Pixar’s Luca (2021) is a film that’s easy to admire in passing but difficult to truly connect with. Directed by Enrico Casarosa and released straight to Disney+ during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Luca feels more like a forgotten footnote in Pixar’s catalogue than a defining entry. While it’s certainly not among the studio’s worst efforts, it never quite rises to the creative or emotional heights of what audiences have come to expect from the studio. After multiple viewings, it’s hard to shake the sense that Luca is pleasant but fundamentally unremarkable.
Set in a sun-drenched seaside town along the Italian Riviera, the story follows Luca Paguro (Jacob Tremblay), a young sea creature who dreams of experiencing life on land. Along with his rebellious new friend Alberto (Jack Dylan Grazer), Luca disguises his identity and explores the human world above the water. Together, they spend an idyllic summer dreaming of freedom and racing toward their shared goal of owning a Vespa. The central twist—that water exposure reveals their true, aquatic forms—adds necessary tension to the otherwise lightweight narrative, especially in a village where sea monsters are feared and hunted.
But while the concept is charming enough, Luca lacks the deeper emotional core and world-building magic that makes Pixar movies memorable. For all its color and whimsy, the Italian setting feels curiously thin—more like a postcard backdrop than a fully realized culture. The story is peppered with Italian flavor, but it comes across more as an Americanized pastiche than something authentically grounded, surprising given Casarosa’s Italian roots. Unlike Coco or Ratatouille, which evoke their cultural milieus with richness and specificity, Luca plays it safe, offering a generic interpretation of Italy that never truly transports the viewer.
It also feels like Pixar playing to a younger, more traditional audience. That’s not inherently a bad thing (Pixar is, after all, a family-focused studio) but recent films like Soul, Turning Red, and Inside Out 2 have shown the studio’s ability to balance child-friendly storytelling with emotionally sophisticated themes that resonate with adults. Luca, by contrast, feels much more like a throwback to the Cars era—light, breezy, and largely surface-level. The emotional arcs are straightforward, the conflicts are minimal, and the character development doesn’t dig as deep as it could. That simplicity may work well for young children, but it leaves older viewers wanting more.
The visuals, while warm and inviting, are also notably less ambitious. There are moments of beauty, particularly in the underwater sequences and the coastal vistas, but the animation doesn’t push the envelope in the way that Wall-E or Finding Nemo once did. It’s polished, of course—this is Pixar—but not particularly inspired or groundbreaking.
To its credit, Luca ends on a high note, and the relationship between Luca and Alberto offers some genuine sweetness. Their friendship forms the emotional core of the film, and there’s an underlying message about acceptance and being true to oneself that, while familiar, still carries some weight. But as the credits roll, it’s hard to shake the feeling that Luca is Pixar on autopilot—functional, inoffensive, and nice enough, but missing the heart, ambition, or inventiveness that usually defines the studio’s best work.
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Whether its shortcomings are the result of its direct-to-streaming release or broader creative decisions, Luca ultimately stands as Pixar’s weakest effort of the 2020s so far. It’s not a misfire, but it is a forgettable entry in a filmography that typically sets the standard for original animated storytelling. For all its good intentions and lighthearted charm, Luca just doesn’t make much of a splash.
Score: 5/10
Luca (2021)
- Cast: Jacob Tremblay, Jack Dylan Grazer, Emma Berman, Saverio Raimondo, Maya Rudolph, Marco Barricelli, Jim Gaffigan, Peter Sohn
- Director: Enrico Casarosa
- Genre: Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Family
- Runtime: 95 minutes
- Rated: PG-13
- Release Date: June 18, 2021
- Movies Like Luca: The Wild Robot, Moana 2, Strange World, More Movies Like Luca
