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Script Analysis: “Luca” — Part 6: Takeaways

Scott Myers

Go Into The Story

A week-long analysis of the 2021 Pixar movie.

Reading scripts. Absolutely critical to learn the craft of screenwriting. The focus of this bi-weekly series is a deep structural and thematic analysis of each script we read. Our daily schedule:

Monday: Scene-By-Scene Breakdown Tuesday: Plot Wednesday: Characters Thursday: Themes Friday: Dialogue Saturday: Takeaways

Today: Takeaways.

This week, we have been reading, analyzing, and discussing the script and movie Luca . In some ways, today’s exercise is the whole point of the series: What did you take away from the experience of reading and analyzing the script?

Screenplay by Jesse Andrews & Mike Jones, story by Enrico Casarosa & Jesse Andrews & Simon Stephenson, story consultant Julie Lynn & Randall Green.

Plot summary: A young boy experiences an unforgettable seaside summer on the Italian Riviera filled with gelato, pasta and endless scooter rides. Luca shares these adventures with his newfound best friend, but all the fun is threatened by a deeply-held secret: he is a sea monster from another world just below the ocean’s surface.

SCENE-BY-SCENE BREAKDOWN

Major kudos to Denise Devoy for doing this week’s scene-by-scene breakdown.

To download a PDF of the breakdown , go here .

For Part 1, to read the Scene-By-Scene Breakdown discussion, go here .

For Part 2, to read the Plot discussion, go here .

For Part 3, to read the Character discussion, go here .

For Part 4, to read the Themes discussion go here .

For Part 5, to read the Dialogue discussion go here .

To access over 100 analyses of previous movie scripts we have read and discussed at Go Into The Story, go here .

I hope to see you in the RESPONSE section about this week’s script: Luca.

Written by Scott Myers

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The Innovation Behind the Stunning Transformation in ‘Luca’

Disney and Pixar’s Luca , now streaming on Disney+, is a coming-of-age story about a sea monster who dreams of life above the water. After he bravely broaches the surface, Luca Paguro (voice of Jacob Tremblay) is amazed to discover he’s transformed into a human. “We like this idea that somehow through the ages, there’s this coping mechanism that when they’re dry, they’re able to camouflage in their own way,” director Enrico Casarosa explains. “Their true selves are sea monsters, but when they dry up, they can look like you.”

The concept may seem simple enough, but it proved to be an exciting technical challenge for the filmmakers at Pixar Animation Studios, who had to determine how to depict the transformation between the two forms in a fun and organic way. “We first thought of it like a mechanical bodysuit, where the scales would flip and reveal something,” character supervisor Sajan Skaria says. “And then [story artist] Daniel López Muñoz said, ‘No, it needs to come from the heart. It’s internal. It’s Luca the human emerging from the sea monster.’ That made a huge difference, because now we had a place where it could originate.”

Using concept art as a starting point and following story-driven parameters, technical teams aimed to give artists the flexibility to craft the pivotal change by dictating details such as the origin and the speed of the transformation. To animate the sequence, they rigged the character models so they “had enough of the options an artist would need,” says character supervisor Beth Albright. “All the different regions of the transformation could then be adjusted separately. There are all these layers of things going on with the human skin, the sea monster skin, the octopus spots and the flipping scales, and now they could tune all of that individually—and that’s something we have never been able to do before.”

According to Albright, that type of effect would typically “go through animation, then go through an effects pass and then we would see it after the render.” They were able to save several steps making Luca , which allowed the animators to focus on the creative aspects. “Being able to pull all that back into our animation software so the animators could see it live was huge,” says Albright. “It was surprising even the first time we showed Enrico; he started to comment on the shading because he thought he was looking at a render! And we had to tell him, ‘No, this is just an animation rig. This hasn’t been rendered and it’s not shaded.’ So, that’s just one way where we were able to make that space for artists to work.”

The end result—which was developed through the continuous collaboration between multiple teams, spanning animation, art, characters, effects, lighting, simulation and tools, and global technology—is seamless and stylized. Says Skaria, “Our driving theme in technical was, ‘Let the modeler just model, and then we’ll figure out everything around it.”

“We tried to do that with the rest of our department, too,” adds Albright. “For example, when we were working on Luca’s human model and the sea monster model, even though we knew they needed to transform, we didn’t want the modeling process to be constrained by knowing they had to transform and being concerned that everything had to match up. Instead, we had the same person model both of those, Tanja Krampfert, and she worked on them simultaneously. It was always clear: ‘Make the best sea monster you can. Make the best human you can. We’ll figure out the transformation later.’ We did that at every stage.”

Luca is now streaming on Disney+.

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

On the Italian Riviera, an unlikely but strong friendship grows between a human being and a sea monster disguised as a human. On the Italian Riviera, an unlikely but strong friendship grows between a human being and a sea monster disguised as a human. On the Italian Riviera, an unlikely but strong friendship grows between a human being and a sea monster disguised as a human.

• Enrico Casarosa
• Jesse Andrews
• Simon Stephenson
• Jacob Tremblay
• Jack Dylan Grazer
• Emma Berman
• 834 User reviews
• 5 Critic reviews
• 71 Metascore
• 6 wins & 82 nominations total

• Luca Paguro

• Alberto Scorfano

• Giulia Marcovaldo
• Ercole Visconti

• Daniela Paguro

• Massimo Marcovaldo

• Lorenzo Paguro

• Signora Marsigliese
• Tommaso (Old Fisherman)

• Grandma Paguro

• Giacomo (Young Fisherman)

• Concetta Aragosta

• Pinuccia Aragosta

• Maggiore (Cop)

• (as Jonathan Nichols)
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia Portorosso can be seen as an advertisement on a travel agency window in Pixar's previous film Soul (2020) .
• Goofs Daniela and Lorenzo are trying to find Luca to avoid he could be exposed, and they do this by splashing everyone they suspect is him with water. They probably didn't think this through because if they actually succeeded, Luca would end up exposed in front of everyone.

