Not exactly the prequel to The Shape of Water that I expected. Hmmm, maybe it was intended to be a prequel to Aquaman … or The Little Mermaid. In fact, the animation says Captain Underpants, so there’s that as well. Tell ya what, let’s call this Pixar’s The Shape of Water where government lockdown has been replaced by an Italian villa, Sally Hawkins has been replaced by animated Timothée Chalamet, and Michael Shannon has been replaced by … bad moustache animated Timothée Chalamet.
Luca (voice of Jacob Tremblay) is a sea monster. Well, that’s not fair. He’s no more monster than Jacob Tremblay is in any other film, but I lack for species identification. Under the water, he’s a human-ish kid with fins and gills and webbed feet and a tail; above the water, he’s a kid. If you only want to see the kid, don’t get him wet (or feed him after midnight). And, of course Luca sleeps with the fishes; he also wakes and frolics with the fishes. No biggie.
Fearing the “Land Monsters,” Luca’s parents have instituted a strict “no surface” policy with the boy. If you ask me, if they REALLY wanted to keep him away from humans, maybe they’d set up shop further than 50-feet from shore. Jus’ sayin’. In my mind, it’s only a matter of time before the dinglehopper-collectin’ lad gets curious about finless folk. Enter Alberto (Jack Dylan Grazer), another fishkid who prefers the land and all its treasures. Alberto has long since known their species is amphibious; they climb onto shore, dry off, and the fins/tail/gills magically disappear. Luca is immediately transfixed.
Taken with X-Gaming, the two become obsessed with a project to build their own Vespa. Hey, what do Italian engineers know that can’t be learned instinctively by two teenage fishboys? I mean, that is, aside from programming satellites to get Dominion voting machines to alter US Presidential ballots, that is. (That was a joke, btw, one of the worst in the sad saga that has become modern Republican fascism, er, politics) Exhausting their own supply of limited skills and malleable trash, the boys befriend Giulia (Emma Berman), a local villager obsessed herself with defeating the town bully in the child-only triathlon. The running portion of the triathlon has been replaced by eating, which 
strikes me as a little patronizing, but, hey, it’s your movie.
At this point, the movie is –essentially- the adventures of Luca, Alberto, and Giulia. When do you suppose fishboys come of age? And when will Giulia find out that her friends smell like week-old tuna for good reason?
Luca is cute and amusing … yet decidedly shy of adorable or hilarious. There’s a good argument that Luca himself is more delightful as a fish than a human … but he’s human a lot more than he’s a fish. The humor revolves around the kind of things that are funny about a fish learning to ride a bicycle, as that is an actual plot. Again, I’d call it amusing instead of inspiring. There are better coming-of-age films; there are better animated films. Is there a better coming-of-age animated film? Um, yes. This wouldn’t even qualify as Pixar’s best coming-of-age film since COVID started. Look, there’s no way a guy who answers to “Frog” is gonna trash a cute film about an amphibian. That said, Pixar isn’t building a campus extension with a Luca wing just yet, ifyouknowwhatI’msayin’. Both of Pixar’s 2020 entries are better films than Luca. But that’s doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy this film. It’s better than 90% of Netflix animation and it finishes far better than it starts.
♪My name is Luca
I live of the seabed floor
I live in that blue lagoon
I’m not supposed to go onshore
If you see some kid in your class
Who eats plankton and reeks of bass
Just don’t ask me what I am
Just don’t ask me what I am
Just don’t ask me what I am♫
Rated PG, 101 Minutes
Director: Enrico Casarosa
Writer: Jesse Andrews and Mike Jones
Genre: Fish Tale
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: The Little Mermaid
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Fishermen
♪ Parody Inspired by “Luka”
