Last week, Disney decided against releasing their newest Pixar film in theaters, and instead released it only onto to Disney+, but it was free, so that was nice. At this point it seems odd that a conglomerate like Disney decided against releasing one of their films in theaters since theaters are completely open again, and if the film is good enough, it is making money. They could have at least done the HBO Max model where they have it available on their streaming service and in theaters on the same day. I could be wrong, but financially, it just seems like it would have been the better choice to release it in both theaters and on Disney+. At this point it does make me curious how successful drops like these are in getting new subscribers, it just seems like these streaming services have been out for over a year, is dropping Luca really going to garner up a ton more subscribers? With that being said, Luca was a good movie that had two solid morals, it does not reach the pinnacle of Pixar, but it was still enjoyable none the less. (Spoilers ahead)
Luca was the story of a sea monster, Luca, who has been discouraged from going on land because when that happens, he turns into human, and his parents find the world on land dangerous. Luca takes a risk one day and ends up on an island away from the mainland where he meets Alberto. Alberto is also sea monster, but he has been living on this island alone waiting for his dad to return. Luca and Alberto almost immediately start to bond, but when Luca’s parents find out what he has been up to, they threaten to send him to the deep with his uncle who has no self-control when it comes to talking. So instead of this, Luca takes the better alternative and absconds to the mainland with Alberto. Once there, they find out that sea monsters are not welcome, so they need to stay out of the water. They immediately become friends with Giulia, and then they join her triathlon team. Everything is going swimmingly until Alberto gets outed as a sea monster and Luca shuns him causing a rift in the whole group. On the day of the triathlon, Luca and Giulia end up racing solo, but the rain outs Luca as a sea monster, but everyone accepts him in the end, except for Ercole, the town jerk.
The first theme of the story is getting out of one’s comfort zone. Luca has always been told not to go on land, and that if he goes on land, it will surely result in his demise. Then when Luca goes on land and meets Alberto, he realizes how awesome it is, and that is before they even make it to the mainland. They are experimenting and making machines, and then when they get onto the mainland, an even bigger step out of their comfort zone, they realize how great that society can be. So often in life people let their fear of the unknown get the better of them, and they end up not experiencing something that they might absolutely love. For example, Luca and Alberto had no idea how good pesto pasta could be until they made it to the mainland and befriended Giulia and joined her family. Getting out of one’s comfort zone could be something like trying a new food, or it could be something large like going to a new place with a completely different culture than the one you are used to, but you never know how great it could be until you try. (It also could potentially be awful, but it is still better to try no matter what!)
The second theme is going against prejudice and not judging people based off the way that they look. In the movie, sea monsters are looked upon as horrible beasts by the mainlanders, and their main goal is to kill them so that they are no longer a threat, even though in reality they are not a threat at all. Typically, sea monsters are imagined as these giant ugly creatures, but in this instance, they really do not look that intimidating. The turning point in the movie is when Alberto gets outed as a sea monster, because although he made this genuine connection with Giulia’s family, she still turns her back on him and is terrified of him. Then Luca acts like he is not a sea monster because he saw how everyone acted toward Alberto. Luca felt like he could not truly be himself because he would no longer be accepted. Then on the day of the triathlon, Luca is in the lead when it starts to rain, he hides under an overhang so that he is not exposed as a monster, and Alberto sacrifices himself to make it so that Luca does not get exposed, but Luca sees this sacrifice and comes out as a monster and wins the race. It seems like all the town is going to turn on him and Alberto until Giulia’s father steps in and shows acceptance. Then everyone else in the town, except Ercole, does the same. It was a heart-warming moment, and the acceptance continues. Luca’s family becomes accepted on the mainland and are no longer scared to go. It was very reminiscent of segregated America, where people had all these preconceived notions about each other, but if there had been more genuine encounters with each other, some of the problems might have been resolved quicker, but sadly there are groups of people still not willing to come to the conclusion that we can all equal and can get along. The whole idea of equality and that we can all get a long in a Pixar movie is an excellent way to reach children and to show them the way it should be.
The part of this movie that really spoke to me though was the triathlon. In this town, they have an incredibly special triathlon, it involves a swim, eating a giant bowl of pasta, and then doing a bike ride up and down a giant hill. Now personally I feel like if any part of the triathlon should be eliminated, it is the swim portion. This way it all takes place on land, but obviously this would take away a key element of the movie of Luca and Alberto not trying to get wet. Also running is the best and should never be forgotten. Another adjustment is also needed to be made to their triathlon. Clearly having the eating portion in the middle is a disadvantage to those who are competing as individuals. The amount of cramping or throwing up that would occur on the bike ride after would be insane. That is why many of the people involved were on teams I suppose, but it would be much more enjoyable to enjoy a massive bowl of pesto pasta after a swim and a bike rather than in the middle. Lastly, I would like to attack Ercole’s team strategy. He had his fattest member do the swim, which is the hardest part of the whole triathlon, it would make more sense for his other member to do the swim instead, and this way the fatter member could take on the eating portion of the triathlon. Then when it comes to Ercole’s personal training, he spends too much time on his vespa. If he would have used his time on his vespa and only been on his bike, he could have performed better. So in total if he had run his team better they might have won instead of being bested by a solo competitor, which should not happen.
So to rank Luca among other Pixar films, it would have been in the lower tier, but this definitely does not meant that it is a bad movie. Even the low tier Pixar films are great in comparison to many other animated films. The problem with this one was that it did not reach those same intellectual and emotional depths that they are so good at doing. It was more lighthearted in its nature, there was no crucial point where it felt like I was choking back tears like in other Pixar movies, and that is okay. Sometimes it is better to just watch a movie that is enjoyable and not going to pull at your heart strings. I gave it 4.5 Stars and have it as the 4th best movie of 2021 so far.
This brings me to the new ranking system. Previously when I had been ranking films I got to the point where it felt like all the movies were getting like 85s, and I felt like my ordering of them was off. I had many movies way above where they should have been because I was not looking at them in a vacuum, I was trying to place them on the list where it felt right, but this just led to a hodgepodge of poor ranking. So I spent over a week going back through and trying to reorder them, and it felt easier to rank them out of 5 stars because it limits the options. Also I found a website/social media platform called letterboxd where people rate and review movies, and they rank movies out of 5 stars, so I went through all 200 movies that I have watched over the past two and a half years and ranked and uploaded them onto there. My new rankings still are not quite perfect, but I do feel way better about their accuracy than I did before, so check them out too!
New Rankings:
Luca: 4.5 Stars
F9: 2 Stars
2001 a Space Odyssey: 3.5 Stars
Bo Burnam’s Inside: 3 Stars
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