“What did you think about Luca?” I asked my brother as we sat down to lunch. “The one with the mermaids?” Dumbfounded, I respond: “This isn’t The Little Mermaid, they are sea creatures.” He shrugs, “Kind of the same thing.” Well, he’s not wrong.
If we consider the journey of both Ariel and Luca, besides the lack of a romantic trope in the latter, they are beat-for-beat the same story. Both characters live in the sea, and they have families who perceive that the land above is a treacherous place. Ariel and Luca ignore the warnings and make the journey to the world above the sea. At the end, both decide to continue to live on land, with support from their respective families. So why is one film a Disney animated classic, and the other considered more of a B-tier Pixar movie?
The distinct lack of stakes, for one.
Ariel risks everything to be able to transition from sea to land. She gets her legs, but they come with a condition – she needs to get a true love’s kiss in three days, without the use of her voice. As for Luca, he doesn’t need to bargain for anything. He can just pop up on land without issue. The main struggle he and Alberto face is the fear of detection, as well as dealing with bully Ercole, who is more annoying than dangerous if we’re being honest. Even when they are found out, the town is very accepting, which is nice (though unrealistic) but once again, there isn’t much conflict to make the resolution hit home a little more.
When Luca’s curiosity and enthusiasm for knowledge leads to his choice to stay on land and go to school, there is very little resistance. The main resistance was at the beginning of the film, when his parents made the decision to send him to live with his angler fish uncle in the deep part of the ocean. After that, there isn’t any pushback or conflict. It’s a different story in The Little Mermaid, as King Titan was consistently resistant to Ariel’s fascination with land, and even destroys her precious collection to stop her obsession. It is this resistance and stakes that makes us root for Ariel.
As much as detractors will say she is a silly girl for falling in love so quickly with Prince Eric, you have to admit that Eric is a good man. He is brave, loyal, and the two of them both risk it all for each other. Even Titan, as powerful as he is, was willing to sacrifice his power so that Ursula would spare his daughter. There is none of this in Luca, just a sad goodbye between friends, which has none of the permanence Ariel’s farewell does.
Besides the fun times Alberto and Luca had together, their friendship isn’t well-developed, and the emotional intimacy that should be there is absent from the entire film. So when Alberto is chasing after Luca in that final sequence, the viewer doesn’t really feel anything. The strongest relationship is actually Giulia and Luca, and the scenes where they talk about the stars and science help establish their connection and bond. Despite the film being titled Luca, Giulia seems more like the protagonist. She is the one with a goal, and with proper obstacles to overcome.
What has made Pixar such an animation giant is the beautiful visuals that guide each film, but more than that, the characters and narrative are built with such heart. Name any Pixar film and people will remember the poignant bits from each one: the opening montage from Up, Miguel singing “Remember Me” with his Mama Coco at the end of Coco, Andy’s sad realisation that he would need to leave Woody behind in his move to college – I could go on and on.
As for Luca, while I appreciate the attempt to make the characters look more cartoon-like, and the effort to bring us into the atmosphere of the Italian town, the setting doesn’t even enrapture the viewer like Ratatouille did. We could feel Remy’s passion for cooking, and Paris was this city teeming with possibility. I mean, I can’t cook to save my life, but watching Ratatouille really inspired me to try baking again after. A simple vegetable dish became a powerful representation for so much – one’s past, dreams, the taste of love and loss all in a single bite. In Luca, they just eat the pasta voraciously, failing to use the food to build a connection between the viewer and the film.
Even Soul, which doesn’t really push the creation/afterlife concept as much as it should, made me feel something. Each Pixar film has beautiful messages about life and living. In comparison, Luca’s offering of curiosity and a summer vacation just doesn’t cut it. It’s competent, but far from memorable. In a year or so, maybe I’ll think it was about mermaids too.
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