Pixar Era Analysis – Luca

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As mentioned in a previous blog post, I’ll be writing analysis content on all 28 of Pixar’s animated feature films and their film making eras.

The fourth era is the Personal Era, which is the current Era, and started in 2020 with Onward. As mentioned in a previous blog post, the Personal Era is known for its film releases being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, its films being based on the personal lives of the directors and writers who were making them, and its varied animation.

So how did Luca measure up to the above features of the Personal Era?

Release being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic:

Much like Soul, Luca was released direct-to-streaming on Disney Plus, instead of being theatrically released at the time, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it was theatrically released in the U.S. in 2024. The film ended up becoming the most watched piece of content on Disney Plus.

Production was also affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with Jack Dylan Grazer (Alberto) recording his tracks inside his home, and with the end credits acknowledging that the production was done from the homes of Pixar’s employees, by stating the film was produced “in our slippers around the bay area.”

Being based on the personal lives of the directors and writers making the film:

According to the film’s Wikipedia and IMDb pages, the film was inspired by director, Enrico Casarosa’s childhood in Genoa, Italy. Casarosa also based the film on his friendship with his best friend, Alberto Surace, and the title character on himself.

Varied animation:

According to the film’s Wikipedia page, the design and animation of the film were inspired by hand-drawn and stop motion animation, as well as the style of Looney Tunes and Hayao Miyazaki.

According to the film’s IMDb page, several Pixar artists visited the Italian Riviera to get an impression of the colours and look of the region.

I personally found the animation of the oceans, landscape, and the sea monster-human transformation of the main characters, incredible and realistic.

My overall thoughts:

Overall, I found the film to be a sweet and touching story of friendship – the start of it, its development, and its evolution. It didn’t strike a chord with me as much as Onward and Soul did, but it was touching all the same, continuing Pixar’s streak of becoming more personal both on and off the screen in this Era.

I also appreciated the sound and animation of the natural landscapes, and the realism of the complex nature of childhood friendships, as well as the realistic Italian setting, after the exploration of the realistic New York City setting in Soul.

The next part of the Pixar Era Analysis series to be released will focus on Turning Red.

Fun Facts and Trivia (from the film’s IMDb page):

  • When Luca falls off his bike and hits his head, he sees anchovies instead of stars, because he was told by Alberto that stars are in fact, anchovies.
  • Out of all the characters in the film, Luca has the largest eyes (proportional to his head) since he is so curious and eager to “take everything in.”
  • Jack Dylan Grazer recorded his vocal tracks from home, specifically his mother’s closet, as it was the only room that provided the necessary acoustics.
  • The background voice artists who provided the voices for the kids in the film were recorded by local children in Italy.
  • This film celebrated Pixar’s 35th anniversary.
  • In Luca’s sea creature form, he has 3,436 scales on his body.
  • This is the first Pixar film to not have John Ratzenberger in it.
  • Alberto made 383 markings on the wall, meaning that he had been living on his own for over a year.
  • The end credits contains a sequence of sketches of everyone’s future adventures.

References:

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