Alberto Scorfano : Silenzio Bruno.

• Crazy credits In a post-credits scene, Ugo talks to a stray goatfish about how great his life is in the depths of the ocean.
• Connections Featured in AniMat's Crazy Cartoon Cast: The Dance of Pixar's Italy (2020)
• Soundtracks Un bacio a mezzanotte Written by Sandro Giovannini , Pietro Garinei , Gorni Kramer Performed by Quartetto Cetra Courtesy of Warner Music Italy Srl, a Warner Music Group Company By arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing

User reviews 834

• TheLittleSongbird
• May 27, 2022
• How long is Luca? Powered by Alexa
• June 18, 2021 (United States)
• United States
• Mùa Hè Của Luca
• Italian Riviera, Liguria, Italy (on location)
• Pixar Animation Studios
• Walt Disney Pictures
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $51,074,773

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 35 minutes
• Dolby Digital
• Dolby Atmos

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Re-VIEW: The Fabulous Journey of ‘Luca’

Enrico Casarosa’s heartwarming story of a shy young sea monster, whose insatiable curiosity helps him discover the magic in the everyday, is as complex as the ocean is deep.

In Disney and Pixar’s  Luca , a shy young sea monster named Luca emerges from the sea to discover that above the waves there exists a world of unexpected wonders. His guides are Alberto, an adventurous sea monster whose cockiness conceals an essential fragility, and Giulia, a spirited human girl with a fascination for stargazing. Banding together as the ‘Underdogs,’ they compete with the local town bully Ercole to win the coveted Portorosso Cup Race.

Directed by Enrico Casarosa and produced by Andrea Warren,  Luca  is a heart-warming celebration of friendship. If we look past the apparent simplicity of its themes, however, we find a complexity as deep as the ocean itself.

Near the beginning of the film, bored with his life as a goatfish herder, a disillusioned Luca blows a bubble in the water and contemplates his own face reflected in the shimmering sphere. Later, Luca studies his surroundings through the bottom of a glass tumbler. When he uses the glass to frame a gramophone at a distance, immediately the object becomes enchanted. In these scenes – throughout the entire film, in fact – we are invited to see the world, and experience the story, through Luca’s eyes.

By viewing reality through the limitations of a lens – a bubble, a tumbler, or the lens of cinema itself – we immediately gain a different perspective. Perhaps even a fantastical one. When Luca first emerges from the water and sees the beautiful green landscape of the Italian Riviera, the blue sky, the warm sunshine, the fluffy clouds, the birds – it is a revelation. The upper world is stunningly beautiful, and in sharing Luca’s eyes, we also share his sense of awe. Through Luca, we rediscover the magic in the everyday.

The film’s emphasis on viewpoint is reminiscent of the work of Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki. In Studio Ghibli’s  My Neighbor Totoro , for example, there is a scene in which we see the young girl Mei looking at the world through a hole in a can. There are many such moments in Luca when we as an audience are invited to rediscover reality by changing the angle at which we look at things. This is what all art does. It invites us to consider the world from a new perspective. In doing so, we are given an opportunity to do what Picasso strived for his whole life – to see through the eyes of a child. Since Casarosa is a self-professed Miyazaki disciple, it is no surprise that we find references to Japanese master’s work everywhere in  Luca  – the use of simple forms and compositions, the discovery of wonder in nature, a perennial fascination with flight. Even the name of the town – Portorosso – recalls Miyazaki’s film  Porco Rosso . However, by bringing his distinctly Italian approach to story, setting, and character, Casarosa succeeds in creating his own powerful artistic style. 

Luca’s experience of the upper world is presented in glorious detail. The texture of the stone walls is hyper-real. Close-ups of the sea washing on the shore are uncannily ‘realistic.’ Vivid colors and atmospheric lighting bring an extraordinary sense of texture, volume, and sensuality. You can feel the sensation of walking on pebbles and almost taste the ice-cream being served up in the town’s piazza! Seen through Luca’s eyes, our familiar world becomes a place of miracles. Everything becomes an adventure.

But this is not just beauty for beauty’s sake. Casarosa’s careful use of light and color constantly enhances the mood and deepens our understanding of the characters. The pivotal scene where Luca betrays Alberto takes place before a stunning sunset, with sea and sky blending into a stunning tapestry. The color palette is dominated by hot oranges and reds – the colors of Mars, the Roman god of war – and so perfectly communicates the anger of the confrontation. Later, a night-time scene on the roof of the boys’ hideout is barely illuminated by dim coals, adding to the profound melancholy of the moment.

Such moments are the result of confident creative choices, and reveal the complexity hidden inside the film’s deceptive simplicity. By creating a series of powerful emotional resonances, they let us not only share these characters’ experiences, but also look into their souls.

Just as powerful is the sense of place. From the moment when we first spy the lush green coastal slopes of Liguria, there is no doubt we are in Italy. Every detail, every flourish is exactly right, from the shape of Portorosso’s quaint piazza to the way the light shines through the clothes hanging on the washing lines. The Italian vibe pervades the whole film, from locations to language, to the evocative soundtrack featuring popular songs from the 1950s and operatic arias such as Puccini’s  O Mio Babbino Caro . The iconic Vespa holds center stage as an object of desire – perhaps even a divine presence – while the photograph jammed between the handlebars of Alberto’s motorcycle is a portrait of Marcello Mastroianni, Italy’s most famous actor of the period.

