Underplayed Gems

Luca (2021)

Luca poster
Directed by
Enrico Casarosa
Genre
coming-of-age film, triathlon films, comedy film, fantasy film, adventure film, buddy film
Country
United States
Runtime
1h 35m
Rated
PG
Rating
7.8 of 10 from 9,001 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

More films like thisWatch the trailer

or watch the trailer on YouTube

How it feels

A young sea monster boy named Luca discovers he can turn into a human on land. He makes friends in a coastal Italian town and spends a summer exploring, entering a triathlon, and hiding his true identity.

whimsicalgentlewarmplayfulnostalgicheartfeltsunnylightheartedcomforting

What happens

Luca is a 2021 American animated coming-of-age fantasy comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. The film was directed by Enrico Casarosa and written by Jesse Andrews and Mike Jones from a story developed by Casarosa, Andrews, and Simon Stephenson. It stars the voices of Jacob Tremblay, Jack Dylan Grazer, Emma Berman, Saverio Raimondo, Maya Rudolph, Marco Barricelli, and Jim Gaffigan. The film is set on the Italian Riviera in the 1950s, and centers on Luca Paguro (Tremblay), a young sea monster boy with the ability to assume human form while on land, who explores the town of Portorosso with his new best friends, Alberto Scorfano (Grazer) and Giulia Marcovaldo (Berman), experiencing a life-changing summer adventure. Luca draws inspiration from Casarosa's childhood in Genoa, Italy. Several Pixar artists were sent to the Italian Riviera gathering research from Italian culture and environment to create Portorosso, the primary setting. The sea monsters, a "metaphor for feeling different", were loosely based on old Italian regional myths and folklore. As with the short film La Luna (2011), the design and animation were inspired by hand-drawn and stop motion works and Hayao Miyazaki's style. Casarosa described the result as a film that "pays homage to Federico Fellini and other classic Italian filmmakers, with a dash of Miyazaki in the mix too". Development on Luca lasted for five years, with production being done remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dan Romer composed the film's musical score. Luca premiered at the Aquarium of Genoa on June 13, 2021, and was released direct-to-streaming on Disney+ in the United States on June 18, 2021 in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. It was released in theaters in countries without the streaming service, and given a simultaneous one-week theatrical run at Hollywood's El Capitan Theatre, from June 18 to 24, 2021. It was theatrically released in the United States on March 22, 2024. The film received positive reviews from critics, and was the most-viewed streaming film of 2021, with over 10.6 billion minutes watched. It was nominated for Best Animated Feature Film at the 79th Golden Globe Awards and the 94th Academy Awards. A short film, Ciao Alberto, was released on Disney+ on November 12, 2021. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.