Why Luca Is The Best Animated Film Now

Disney and Pixar’s pairing has become one of legend. Their continued quality over the years spanning almost 30 years has become the benchmark for animated films. Every time I see a trailer for Pixar’s latest, I still get excited and I am grown man. I think that speaks volumes for the companies quality and their continued effort all these years later. 2020 saw the release of two Pixar films with the fantasy, adventure flick ‘Onward’ and the surreal drama ‘Soul’. Both of these films received critical praise and both appearing on my top 25 of the year list for 2020. Now in 2021, they have done it yet again with the release of the fantastical, coming-of-age, adventure film ‘Luca’. Set to the backdrop of the Italian Rivera, Luca and his friend Alberto (both merman), who explore the world above them. The films gorgeous animation has made it stand out to me as one of the best looking films of the year. By my comments already, I think it is easy to see that I enjoy this film, but what you don’t know yet is why? So that is exactly what I am going to spend the next 500 words or so explaining, why ‘Luca’ is the best animated film out right now.

The animation – I think it almost comes without saying at this point, that Pixar’s animation is stunning. This is one of their best looking films to date, with the vibrant colour pallet proving to be eye-catching and incredibly immersive. I watched this film on my 4K UHD television, and was stunned by just how realistic the backdrops of this film are. The ocean setting looks real, the Italian architectures looks like a live-action film and the elemental effects (water, fire, land) all look incredibly practical. I love the way Pixar has kept their characters, cartoon as well. This may be jarring for some, seeing cartoon characters populating a photo-realistic world. But I disagree. I think it gives the film the illusion that it is make believe, adding to the fantastical nature of the story and creating a fun world for these characters to live in. This blend of photo-realism and cartoon, is what makes these films so enjoyable. We watch them for escapism and I think this blend provides that. We live in dark and scary times, sometimes we want to just imagine and play pretend and I believe Luca does this in spades.

The characters – The film is populated with fun and unique characters. Luca is insecure and does not know what the world really has in store for him. He has been sheltered by his parents and has never ventures to the ground level if you will, he has always been in the basement (under the sea). I think this is a great set-up for his character, as we explore a world we live in (on land I mean), through a unique and different perspective, as Luca explores it for the very first time with his friend Alberto. Alberto, however has seen this side of the world before. Living on his own, Alberto has learned to fend for himself, where Luca has been sheltered. This dynamic works remarkably for the film, as the characters get to explore their differences but together. It makes the whole coming-of-age side of the story more relatable and in the long run more rewarding. Their back and forth in the film is charming, as we have all had that friend that gets us into mischief, and whilst you might get grounded because of it, you learned a lot on the way and you are better for the experience.

The voice cast – No animated film is complete without a talented voice cast to back up their larger than life characters. Luckily, Pixar does this terrifically with ‘Luca’s voice cast all doing a wonderful job. Jacob Tremblay plays Luca and I think he does a great job at this. Because of his childlike voice, he adds a level of innocence and charm to the character that I think would not have been conveyed as well if the voiced by another actor. Jack Dylan Grazer (who played Eddie in the ‘IT’ films) does a great job as well as Alberto. Alberto  is a little more devilish than Luca, which is what makes the two characters so enjoyable. Grazer adds a level of boyish charm to the film, which if you have ever seen Jack Dylan Grazer in an interview, you know he has plenty of charm. His vocal performance here I found to be great and he ended up being my favourite performer in the whole film. The voice cast is rounded out with performances from Emma Berman as Gulia, Maya Rudolph as Daniela Paguro, Marco Barricelli as the films antagonist Massimo and a brief performance from Sacha Baron Cohen as the quirky Uncle Ugo. I think the cast all do a terrific job here and prove once again that Pixar sure knows what makes a terrific film, especially in the vocal department.

‘Luca’ is a terrific film. Like I have outlined in the above, I think this film marks one of Pixar’s best in recent years and that is saying something because I love almost all of their films. The striking visuals, the talented voice cast and the lovable characters all add up to just an all-round entertaining flick. If you are a Pixar fan or just a movie fan in general and are looking for something a little different, than look no further, ‘Luca’ has it all and is among the best animated films available right now. Be sure to pick up a copy of the film on DVD, Blu-Ray or 4K UHD today, you won’t be disappointed.

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Christopher Pattison wrote this blog post for Sanity. See more from Chris here