Review: 'Luca' is Pixar, Italian style — plenty of craftsmanship, in service to a moving story about childhood on the Riviera

Pixar Animation Studios’ latest little jar of wonder, “Luca,” lives on the cusp of many things: Between childhood and adolescence, between reality and fantasy, and between an Italian seaside village and the aquatic denizens who live figuratively right next door.

Luca, voiced by “Room” star Jacob Tremblay, is a kid with a great curiosity for what’s beyond the limits of where his protective mother, Daniela (voiced by Maya Rudolph), lets him go. What’s different is that Luca, Daniela and his dad, Lorenzo (voiced by Jim Gaffigan), are sea creatures — what the folks in the surface world insultingly call “sea monsters.”

The surface world is where Daniela has told Luca not to go — and when he gets a bit too curious, Mom is ready to have Luca live in the depths with his angler fish uncle, Ugo (voiced, in a brief but hilarious turn, by Sacha Baron Cohen). Fearful of that fate, Luca runs away (swims away?) to the surface.

Quickly, Luca befriends Alberto (voiced by Jack Dylan Grazer), another sea creature who has been living on the surface for awhile. Alberto teaches Luca what he knows about humans, much of which is ridiculously wrong. Soon, Luca and Alberto — whose scaly sea-creature appearance transforms to human skin tones when they’re dry — venture into the village, ever worried that a slip-up or a water splash will reveal their identities to the fearful humans. The boys’ goal is to own a Vespa, which they come to believe is the universal symbol of freedom and adventure.

The plot gets complicated when the boys befriend Giulia (voiced by Emma Berman), a village girl who corrals Luca and Alberto into helping her win the town’s annual junior triathlon — whose three events are swimming, eating pasta and bicycling — and defeat the local bully, Ercole (voiced by Saverio Raimondo).

Director Enrico Casarosa has worked his way up the ranks of Pixar, as a storyboard artist on “Ratatouille,” “Up” and “Coco,” and directing the 2011 short “La Luna.” He’s also a native of Genoa, so the gorgeous depiction of the sun-dappled Italian Riviera, and the sly references to countless Italian movies (including a Marcello Mastroianni Easter egg), come quite naturally.

On the technical side, the Pixar wizards again perform brilliantly — notably in the characters’ quick-fire transitions from sea creature to human and back, which fly by so fast that one might not appreciate their complexity. 

But beyond the craftsmanship, “Luca” is a story about two boys bonding as friends, then seeing those bonds strained by the emotional tug-of-war of growing up. Once again, Pixar strikes that balance between what’s funny, what’s awe-inspiring, and what’s tender and relatable.

——

‘Luca’

★★★1/2

Available starting Friday, June 18, streaming on Disney+. Rated PG for rude humor, language, some thematic elements and brief violence. Running time: 95 minutes.