The Mastroianni photograph is just one of many movie references scattered throughout the film, part of a meta-language used by Casarosa to celebrate cinema in all its forms. The name of the fishing boat in the opening sequence is  Gelsomina , which also happens to be the name of the protagonist in Federico Fellini’s  La Strada , a delicate film about self-discovery set against the backdrop of rural Italy. The walls of Portorosso are adorned with posters paying homage to the cinema of the 1950s. Fellini’s  La Strada  makes another appearance here, as does William Wyler’s  Roman Holiday  – famous for its shots of Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck speeding through Rome on a Vespa – and Disney’s  20,000 Leagues Under the Sea , based on the science fiction novel by Jules Verne and presenting a highly romanticized vision of the underwater world.

This is the Italy remembered by the post-war generation as a land where imagination and innocence still lingered, in defiance of the inexorable advance of modernity. The march of progress is symbolized not only by the Vespa, but also by the motorboats which the humans have begun to favor, and by the train that carries Luca away at the end of the film.

Adhering to a cinematic trope that evokes classic farewell scenes from a hundred different movies, the train departure scene delivers what is undoubtedly the emotional climax of the film. Here is the moment when Luca fulfils his dream and sets off with Giulia on his way to school, when he says goodbye to his best friend, and Alberto in his turn accepts that he must let Luca go. It is intensely sad, but at the same time uplifting. Before our eyes, we see the two boys coming of age and learning what love truly means. When Luca looks across the ocean and sees a ray of light illuminating the island where he and Alberto had so many adventures, he knows he is leaving his childhood behind. The moment is bittersweet, yet filled with hope, and surely inspired by Casarosa’s own youthful journey across the ocean from Italy to study animation in the United States.

Anyone who has ever left someone or something behind to follow their dreams will empathize with Luca as he boards that train. Luca’s own journey is driven by a thirst for knowledge, and an insatiable curiosity about the cosmos – an inner fire whose flames are fanned by the equally enthusiastic Giulia. Like every Italian child before her, Giulia has no doubt learned the lines from Canto 26 of Dante’s “Inferno,” spoken by Ulysses as he urges his crew to voyage with him into the unknown: “You were not made to live for brutish ignorance, but to pursue virtue and knowledge. Consider your humanity.” The lines might have been written for Luca himself.

Earlier in the film, we see Luca’s secret desires encapsulated in a literal dream, one of several fantasy sequences that employ an exaggerated visual language to catapult the audience into the boy’s imagination. In this dream, a Leonardo da Vinci flying machine carries Luca and Giulia to Rome, where they fly over the Coliseum. Art, science, and history collide in this scholarly flight of fancy, and literature makes its appearance, too, when they spot the wooden boy Pinocchio strolling below them. References to Carlo Collodi’s  Pinocchio  are pervasive in this film.

Giulia has a small Pinocchio sculpture in her bedroom. The  Pinocchio -inspired song  Il Gatto e la Volpe  by Edoardo Bennato plays on the soundtrack during a montage of the two boys cementing their friendship on the island. When Luca takes his first steps on dry land, his clumsiness evokes the awkward stumbling of the stringless puppet in Disney’s 1940 animated feature. When Luca dreams of going to school, is he not really dreaming about becoming a real boy, just like Pinocchio? Surely, he is.

In leaving behind his underwater home, Luca ultimately comes full circle, just like any hero following the classic journey outlined by Joseph Campbell. As the train leaves the station, the rain causes both Luca and Alberto to transform from human back into their original sea monster forms. We have seen this metamorphosis many times already in the film– a subtle and expressive feat of technical animation, by the way – but only now do we recognize that the transformation does not represent the  otherness  that so many of the film’s characters fear. Rather, it represents unity. Luca is neither human nor sea monster. He is both. He is, simply, Luca.

And so, in that moment, we are returned to the beginning of the film, by way of a framing device we did not even notice was there, but which is evident now as we recall the opening shots. In a clear visual nod to Casarosa’s short film  La Luna , these show the fishing boat  Gelsomina  journeying through moonlit waves. All is dark and mysterious, with nothing to differentiate between sky and sea. The surroundings are primordial. We are in the realm of fable.

The images of the train steaming through the Italian Riviera may appear more sophisticated, but they are no less fabulous, no less steeped in myth. Together, these two scenes serve as beautifully balanced bookends to the story of  Luca . They teach us that water, earth, and air are one, and that it does not matter if we live on land or in the sea. We are all just individuals on a journey, in pursuit of our dreams.

Luca is now streaming on Disney+.

Dr. Maria Elena Gutierrez is the CEO and executive director of VIEW Conference, Italy’s premiere annual digital media conference. She holds a Ph. D from Stanford University and a BA from the University of California Santa Cruz. VIEW Conference is committed to bringing a diversity of voices to the forefront in animation, visual effects, and games.   For more information about the VIEW 2021 program of events, visit the official website:  http://viewconference.it

Dr. Maria Elena Gutierrez is the CEO and executive director of VIEW Conference, Italy’s premiere annual digital media conference:  http://viewconference.it .

View the discussion thread.

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The Animation and Effects Behind Pixar’s Luca , Now Streaming

We’ve been eagerly awaiting the release of Pixar’s new animated film Luca , and it’s finally here! Directed by Enrico Casarosa (“La Luna”), produced by Andrea Warren (“Lava,” Cars 3 ), and starring Jacob Tremblay as Luca and Jack Dylan Grazer as Alberto, Luca is now streaming exclusively on Disney+ . 

