movie at all, and I simply have to ask what in the cinnamon toast fuck is wrong with people? We have ourselves another modern Pixar classic, no doubt in production during the middle of a global pandemic, with a simple yet endearing story and not one single person I know of talked about it??? How do you fuck that up?! Granted yes, even I, when I first heard the premise and saw promotional material I thought it would be okay. Just this neat little story of a young sea monster child named Luca who akin to another sea faring youngster from Disney gains a fascination with the surface world, but no voices or souls need to be sold off here cause when sea monsters touch dry land they become human, and quickly Luca makes friends, learns about the surface more, and enters a race to win a Vespa to travel the world. The first thing I gotta say is, you show off-y bastards Pixar, like when it gets to the point I'm honestly pissed right the hell off how good a movie looks and you continue to barrage me with stunning environments, lavish color, and just unbelievable visuals do you really expect me to just not gush about it?? I adore just the revelry in the culture, language, and architecture of Italy, I'm all for that kind of thing! Even with movies like Encanto, wasn't too wild about the movie but goddamn did I love seeing the culture of a south american/hispanic family. But the big reason I feel the movie works as good as it does is the characters. The writers really and I mean really got the mannerisms and intellect of kids down in this! Luca is good kid at heart, he has daydreams, he has to build up the nerve to do certain things, and he has doubts but an openness to voice his feelings. Alberto is another sea monster who entices Luca to the surface, who has baggage of his own and thinks he knows everything in that teen sort of way, much more extroverted and yet reserved for reasons the movie explains, but undeniable friends to the end. Guilia, little red haired girl who's got some attitude and just a dash of overdramatic, I'm sold! She's class, obviously because she is our human window to our protagonist we spend a lot of time with her, getting to know her family and situation, her goals of winning the race herself, they do mighty good giving these characters emotions and identity. It's very easy to get involved and while I'll say the ending isn't a complete bummer, it does dip into that bittersweetness which if you've been here long enough you know that kind of shit is my jam. The music, good God the music had me before the movie even began, it's easily one of the best soundtracks to a Pixar film and in my estimation the music from them only gets better with each film. And the movie doesn't really go down any trope paths, it flirts with it but skirts clear thank Christ. I really can't complain about anything in this movie except the villain, mainly cause he's just an enormous sack of shit who is so hateable to the point where there was a moment where I was like, if this movie has him get gutted by a harpoon in a back alley I'm giving this movie a 20/10, but it's intentional from the filmmakers so I can't mark against it. Like I am reallllyyy flip flopping between a 9 and a 10 here guys! I'll give it a 9/10, it's not Soul kind of flawless but it's so close it's not even funny. Full 4 stars, could not recommend it greater, for God's sake spread the word about this movie. It's just the movie I needed and it capped off the week quite nicely. See you next week everybody!