Not to be confused with the character called Luca.
Description
Luca is a movie made by Disney Pixar in 2021. The movie tells the story of a young, curious, and shy sea monster who lives with his family and the other creatures under the sea near a small Italian village, in hiding from the dangerous humans. One day, Luca meets a boy by the name of Alberto and learns something amazing about himself — he turns into a human outside of the water. The two have an unforgettable summer with great food, endless scooter rides, and new experiences at every turn. Together, they brave the new world and learn how humans live, and although Alberto doesn’t know much more about humans than Luca, he teaches him to silence his fears, try new things, trust new people, and most importantly, trust himself. All the while, the pair must be careful not to reveal their secret sea monster identities.
Luca features actor Jacob Tremblay as Luca and Jack Dylan Grazer as Alberto, with Emma Berman as the fiery and passionate Giulia, their loyal new friend who’s ready for adventure. It also features the hilarious Maya Rudolph as Luca’s mom Daniela, Marco Barricelli as Giulia’s dad Massimo, Jim Gaffigan as Luca’s dad Lorenzo, and Sandy Martin as Luca’s grandmother. Directed by Enrico Casarosa (who brought us the Pixar short “La Luna”) and produced by Andrea Warren ("Lava", Cars 3), the movie is set in a small Italian fishermen’s village, inspired by Casarosa’s homeland. He grew up with Italy’s rich culture, amazing food and gelato, and wonderful beaches, and as a result, the movie is filled with rich, vibrant scenes of beautiful landscapes, people , great local food, and the bluest water.
The idea for the movie came from Casarosa’s childhood and his own friend Alberto (who he honored by giving Luca’s friend the same name). The two were an unlikely pair who ended up having the best friendship. “My best friend Alberto was a bit of a troublemaker, [while] I was very timid and had a bit of a sheltered life — we couldn’t have been more different,” shared Casarosa. “We were also a bit of ‘outsiders,’ so it felt right to use sea monsters to express the idea that we felt a little different and not cool as kids,” he laughed. “Alberto pushed me out of my comfort zone, and pushed me off many cliffs, metaphorically and not. I probably would not be here if I didn’t learn to chase my dreams from him,” he said. “It’s these types of deep friendships that I wanted to talk about in Luca, and that is what’s at the heart of this film.” Other influences on the movie include old Italian myths and folklore, including tales of dragons and the story of a bell-ringing octopus that saved a village from a band of pirates. “Some of these tales were actually made up by fishermen. They’d find a great fishing spot and they didn’t want anyone to take it over,” explained Casarosa.
In addition to friendship, this movie’s message about acceptance — for yourself, as well as others — is a valuable one, particularly in current times. Producer Andrea Warren, who was drawn to the movie right away after learning the storyline, expanded: “We always liked the idea that the metaphor of being a sea monster can apply to so many different things. There is a theme of openness, showing oneself and self-acceptance, as well as community acceptance. Confronting the idea that there's more to sea monsters than they realized. You know that they've only seen it through one perspective, one lens, and so I think that that's a wonderful theme in the film, which is that those ideas weren't right and that there's more to learn.” Casarosa agreed: “We hope that ‘sea monster’ could be a metaphor for all [manners] of feeling different — like being a teen or even pre-teen — any moment where you feel odd. It felt like a wonderful way to talk about that and having to accept ourselves first, whatever way we feel different.”
Creating this movie during a pandemic was no small feat, as never-before challenges appeared at every turn. “When we walked out of our offices in March 2020, we had no idea that we wouldn’t be back for over a year, and we would end up making this film – really every shot of it – from our homes,” Warren revealed. “When we first started, we thought, can we even do this? Can we work from our computers? Can we animate? Can we record the actors? All of these questions. It was an amazing, sometimes bizarre experience.” As time went on, the team realized that with some effort, coupled with some newly created technology, they could really make this work. “We recorded everyone from their homes — and mostly from the closets in their homes,” Warren shared. “They were all so delightfully scrappy and willing to make it work during tricky circumstances. It took an extraordinary amount of ingenuity, optimism, humor, and perseverance, and I’m in awe of this team.”
Pixar is known for its amazingly realistic visuals in their movies, but in this case, director Casarosa wanted more of an artist’s hand to come through in the movie, much like he did in “La Luna.” He explains, “I think the thing about computers, there's a certain sheen and perfection to it. But I come from loving sketches, so, [I] was trying to make something expressive so that it gets heightened because of it. You're getting to the juice of something.” Warren agreed, “I definitely joined Enrico in that vision of wanting this film to almost feel like a storybook. I thought that was such a beautiful approach. And I love ‘La Luna,’ so, I loved the idea of bringing that sensibility [to the movie].”
When asked what he wanted people to take away from this movie besides the power of friendship, Casarosa said the most important thing was to remember not to listen to the voices that say you can’t. “We shouldn't listen to those voices. [We know] they are there.” Even as an Academy Award-nominated director, Casarosa admits to struggling with these voices himself. “I have them pretty daily, the voices of insecurity. Or you could call it a little bit of, it feels very true, to imposter syndrome.” No matter our age or where we come from (land or sea!), we’ve all struggled with insecurity. But for Enrico, he finds that the most valuable thing is having a friend that helps you silence those internal doubts. “I hope that kids take that to heart, to have good people around you that tell you, you can.”