The movie tells the story of Luca, a young, inquisitive sea monster who lives with his family under the sea, and has been warned to stay hidden from the dangerous humans above the surface in the nearby Italian village. He’s done so all his life, until one day he meets Alberto, another sea monster, who lives by his own set of rules, dreams, and aspirations. They quickly form a friendship that introduces Luca to a whole new world, aided by the discovery that the two can turn into humans outside of the water! Besides discovering new friends, new people, and a new way of life, Luca also learns how to move past his fears, to see people for more than what they first appear, and to believe in himself.

The film is a nod to director Enrico’s childhood in Italy, as well as his own friend named Alberto and what their friendship meant to him. The team wanted to honor the look and feel of that time, as well as the Italian village and its culture. “This is a period film,” explains producer Andrea Warren. “We wanted to capture an honesty to the era, no matter how stylized we were making it. [Enrico] drove home the simplicity of the time and place — basic clothing, kids running barefoot, [etc].” Daniela Strijleva, the film’s production designer, shares more background: “We visited the places Enrico went as a child. We watched him climb a 30-foot rock and dive in — realizing after the shock of it that he’d been doing it since he was a child. That extra layer of experiencing his memories and nostalgia really underscores his love of the place. And of course meeting people from the region — fishermen, locals — it gave us so much to work with.”

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‘Luca’ Review: Pixar’s Refreshing Summer Treat Channels the Spirit of Studio Ghibli

David ehrlich.

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The shortest Pixar movie since “Toy Story,” and one of the few that manages to keep its high-concept premise anchored to a simple human scale, Enrico Casarosa’s “ Luca ” is effectively the Disney+ equivalent (read: non-alcoholic version) of an aperol spritz on a late summer afternoon: sweet, effervescent, and all the more satisfying for its simplicity. At times, “Luca” is so modest, so restrained, so not about sentient action figures or a family of superheroes or the nature of the human soul that it almost doesn’t feel like a Pixar film at all.

This is a Pixar thing to the very last gill, of course, and easily recognized as such; the rounded character design is a dead giveaway even before you get to the paranoid (yet lovingly aloof!) parents and the unbridled joy of discovery. And yet, Casarosa’s feature debut — a modest and personal coming-of-age story about two pre-adolescent fish boys eating pasta and obsessing over a Vespa together during that last perfect moment of childhood — seems to have less in common with the studio’s previous movies than it does the whimsical shorts that often play before them (including Casarosa’s own “La Luna”).

This is the kind of project that Pixar would have been able to produce at any time in its history if not for the pressure of grossing several billion dollars, winning a handful of Oscars, and waging a bloody civil war against the Minions for control of our kids’ imagination. It’s no coincidence, then, that “Luca” is also the closest that Pixar has ever come to capturing the ineffable spirit of a Studio Ghibli film (and not just because Casarosa’s semi-autobiographical tale is set in the seaside Italian town of “Portorosso”). It’s a sorbetto-light homage that reflects Pixar’s own self-confidence, and hopefully anticipates how the monolithic animation house will continue to create more intimate fare now that it can use Disney+ as a safety net.

The first way that “Luca” differentiates itself from the rest of the Pixar canon is with music. The staccato punctuation of Dan Romer’s score immediately distances this from anything the studio has made before (despite a familiar underwater setting). The “Beasts of the Southern Wild” composer summons his signature tremble and swell to set the stage for a movie that eschews the vast adventure of “Finding Nemo” for something more in-the-moment and driven by the capriciousness of youth.

Which isn’t to suggest that Luca Paguro — endearingly voiced by Jacob Tremblay — is a radical change of pace from the typical protagonist of an animated film, because he’s not. A timid but kind-natured kid with big ambitions and overprotective parents, Luca would be impossible to distinguish from the other examples of his archetype if not for the fact that he’s a 13-year-old sea monster who looks like a cross between the creature from “The Shape of Water” and a bar mitzvah. (Imagine a humanoid tadpole with a briny Jew-fro and you’ll be on the right track.)

Luca’s aquatic community is deeply under-realized — an errant mention of a neighboring family is what passes for world-building — but we’re made to understand that his kind have always lived in fear of the “land monsters” on the surface. As Luca’s goofily absent-minded father (Jim Gaffigan) puts it after he spots the underside of a fishing boat: “They’re here to do murders.” He’s not wrong. Luca’s mom ( Maya Rudolph , deservedly the go-to choice for such parts these days) concurs that “the curious fish gets caught,” though she’s a lot more pointed with her fear-mongering. Only Luca’s salty grandma (Sandy Martin), who’s fresh out of shucks to give, seems to recognize the inevitability that he’ll disobey his parents and see what’s happening topside.

And that’s exactly what happens after a chance encounter with a parentless and free-spirited sea monster named Alberto ( Jack Dylan Grazer , channeling just enough of the untamed energy he brought to “We Are Who We Are”), who drags Luca to shore in order to share the mind-blowing secret that his family has been keeping from him all this time: When sea monsters are dry, they turn into humans. Just like that, Luca’s tiny world expands toward infinity and beyond. He and Alberto are now free to read textbooks, eat spaghetti by the handful, and even compete against the narcissistic local bully Ercole Visconti (Italian comedian Saverio Raimondo, going full Waluigi) in the annual Portorosso Cup triathlon. Win the race, and the fish chums will be able to afford “the greatest thing that humans have ever made” and the magic key that unlocks the world beyond their imaginations: A busted old Vespa. Whatever it takes for Luca to avoid being sent to live in the deep with his demented uncle, a translucent anglerfish who Sacha Baron Cohen turns into one of Pixar’s funniest characters in less than two minutes of screen time.

