Pixar’s “Luca” came into theaters for the first time last weekend on March 22. “Luca” was a movie that was released back in the summer of 2021, but due to COVID-19 and online streaming, it was only shown on streaming services — more specifically, Disney+. It was a fun heartwarming movie with a very creative style and setting of how it was made. Now it is available to see in a movie theater where you can experience this movie through the lens of the big screen instead of seeing it on your couch.
“Luca” follows a boy named Luca and his best friend Alberto, who are sea creatures that live off the coast of a small Italian city in the Mediterranean Sea. Luca wants to become a human really bad. He wants to experience the joys of being a human being. Through some events, Luca and Alberto have the ability to morph into human form. With this new form, they wander and explore the Italian city of Porto Rosso, where they meet a girl named Guilia. They explore the town, try new things and go through some harsh realities of their real identities.
I had watched the movie beforehand when it did come out on Disney+ but had never seen it in theaters — I was really excited to be able to see it in theaters. I was excited to see what the images of the movie would look like on the big screen. A movie that was designed very creatively from the vibrant colors to the cool designs of how the characters and setting looked was something that I was looking forward to before watching the movie in theaters.
I was surprised to have not seen that many people when I went to the movie theaters. The theater felt really empty — maybe two or three other people were there. I thought it would be a bit more packed considering how popular Pixar movies were and how good this movie did overall when it came out to good reviews and just how the movie was in general. I think there just weren’t that many announcements about the re-release of this movie to where people had no idea that it was being re-released in theaters.
I had a great time re-watching this movie, not only for the plot, but to actually see the animation as it is on a big screen was just incredible.I was very impressed by the animation and how the larger scale of the theater screen compared to that of a TV. Some things that stuck out to me most was how the blueness of the water was animated in the film. The water just looked spectacular on the big screen in comparison to watching at home. In certain scenes when Luca and Alberto would shift back into sea creatures, there would be the animation shift of them being humans to them turning into sea creatures when touching the water, which was really impressive to me. With the colorfulness of the town of Porto Rosso where the movie takes place was beautiful. This just made me admire the beauty of the movie and the aesthetic around it. The animators of this movie did an amazing job of creating this town to look so beautiful and to be like an Italian city portrayed through the eyes of animation.
In addition to re-watching the film, I was reminded of the great messages that are shown throughout this movie. Through friendship, the idea of not fitting in — like with Luca, who is ashamed to be a sea creature and wants to be a human — goes through his own journey about how he should embrace and love the fact that he is a sea creature. Not only is it a very entertaining movie, but also you are getting something out of this message, it’s not just a simple kids show, but has actual valuable meaning to it that a lot of young people can relate to.
“Luca” is a must-see movie to watch in theaters. If you loved watching it at home, you’ll love it more in theaters. It gives you a better look at the movie through the lens of which it was supposed to be shown in. From the amazing visuals and animations, to the sentiment and great messages that are shown in the movie are not to be missed out on.
“Luca:” ★★★★★
