Edwin Arnaudin: Six months after its future Oscar winner Soul skipped theaters for Disney+, Pixar is taking the same approach with its latest feature, Luca. But while theaters were largely still shuttered or operating at significantly reduced capacities around Christmas, they’re essentially back to “normal” now, making the decision to eschew the big screen somewhat puzzling, even if it was made months ago before restrictions were lifted. Is Disney/Pixar wise not to gamble on its latest release at the box office or are they doing audiences a disservice by limiting it to home viewing?

Bruce Steele: It think Luca would have done at least as well as Cruella, or better, at theaters, but it's still just as enjoyable at home on Disney+ — assuming your TV is a decent size. This first feature directed by Enrico Casarosa (who created the beautiful Oscar-nominated short La Luna) is a charming, family-friendly fairy tale. It hasn't the existential and artistic ambitions of Soul — it's just a sweet story about two boy sea monsters who pose as human boys in an Italian seaside village in the 1950s. Why do sea monsters appear human until they get wet? Because it's funny, and sets up a nice, gag-filled parable. There’s a bicycle race the boys want to win, a bully they need to beat, a tough girl their age who befriends them, and her gruff dad, a Casarosa stock character Pixar fans will recognize from La Luna. Luca has a light, whimsical sensibility familiar from Pixar shorts but less common in its features. Where would you place Luca in the Pixar canon?

Edwin: Near the bottom, but above the irritating The Good Dinosaur. I agree with your praise, though on nearly every level, Luca barely feels like a Pixar film — especially stylistically. We’ve grown accustomed to each new feature from this beloved studio pushing the limits of animation and gifting us with something innovative and exciting. Here, the character design and backgrounds seem so safe that I wondered if Dreamworks or Sony Animation was responsible for the visuals. At best, it’s as if one of Pixar’s SparkShorts program artists was prematurely granted a full-length project, which, as you note, isn’t all that far from the truth.

Bruce: Ouch! Well, I guess I liked it a lot better than you did. I agree it's not especially innovative, but does every movie have to be? Luca has none of the story problems of The Good Dinosaur — or even Brave or Cars 2, for that matter. Sure, it's a formulaic fish out of water story — literally — but the characters are appealing and creative, and it develops its narrative with a lot of charm and focus. It's as if Pixar's Brain Trust, as they call their creative leadership, sat down one day and said, "OK, we've done a lot of complex movies addressing weighty issues. How about making something that's just cute and linear and fun for the whole family?" I don't think that mission requires compromising the studio's standards.

Edwin: And it shouldn’t. But for the most part, if Pete Docter isn’t directing, Pixar’s films have fit this hypothetical question while still being visually compelling. By contrast, Luca looks cheap, as if Casarosa and his team went with an early animation draft and never returned to make it meet the studio's typical high standard. That’s not to say it’s wholly lacking appeal, but other than the film possibly being an LGBTQ+ metaphor, I don’t see it having much lasting power.

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Bruce: I hadn't considered its lasting power, but I think it will endure on Disney+ alongside similarly warm and unchallenging fare — say, The Fox and the Hound and The Rescuers. But I don't agree that it looks cheap. Its look is inspired by classic clay animation, such as Aardman's Chicken Run, with a hint of Peanuts. It's a new direction for Pixar, but it's no less cohesive to its artistic vision than, say, Cars. It's a less complicated aesthetic, certainly, and some of the underwater designs bend toward over-simplified. But the village is fully realized, and the characters are expressive and emotionally engaging.

Edwin: The animation style might be inspired by those non-Pixar sources, but I find it anything but inspired and sincerely hope that Spring 2022’s Turning Red gets back to the studio’s strengths. If Pixar wants to start mixing in additional narratively and visually basic films, that’s the Brain Trust's choice, but I have faith that future curveballs will be more creative and immersive. As for its emotional resonance, beyond one painful moment of hypocrisy for our hero, Luca is lacking in that department, and the humor and thrills are similarly largely stunted. And I’d gladly take a fourth Cars movie — a series packed with easter eggs and appealing characters — over something this unambitious.

Bruce: Easter eggs are overrated, and I found Luca (voiced by Jacob Tremblay), his worried parents (Maya Rudolph and Jim Gaffigan), and his pals Alberto (Jack Dylan Grazer) and Guilia (Emma Berman) to be just as appealing as most of Pixar’s cars. I think what I really liked about Luca is that it's a lesson in wholesome animated filmmaking for family viewers, something at which many other studios have been failing in recent years, with empty confections like the Trolls films, goofy misfires like Early Man, and crass brand-exploitations like the Angry Birds movies. In particular, Laika (the studio that made Kubo and the Two Strings and Missing Link) should take note and stop overreaching. It's better to have a fully realized children's picture book of a movie than to strive for literary richness and just wind up with a pretty muddle.

Edwin: Luca isn’t purely for children like The Good Dinosaur, but it’s still largely lacking quality inroads for adults. Considering its easygoing nature and sufficiently intriguing premise, I suspect it would have succeeded as a short film, where Casarosa’s gifts are far better suited. Again, it’s not bad, but Pixar sets a certain standard that’s just plain not met here, to the point that I suspect I’d have failed a Pepsi Challenge-style blind viewing to guess which animation house produced it. I give it a B-minus, which is like a C-minus by Pixar standards.

Bruce: The Pepsi Challenge parallel is intriguing — and I suspect I would have guessed Luca was a return-to-form for the inconsistent Aardman crew rather than a Pixar production. But no matter, I found it charming and touching and recommend it to animation fans of all ages. I’ll grant you its lack of ambition and give it a B-plus.

Overall grade: B. Rated PG. Available to stream via Disney+

(Photos: Disney/Pixar)