This might all sound like the recipe for a typical fable about fear of the other, complete with sharp-tipped harpoons and hordes of frightened people chanting “kill the monster!,” but Jesse Andrews and Mike Jones’ lean script is far more interested in freeing its characters from a fear of themselves. While the people of Portorosso have inherited a Loch Ness-like belief in the local sea myths from their parents, and Luca and Alberto spend much of the movie trying to avoid even the tiniest splash of water (lest their skin reveal its scales in a beautifully chameleonic display of digital alchemy), “Luca” never suggests that it’s building toward the mob blood-thirst of “Beauty and the Beast” or the ecological warfare of “Princess Mononoke.”

On the contrary, the greatest threat to Luca’s freedom is the voice in his head telling him to shrink back and stay in his tiny pocket of the ocean, and the film’s most violent moment is a betrayal among friends who need different things from each other. Alberto wants an anchor, while Luca is desperate for someone to push him out to sea. Neither of the male leads are especially nuanced characters, but there’s a tender friction in how these boys mine strength from their mutual fears; probably tender enough for people to see the film as a broad metaphor for queer self-acceptance if they so choose (the “Call Me by Your Name” of it all is well-pronounced even before Alberto defends Luca’s fishy musk with a defiant “my friend smells amazing !”).

Of course, Luca and Alberto’s damp adventure on dry land is bound together by their shared friendship with the fieriest girl in Portorosso, Giulia Marcovaldo (newcomer Emma Berman). The only daughter of the town’s gruffest one-armed monster hunter, Giulia is a fun-loving epitome of Casarosa’s efforts to synthesize the suffocating perfection of a Pixar script with the self-possessed zeal of a Fellini heroine (particularly the ones played by her namesake Giulietta Masina). In a way, her unbridled lust for life helps liberate this movie from the airlessness of Pixar’s vaunted — almost clinical — approach to storytelling, and allows “Luca” to retain a rare whiff of lived experience amidst its mid-century idyll. If the film is still a bit hectic down the home stretch, prone to a smattering of didactic moments, and incapable of rescuing Luca’s parents from getting trapped inside a (funny) sitcom B-plot, those are small prices to pay for the rare Pixar movie that doesn’t feel like it’s been thought to death. That still leaves room for the endless possibility of a bright summer day with your best friends.

It’s no coincidence then that Giulia’s flailing energy is a great showcase for the film’s tactile approach to computer animation. Less flawless and plasticky than most CG kids fare, “Luca” gently affects the look of stop-motion puppetry whenever the characters are on land, and lends the salmon buildings and cobblestone streets of Portorosso such a visceral sense of place that you can almost feel the breeze coming off… the Mediterranean? The Adriatic? It’s unclear. Either way, you can feel it.

Not to get too “you could even say the town is like a character unto itself” about this, but the setting — so vividly plucked from Casarosa’s own childhood memories — is the secret ingredient of a movie that’s less concerned about what happens than it is about the magical possibility that anything might. The flavor in the air that one summer when everything changed. The first taste of the fullness that life has to offer. The ephemeral friendships that felt like they were going to last forever, and may have found a way to do just that. “The universe is literally yours,” Giulia tells Luca, and you can’t help but take her at her word.

“Luca” may not pack the melodramatic punch of “When Marnie Was There” or offer a whisper of the heart that’s as powerful as that in “From Up on Poppy Hill,” but it’s buoyed by the same frizzante sense of personal freedom that informs even those second-rate Studio Ghibli films. It may not be the best Pixar movie, or the riskiest — it sure as hell isn’t the most ambitious — but “Luca” is also one of the precious few that feels like it isn’t afraid to be something else.

“Luca” will be available to stream on Disney+ starting Friday, June 18.

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Luca is a Pixar fable about sea monsters, friendship, and pasta

Now streaming on Disney+, it’s a tale about accepting others — and yourself.

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Luca is probably the most summery movie that Pixar’s ever made — a light, gentle, sweet tale of a young boy and his best friend who go on an adventure in a tiny Italian town. (They’re also both sea monsters, but more on that later.) There is pasta and gelato, fountains and cycling, a mustache-twirling villain and starry night skies. It’s a tiny vacation with a healthy serving of imagination.

Director Enrico Casarosa says the look of his new film is inspired by everything from Renaissance maps — the kind haunted around the edges by scaly sea monsters — to Japanese woodcuts and his own childhood memories of summers in southern Italy. It has a softer, more hand-drawn feeling than some other Pixar offerings, almost as if it’s 2D in places, which gives the impression of timelessness.

Luca could take place this summer or a century ago. It’s a folk tale, or perhaps a fable. And just like those kinds of stories, there’s a buried wisdom within Luca that shifts a little depending on who’s looking at it, like the color of light refracting off a wave.

The story centers on Luca (voiced by Jacob Tremblay), a shy young sea monster who herds fish by day in a cove off the coast of the Italian Riviera. He lives with his mother Daniela (Maya Rudolph), father Lorenzo (Jim Gaffigan), and crotchety badass of a grandmother (Sandy Martin). Luca is a good kid. He watches over the fish, who are little bubbly airheads with the mannerisms of sheep, and stays away from the surface. According to his parents, it’s dangerous up there. Especially for sea monsters, who are not themselves dangerous to humans but are regarded as such and hunted with fearsome spears. Don’t go near the humans.

Yet, like the Little Mermaid before him, Luca is curious about what’s going on up above. And when he finds some random detritus scattered in his fishes’ grazing region — an alarm clock, a little picture, a wrench — he starts to daydream.

