Portorosso is similarly charming, drawn from director Enrico Casarosa’s own time spent in the Italian Riviera. At home, Luca scythes seaweed-which reads like harvesting fields of wheat-and herds bleating fish, establishing him as part of a rural, farming family. This really comes through in the film’s world-building details, which give it a charming, local, and lived in feel both undersea and on land. There’s simplicity and clarity to the smallness of Luca’s world, one that matches the film’s story of friendship and exploration as a means of coming-of-age. Its themes of coming-of-age resemble too much of Pixar’s existing catalog-and without a narrative that really makes these themes feel fresh. It’s a nice paring back from some of Pixar’s more ostentatious, serious films like Soul or Inside Out, which took on high-minded concepts like “what is the meaning of life” or “how do we feel things.” But Luca doesn’t quite stand up to Pixar’s stellar reputation for making smaller themes feel consequential through striking characterization and storytelling. Luca is a solid summer watch, and one whose uniquely stylized animation will be particularly enjoyable on a large screen. Luca’s world changes when a new sea monster friend, Alberto, pulls him up to the surface, showing him that living as a human can be fun. But there is one key twist: sea monsters are able to transform into humans once on land. Fans of The Little Mermaid might find this premise familiar-Luca’s parents forbid him from going to the surface, due to the threat of local fishermen.
Pixar’s newest film Luca is set in the sunbaked Italian sea town of Portorosso, and in the nearby Mediterranean waters where a shy young sea monster, Luca, lives with his family.
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