Luca Movie Review: This Pixar’s Film is A Celebration Of Childhood Friendships

Luca director: Enrico Casarosa

Luca cast: Jacob Tremblay, Jack Dylan Grazer, Emma Berman, Marco Barricelli, Saverio Raimondo, Maya Rudolph, and Jim Gaffigan.

Streaming Platform: Disney Plus Hotstar
Luca rating: 4.5 stars (four and half stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

All the great directors I met during my visit to Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, California two years ago, definitely emphasized one thing in their talk that the world of animation is the most powerful medium to express human emotion. These things can be about friendship, can be about relationships, can be about family and society. But, all these things are true and probably only then the viewer likes it. After Oscar-winning film ‘Soul’, Pixar has released its new film ‘Luka’ directly on OTT. The movie is worth watching on the big screen but if you have a big smart TV and a great music system then there is no better new cinema this Sunday than spending two hours of leisure time roasting popcorn in the microwave.

The story of the film ‘Luka’ moves your heart and your mind together like a sitar or a guitar if you want, on many levels, like strings. This story is of the bygone era but talks about the present day. Nothing is real in pretentious times. Make assumptions about what you haven’t seen. Not being able to properly recognize the goodness of what is in front. Being surrounded by an unseen fear all the time and forgetting to live life in this cycle, we all do it everyday. The film ‘Luka’ explains this by dividing it into a world floating in the ocean and a world moving on the earth. The people of the earth consider the people of the sea to be demons and the people of the sea are afraid of the people of the earth and then ‘Luka’ does not listen to the words of the family and one day comes out of the water.

You may remember the movie ‘Finding Nemo’ here, but it is the story of every generation to find their own path instead of the paths told by their parents. Times keep changing, teachings keep changing, but rebellion always lives on. And, friendship too. These days the world is celebrating ‘Pride Month’. Years ago, even in the friendship of Jai and Veeru of the film ‘Sholay’, some who caught the hint of homosexuality, have also considered ‘Intelligent’ film ‘Luka’ as a film of this episode. How one views someone’s story also depends on the point of view of the beholder. Those who do evil are often the same people who cannot match. In the film ‘Luka’, two friends, while searching for the fun of the earth, stand in such a competition, in which it seems more important to participate in it than to win.

Pixar films have explored advanced themes in a lucid manner. Luca is a celebration of childhood friendships, nevertheless it additionally tackles the theme of acceptance of the ‘different’. Whereas the movie makes it clear that the bond between Luca and Alberto is platonic, their relationship and the horrified response by people to their true look might be interpreted as echoing the experiences of the LGBTQ group. Luca is a movie that’s open to a number of interpretations — sea monsters can function the metaphor for any marginalised group.

The Last Words

The film ‘Luka’ is the perfect cinema to spend some time with family this weekend. This is a strong link in Disney’s decision to bring stories from around the world into animation. The Italian story features Japanese animation, and director Enrico Casarosa uses traditional animation rather than Pixar’s latest technology. The film neither has cameras set inside the scene nor any pain that keeps the viewer attached to the pain of the hero of the film till the end. The film ‘Luka’, which came out of these two formulas of Disney’s films, is a cool story of fun.