One day, another young sea monster named Alberto (Jack Dylan Grazer) appears to retrieve some of the artifacts. He coaxes Luca up to land. Luca reluctantly follows, and discovers to his amazement that he’s more well-equipped to survive above water than he’d expected. Alberto and Luca are fast friends, bound together by their mutual love of Vespas and, eventually, a grand adventure they embark upon to a nearby village called Portorosso. They meet a girl named Giulia (Emma Berman), who lives with her fisherman father (Marco Barricelli) and her marshmallow-shaped cat named Machiavelli. She enlists their help in winning Portorosso’s annual race.

Luca and Alberto are constantly worried they’ll be found out as loathsome sea monsters, not “normal” boys. And so they’re always hiding their true identities.

In some ways, it’s the oldest plot in the book: Someone who is an outsider — a beast, a poor stepsister, a mermaid, a princess with a hidden power — must conceal their identity in order to avoid detection among “normal” people. The message is familiar, too, the oldest in the Disney canon: Don’t be afraid to be yourself, because nobody else can be you, and those who love you are the only ones who matter.

Luca ’s sun-drenched spin on the story locates it in a coming-of-age tale that’s also about overprotective parents (reminiscent of Finding Nemo ) and the importance of having a friend who can pull us out of our darkest moments. I thought a little of last year’s Wolfwalkers (a non-Disney film, and probably better for it), which resonates with some of the same themes.

Despite its many plot threads, Luca is not the most complex film, philosophically, that Pixar has served up, or its most well-thought-out. Characters develop without warning or much explanation, which could be irritating if you’re entranced by Luca ’s universe. Though it’s firmly rooted in an old-world Italian village, the evocation isn’t as luminous or all-encompassing as a film like Coco .

But Luca does make space for a prismatic variety of readings, a simple allegory with a few different applications. One it seems to allow, if not outright invite, is that it’s a little fable about quietly realizing a queer identity. Luca at first tells Alberto he’s a “good kid” and that “it’s bad up here.” A villain tells him that “everyone is afraid of you and disgusted by you.” Late in the film, we hear that he may never be accepted for who he is, but at least he’s learning to find people who will accept him anyway. (A quick reveal right at the end involving two elderly residents of Portorosso seems to underline the point.)

That’s not the only reading, probably because no matter who you are, you’ve probably lived through a time of feeling like the one on the outside who has to learn to blend in, to go undetected in order to save yourself. Being awkward, or artsy, or neurodivergent, or less well-off than your friends, or just not into whatever the in-crowd likes — that can feel dangerous and hazardous, especially to a child whose parents have warned them away from some other world. (There’s a special thanks in Luca ’s credits to the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding , an organization that fights religious prejudice, which gave me a whole new window into what the movie could be about.)

Does Luca follow those threads through to a meaningful ending? Not really. The film is more fairy tale than anything else; if a young viewer walks away with some affirmation of their feeling that they’re different, it won’t come with much guidance on how to cope with a society that still won’t accept them. Life rarely ties up so nicely. That’s always been a problem with Disney’s storytelling — easy answers and wishful thinking that could set up young audiences with expectations that the real world will never fulfill.

Still, what a work of art means to the audience depends on who’s looking at it. Luca has left all kinds of room for us each to walk around in its story. No matter how you read it, the film is a sparklingly rendered, inventive little comedy with nods to Italian films and Japanese art and a world that seems like it wandered out of a storybook and onto a screen. It’s a little summertime gift, a treasure from under the sea.

Luca premieres only on Disney+ on June 18.

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Review: ‘Luca’ is Pixar, Italian style — and one of the studio’s loveliest movies in years

Defter and more surefooted than Pixar’s Oscar-winning ‘Soul,’ Enrico Casarosa’s directing debut streams on Disney+

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The key theme of “Luca,” Pixar’s funny and enchanting new feature, is the acquisition of knowledge — and the realization of how liberating, if painful, that knowledge can be. The charming insight of this movie, directed by Enrico Casarosa from a script by Jesse Andrews and Mike Jones, is that nearly everyone has something to learn. Luca (Jacob Tremblay), a kid who finds himself in a strange new land, must master its mystifying rules and traditions to survive. He has an impetuous friend, Alberto (Jack Dylan Grazer), whose know-it-all swagger is something of a put-on: Like Luca, he’s lonely and adrift in a world that turns out to be bigger, scarier and more wondrous than either of them could have imagined.

For their part, the animators at Pixar have imagined that world with customary ingenuity and bright-hued splendor, which makes it something of a shame that most audiences will have to watch the movie on Disney+. (It’s playing an exclusive June 18-24 engagement at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood.) The filmmakers’ most exquisite visual creation here is Portorosso, a fictional village on the Italian Riviera presumably not far from Genoa, Casarosa’s birth city, which inspired his 2011 Pixar short, “La Luna.” In the director’s hands, Portorosso plays host to a parade of well-worn but lovingly deployed cultural clichés. The townsfolk navigate the sloped, cobblestoned streets on bicycles and Vespas and enjoy a diet of gelato, pasta and seafood. And speaking of seafood: The fishermen who trawl the surrounding waters always do so with harpoons at the ready, lest they encounter one of the fearsome sea monsters rumored to dwell just offshore.

The movie confirms and debunks those rumors in the opening minutes, plunging beneath the surface and into a neighborhood of underwater dwellers whose webbed and scaly humanoid bodies might well seem fearsome at first glance. But within seconds of meeting Luca — whose natural curiosity spurs varying degrees of protectiveness from his worried mom (Maya Rudolph), absent-minded dad (Jim Gaffigan) and slyly antiauthorian grandma (Sandy Martin) — it’s clear that there’s nothing remotely monstrous about him or the mildly cloying, sometimes hilarious family sitcom he initially seems to be inhabiting.

