JULY 9, 2021, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A13
Luca is just good—and that's okay
portrayed in CG than it is here. Perhaps
the best compliment that I can give Luca,
however, is the fact that my six-year-old
nephew (who still sometimes has a hard
time paying attention to the entirety of
a feature-length movie) has watched it
twice within the last week. All this to
say that wholly original plots, an abun-
dance of funny moments, and cathartic
deep-dives into the human psyche do
not necessarily make for a great film-- it’s
just that the relative lack of one or two
of these keeps Luca from measuring up
to the best of the best. If this movie had
been made by any “lesser” studio I would
be singing its praises non-stop from the
top of a mountain. But as it came from
Pixar, I can see it only being remembered
up until their next gut-wrenching film
about, I dunno, anthropomorphic shoes
or something.
Luca is now available on Disney+.
Speed Bump By DAVE COVERLY
By TJ REID
For the Keizertimes
It has been clear for a long time now
that Pixar is made up of people that like to
set bars. To set a bar is impressive in and
of itself, but even more admirable than
that is a consistent determination to clear
and raise that bar when it would some-
times be much easier to stumble through
it, take your billions, and go home. It must
be exhausting to expect so much from one-
self, and such high standards often make
the inevitable “good but not great” jumps
appear worse than they really are. This
was the metaphor that was on my mind
when I watched Luca, Disney/Pixar’s latest
offering, a film that takes a step back from
the company’s usual grand ambitions and
dares to simply be good.
There are a few things that we as audi-
ence members have come to expect of
Pixar over the years after being consis-
tently spoiled by them—creative plots, razor
sharp writing, cutting-edge animation, and
mature-yet-still-kid-friendly themes, to
name a few. Luca, unfortunately, falls just
a little bit short on most of these. The plot
is simple and feels more than a little famil-
iar, bringing to mind another ocean dweller
Disney+
Review
that wanted to be where the people are,
and there aren’t too many of those special
moments that make adults laugh as hard as
the kids. I was not a big fan of the anima-
tion either, particularly the goofy character
models. Finally, the themes essentially boil
down to accepting others, being a good
parent, and being a good friend. All of this
is important stuff, of course, but definitely
less ambitious than the heavy themes
explored in previous Pixar movies like Toy
Story, Inside Out, Coco, and Soul.
But let me be perfectly clear: this
movie is not bad. It is, in fact, quite enjoy-
able, funny, and heartwarming. The voice
acting is predictably great, the overall
mood and feel is relaxed and vibrant (and
Italian!), and even though I wasn’t a fan
of the animation didn’t mean the anima-
tion was bad—things still pop, and I don’t
think that water has ever been better
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