More Information
Luca Paguro is a teenage sea monster living off the coast of the Italian city of Portorosso who spends his days herding goatfish. His parents, Daniela and Lorenzo, restrict him from going to the surface out of fear, but doing the same thing day after day ends up making Luca bored.
One day, Luca meets another young sea monster named Alberto Scorfano, who has been on land many times and has a hideout on Isola del Mare, an island near Portorosso where he claims he lives with his father. Luca discovers that he can transform into a human when completely dry, but turns back to his true form when wet. Luca and Alberto make their way to Alberto's hideout, where Luca finds a poster in the hideout showing a Vespa, and they soon decide to make their own from scratch. All the while, Luca tries to keep his now double-life a secret from his parents with only his grandmother being clued in and keeping it a secret.
Lorenzo and Daniela soon discover what Luca has been doing and decide that to keep Luca safe, he should be sent deeper into the ocean to live with Lorenzo's brother Ugo. Distraught, Luca runs away to the city of Portorosso with Alberto so that they can find a Vespa and travel the world. There, they run into Ercole Visconti, local bully and repeat champion of the Portorosso Cup Race, but are saved by a young girl named Giulia Marcovaldo. Giulia takes Luca and Alberto to her house where she lives for the summers with her father Massimo, an expert fisherman. Meanwhile, Luca's parents soon discover that Luca is missing and head to the surface to find him.
Luca, Alberto and Giulia decide to enter the Portorosso Cup Triathlon together in hopes of winning money to buy a Vespa. The triathlon consists of three races: swimming laps, eating pasta, and riding a bike through the town. Each child decides to take up an individual task: Giulia takes up swimming, Alberto takes up eating pasta, and Luca takes up riding a bike after learning how.
Over time, Ercole starts to become suspicious of the boys, and Luca and Giulia start to become closer to each other. When Giulia talks about going to school in Genova where she spends the rest of the year, Luca develops an interest in it, making Alberto jealous of their growing friendship. After an argument, Alberto reveals his identity as a sea monster to Giulia. Luca does not do the same and instead acts afraid of Alberto, leaving Alberto to retreat to his hideout feeling heartbroken and betrayed. Giulia soon discovers that Luca is a sea monster too and sends him away for fear of him getting hurt.
As Luca finds Alberto in his hideout, Alberto reveals that his father abandoned him and thinks that Luca wants to do the same. Instead, Luca decides to enter the triathlon separately from Giulia so that he can win the Vespa for the both of them. On the day of the triathlon, Luca and Giulia successfully complete the first two challenges and enter the cycling stage. As it begins to rain, Luca tries to avoid getting wet, but Alberto suddenly arrives with an umbrella. However, Ercole trips him up, revealing his sea monster form. Luca faces his fear and rescues his friend, with Ercole giving chase with a harpoon. Giulia crashes her bike into Ercole's one to save them, and Luca and Alberto stop to help her up. As Ercole threatens them, Massimo steps up and defends them, and he points out that they won the race as their bikes made it across the finish line, defeating Ercole.
Luca is reunited with his parents and the town accepts sea monsters, while Ercole is humiliated by his former henchmen. Everyone gathers together at Giulia's house to celebrate their successful win after Alberto buys a Vespa with the prize money. Later, Alberto reveals that he sold the Vespa to buy a train ticket for Luca, thus allowing him to go to school with Giulia. Luca's family, Massimo, and Alberto (who has decided to stay in Portorosso with Massimo) all see Luca and Giulia off at the train station.
During the credits, Luca is shown meeting Giulia's mother and attending school with her while showing off his sea monster appearance. Alberto is revealed to have accepted Massimo as a father figure and enjoys working for him and playing with the children. Luca's family enjoys interacting with the locals.
In a post-credit scene, Ugo talks to a fish about how great his life is in the depth of the ocean, apparently unaware that he is not talking to Luca.
Clips
Cast
- Jacob Tremblay as Luca Paguro
- Jack Dylan Grazer as Alberto Scorfano
- Emma Berman as Giulia Marcovaldo
- Marco Barricelli as Massimo Marcovaldo
- Saverio Raimondo as Ercole Visconti
- Maya Rudolph as Daniela Paguro
- Jim Gaffigan as Lorenzo Paguro
- Sacha Baron Cohen as Uncle Ugo
- Sandy Martin as Grandma Paguro
- Marina Massironi as Mrs. Marsigliese
- Peter Sohn as Ciccio
- Lorenzo Crisci as Guido
- Elisa Gabrielli as Concetta Aragosta
- Mimi Maynard as Pinuccia Aragosta
- Giacomo Gianniotti as Giacomo
- Gino La Monica as Tommaso
- Jonathan Nichols as Don Eugenio
- Francesca Fanti as a cop
- Jim Pirri as Mr. Branzino
- Enrico Casarosa (also director) as an angry fisherman and a Scopa player