Fortunately, “Luca” enters brighter, bolder territory at precisely the moment Luca himself does. In a scene that brings to mind Pinocchio experiencing his first moments of sentience or Ariel testing out her new legs, Luca swims to the surface and discovers a world of wonderment, including the wonderment of his own body. Outside his aquatic habitat, his scales, fins and tail magically vanish and he takes on human form. Every sea creature like him possesses these adaptive powers of disguise, including his new buddy, Alberto, who’s been living above the surface for a while and gives Luca a crash course on ambulatory movement, direct sunlight and other dry-land phenomena.

That makes “Luca” a fish-out-of-water comedy in the most literal sense, governed in the classic Pixar tradition by whimsical yet rigorously observed ground rules. A splash of water will temporarily restore Luca and Alberto (or parts of them) to their underwater forms — a shapeshifting conceit that allows for a lot of deftly timed, seamlessly visualized slapstick mischief. Early on, at least, the two friends have little to fear as they run around a deserted isle, basking in the sunshine and dreaming of future adventures on the open road. Only when their curiosity gets the better of them do they muster the courage to sneak into Portorosso, risking exposure and even death at the hands of locals who are more sea-fearing than seafaring.

Various farcical complications ensue, some of them cutely contrived but all of them deftly worked out, and enacted by a winning array of supporting players. These include a gruff but hospitable fisherman, Massimo (Marco Barricelli), and his plucky young daughter, Giulia (Emma Berman), who persuades Luca and Alberto to join her team in the local triathlon. That contest, whose events include swimming, biking and (of course) pasta eating, provides “Luca” with a conventionally sturdy narrative structure and an eminently hissable villain named Ercole (Saverio Raimondo).

Ercole’s last name is Visconti, one of countless movie allusions the filmmakers have tucked into the margins of the frame, most of which — the town’s sly nod to Hayao Miyazaki’s “Porco Rosso” aside — will prove catnip for lovers of Italian cinema in particular. There’s a boat named Gelsomina , a likeness of Marcello Mastroianni and a whole subplot devoted to fetishizing the Vespa, burnishing a vehicular-cinematic legacy that already includes “Roman Holiday” and “La Dolce Vita.” And those are just the explicit, deliberate references. When the trailer for “Luca” dropped months ago, more than a few wondered if Pixar had made a stealth PG-rated riff on “Call Me by Your Name,” Luca (!) Guadagnino’s drama about the pleasures of first love and the lush Italian countryside.

They have and they haven’t. Like most kid-centric studio animation, “Luca” has little time for romance and no room for sexuality. Luca and Alberto’s bond, though full of intense feeling and subject to darker undercurrents of jealousy and betrayal, is as platonic (if not quite as memorably cheeky) as the odd-couple pairings of Buzz and Woody, Marlin and Dory. And yet the specific implications of Luca and Alberto’s journey, which forces them to hide their true identities from a world that fears and condemns any kind of otherness, are as clear as water — too clear, really, even to be classified as subtext. “Luca” is about the thrill and the difficulty of living transparently — and the consolations that friendship, kindness and decency can provide against the forces of ignorance and violence.

Liberating oneself from those forces is a matter of individual and collective responsibility, and “Luca” is nuanced enough to understand that everyone shoulders that responsibility differently. Luca’s mom and dad, voiced by Rudolph and Gaffigan as lovably bumbling helicopter parents, must let go and loosen up, but their instinctive caution is hardly misplaced. Alberto’s stubborn devil-may-care attitude offers an admirable corrective, but that fearlessness is shown to mask a deeper sort of denial, an insularity that refuses to consider the full scope of the world’s possibilities. What makes Luca this story’s namesake hero is that he’s able to absorb the best of what his friends and family pour into him; though small and lean (and sometimes blue and green), he stands at the point where their best instincts and deepest desires converge.

By the same token, “Luca” the movie may look slight or modest compared with its more extravagant Pixar forebears; certainly it lacks the grand metaphysical ambitions of the Oscar-winning “Soul” (whose director, Pete Docter, is an executive producer here). But that may explain why it ultimately feels like the defter, more surefooted film, and one whose subtle depths and lingering emotions belie the diminished platform to which it’s essentially been relegated. “Luca” is big in all the ways that count; it’s the screens that got small.

Rating: PG, for rude humor, language, some thematic elements and brief violence When: Available Friday Where: Disney+ Running time: 1 hour, 35 minutes

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June 18, 2021

Action, Adventure, Animation, Comedy

Set in a beautiful seaside town on the Italian Riviera, Disney and Pixar’s original feature film “Luca” is a coming-of-age story about one young boy experiencing an unforgettable summer filled with gelato, pasta and endless scooter rides. Luca (voice of Jacob Tremblay) shares these adventures with his newfound best friend, Alberto (voice of Jack Dylan Grazer), but all the fun is threatened by a deeply-held secret: they are sea monsters from another world just below the water’s surface. “Luca” is directed by Academy Award® nominee Enrico Casarosa (“La Luna”) and produced by Andrea Warren (“Lava,” “Cars 3”).

