LUCA ***1/2
IDEA: Two sea monster friends, who take human form when on land, set out to win a Vespa in the Italian port town of Portorosso.
BLURB: Luca is perhaps one of Pixar’s least ambitious original works, but this proves to not be such a bad thing. Following a string of unnecessary sequels and unwieldy, spottily examined high concepts, Casarosa’s spry, unfussy tale of summer friendship feels as refreshing as the Mediterranean breeze. Eschewing elaborate fantasy world-building, heady internal logics, and a sprawling cast, the film capers along with a light stroke not seen in the studio’s recent, more existentially heavy films. Luca knows and respects its relatively modest scope and scale, and, happily, feels no need to burden itself with overwrought plot developments or thematic aspirations toward profundity. Despite this sense of dialing down, the film is far from a trifle. Drawing efficiently on coming-of-age and monster fiction tropes, it tells a moving story of alterity and outsider alliances, with parallels to the LGBTQ experience that feel more than subtextual. The script is lucid in its understanding of the anxieties of difference, and the relationship between Luca and the roguish Alberto is a beautifully multifaceted depiction of intense, obsessive childhood friendship and potentially nascent same-sex desire. Luca also distinguishes itself by adopting an animation style closer to cartoon than the customary Pixar photorealism, giving it a vibrant, at times expressionistic visual fluidity perfectly suited to both Vespa rides among the fish and close embraces with cherished partners.
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