Review: Luca

Image courtesy of Disney.

At a mere 84 minutes, some are describing "Luca" as Pixar's shortest (true) and among its least consequential (disagree). While it doesn't rank with some of the animation studio's most beloved classics — "Wall-E" or "Up" — the film is far from a lesser entry in the Pixar canon. 

The film is certainly light and breezy when compared with some of the studio's weightier fare — the recent "Soul" or the lovely "Inside Out," for example — but its central story about outsiders and judging one by one's skin — or, in this case, scales — packs an emotional punch that pays dividends in the film's final moments.

The story opens with a curious and adventurous young "sea monster" named Luca (voiced by Jacob Tremblay) who is bored with his life, which consists of shepherding his flock of small fish — my favorite is the vacant-eyed and slightly mischievous Giuseppe — and being bossed by his parents (Maya Rudolph and Jim Gaffigan), who want him to never venture near the surface of the water.

His parents' fears aren't completely unfounded. The picture opens with two fishermen out on a boat who are scared when they see a sea monster float by and they attempt to hit it with a harpoon. But kids will be kids, and Luca goes off adventuring, meeting another young sea monster named Alberto (Jack Dylan Grazer), who seemingly lives on his own and schools Luca on the ways of the land.

You see, once the sea monsters venture out of the water, they are able to shake off the wetness and give off the appearance of human beings. So, Luca and Alberto no longer are blue- and purple-pigmented when out of the water, but look like two young Italian boys (the story is set off the coast of Italy). In a plot strand that would take too long to explain, let's just say they become obsessed with obtaining a Vespa, which they intend to use to travel the world.

They learn of a marathon race in a nearby coastal town involving biking, swimming and eating pasta that pays the winner, and they come up with a plan to enter the race and win the prize. Others who intend to enter the competition include a nasty young man named Ercole (Saverio Raimondo), who has won the competition for the past several years and is, truth be told, probably too old to be competing against a bunch of children; and a spunky red-haired girl named Giulia (Emma Berman), who grudgingly allows Luca and Alberto to join her racing team.

Giulia's father is a gigantic fellow named Massimo (Marco Barricelli), a fisherman who brags about his ability to chop up anything that comes from the sea (gulp). He allows the boys to apprentice for him in his boat — a risky move, considering any splash of water onto them reveals their identities — to earn the money to enter the contest.

The film mostly goes places you expect it to, but it's a genuinely funny — Sacha Baron Cohen pops up as Luca's bizarre deep sea uncle — and often emotionally resonant little story, especially as Luca and Alberto's friendship hits a bump when the former becomes enthralled with Giulia's knowledge of the world and he decides he wants to attend her school far away in Genoa. This is a film that is generous towards its characters — well, maybe not Ercole — and there are some lovely moments that come out of the friendship between the three central characters.

So, while "Luca" might not be quite as revelatory as last year's "Soul," and its brisk pace and brief running time only allow for so much storytelling to take place, it's a genuine charmer. It joins "In the Heights" — another film with heart, soul and empathy — as the best of this summer's movie crop so far.