Movie of the week

Luca movie review: Pixar’s latest is a wholesome concoction of friendship, self realisation and togetherness

*****

What a wonderful thing it is to have friends in your life. Friends who guard your secrets like they are their own, stand by the other despite their better judgement, follow each other into the unknown, believing that they will be able to face it all — together. Pixar’s Luca is precisely an ode to that, and much more.

Hidden in an idyllic setting of the Italian hamlet of Portorosso, Enrico Casarosa’s animated feature is all our childhood daydreams packaged into an hour and a half of pure animated fun. The kind of daydreams that would thrust our imagination into hours of adventure-building while the boring drone of a certain class teacher went on in a parallel world.

With multiple colour-spurts of Italian scenes, the film presents the country’s magnificent aesthetic. Cobblestoned streets wind their way into squiggly lanes of tall houses packed one after the other; noisy neighbours pour out into the open plaza for afternoon tété-a-tétés with friends, and children call out to each other for a round of street soccer.

Underwater, the sea monsters live an equally quaint life, involved in herding sheeplike fish and involved in cultivation of kelp. The only fear that looms large is that of the land, with land-dwellers decorating their houses and shops with abhorrent paintings and structures of men killing ocean folks.

Drawing stark parallels to films like Finding Nemo, Brave and the like, Luca’s eponymous protagonist (played by Jacob Tremblay) is a “sea monster”, living under the surveillance of his protective mother and directionless father (Maya Rudolph and Jim Gaffigan). The reason behind their vigilance? Luca might get discovered by humans. Sea monsters, we’re shown, can change form into humans on land, but switch back immediately, when in contact with water.

But Luca’s fears are short-lived after fellow monster Alberto (Jack Dylan Grazer) pulls him (literally) into the world of air, humans and gravity. They live their days of Huck Finn and Joe Harper, befriending the town’s feisty young local Giulia (Emma Berman). The three youngsters band up to participate in Portorosso’s annual triathlon and defeat reigning champion and town bully Ercole Visconti (Saverio Raimondo).

A deep narrative subtext runs through the film in its portrayal of the obvious divide between land and sea. The townsfolk’s aggressive stand against marine monsters spotlights the concept of privilege and the lack of it. But in Casarosa’s world, the sentiments are reciprocated with the sea-dwellers and their unabashed dislike for humans. — FirstPost

◆ Luca streams on Disney+ Hotstar Premium.

Rating: ****