Rated: PG Runtime: 1h 35min Release Date: June 18, 2021

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Discover Luca Products at DisneyStore.com

Luca and Alberto T-Shirt for Adults – Luca

Luca, Alberto and Giulia T-Shirt for Adults – Luca

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Portorosso T-Shirt for Adults – Luca

Machiavelli T-Shirt for Adults – Luca

Luca: Alberto & Luca Swimming with Fish Mug – Customized

Luca '' Wild & Free'' T-Shirt for Women

Luca Charm Necklace

Luca: Alberto & Luca Swimming with Fish OtterBox iPhone Case – Customized

Isola Del Mare T-Shirt for Adults – Luca

Luca: Alberto & Luca Swim by Isola Del Mare T-Shirt for Men – Customized

Luca Bike Bracelet Set

Luca: Alberto & Luca Swim by Isola Del Mare Stainless Steel Water Bottle – Customized

Luca Comforter and Sham Set – Twin / Full

Luca ''Wild & Free'' Mug – Customized

Luca: ''Hang On!'' Luggage Tag – Customized

Luca: ''Big Cat in Town'' Mug – Customized

Luca: ''Hang On!'' T-Shirt for Kids – Customized

Luca ''Wild & Free'' Luggage Tag – Customized

Luca ''Wild & Free'' Tote Bag – Customized

Luca: ''To the Victory'' T-Shirt for Kids – Customized

Luca ''Here We Go'' OtterBox iPhone Case – Customized

Luca: Portorosso Vintage Illustration T-Shirt for Women – Customized

Luca ''Here We Go'' T-Shirt for Adults – Customized

Luca: ''Big Cat in Town'' T-Shirt for Kids – Customized

Luca ''Wild & Free'' T-Shirt for Kids – Customized

Luca ''Here We Go'' T-Shirt for Kids – Customized

Luca ''Here We Go'' Stainless Steel Water Bottle – Customized

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Watch the Trailer for 'Luca,' Disney and Pixar's Animated Sea Monster Adventure

ET has an exclusive interview with director Enrico Casarosa.

Something fishy is going on in Pixar's new coming-of-age story, Luca . The movie follows best friends Luca (voiced by Jacob Tremblay ) and Alberto ( Jack Dylan Grazer ) as they have the summer of their lives on the Italian Riviera: Endless gelato, nonstop scooter rides and one big, huge secret that's revealed in the first teaser trailer.

"We can go anywhere! Do anything! We just gotta stick together," Luca says. "This is gonna be the best summer ever. We'll see the whole world together. But there's just one thing no one can find out."

What no one can find out is that Luca and Alberto are actually teenage sea monsters. Unfortunately for the two curious creatures, the local land lubber community has a deep-seated hatred for sea monsters.  Luca 's voice cast also includes Maya Rudolph and Jim Gaffigan as Luca's parents and newcomer Emma Berman as Luca and Alberto's adventurous new friend, Giulia.

Watch the teaser below and read on for ET's exclusive deep dive into the making of Luca with director Enrico Casarosa.

ET: What was the journey from La Luna  [Pixar's Oscar-nominated 2011 short film] to making your feature debut with Luca ?

Enrico Casarosa: It's a wonderful journey. You make a short. You go to the Oscars, you come back, and you have a little bit of the blues after the big night. We didn't win. [ Laughs ] And then you go back to work. I was in development for a few years. I was storyboarding. I'm a storyboard artist at heart. So, I went back to both developing stories and pitching them and helping a few other of the projects that were being made. After a while, you pitch and one strikes people's passions, and here we are almost five years later from when I first pitched it.

What was that initial pitch?

At the heart of it was a story of a friendship and wanting to really go back to being kids and the summers of youth and the friendships of youth that helped us find ourselves. I had a best friend who was very different from me. I was sheltered, shy, timid, and he was more of a go-getter, no family around so he had complete freedom. We were so opposite, and I think it really helped us grow up. It definitely got me out of my comfort zone to start testing the waters and being a little braver. I think so many of us have these friendships that are right smack in the middle of when we're just leaving the confines of the family, that really help define our identity. What are you? What are you not?

That was at the heart of it, mixed with this more fantastical idea of sea monsters and setting, which was always important. I had the luck of having that friendship on the Italian Riviera -- I grew up in Genoa -- so me and my best friend, his real name is Alberto, we kept the same name in the movie, we were all over the coast having our summer fun. It's a very special world there. There's only sea and mountains, so these little towns are kind of hanging on for dear life, like strange creatures coming out of the sea. And there's wonderful lore of strange creatures, the mystery of the sea, the fishing culture, that was in the concoction there from the beginning.

Are you still in touch with Alberto? Does he know he's being immortalized in a Pixar movie?

Yeah, we have had conversations -- we're on WhatsApp here and there, chatting and texting -- and, you know, we lose touch, but with great friends, you get back really quick. That's what I love about this, too. And we reminisce, he's helped me reminisce on this a little bit. I've tried to not tell him too much. He keeps on saying, "Hey, you better make me look good." I didn't keep him completely unaware, but I'm trying to hold back and not have him discover too much. But he's definitely excited.

So, the fantastical Pixar twist of having them be sea monsters was always part of the story, but how did that idea come about? And what do the sea monsters represent for you within this story?

I've always been fascinated by old maps, because there were such amazing creatures drawn on them. Weird sightings turned into some very strange drawings. It's the allure of the unknown, right? The mystery and fear mixed with allure. And all these wonderful little towns in my area have strange stories of creatures like that. There's a town close to La Spezia called Tellaro and they have a story of a helping octopus. Someone was kind to it and the next day, it rang the bell to warn them that pirates were coming. Or there's the place you don't go to, a special little gulf, because there's a sea serpent there. The only reason that happened is because it was actually a great spot and fishermen were trying to defend it to not get too much competition. [ Laughs ] In Genoa, you grew up with the sea right in front of you, so it was great to bring the culture of the sea and the myths of the sea to it.

On the character side, it enabled me to have a fish-out-of-water story. What's the worst possible thing for a curious kid? Being a sea monster. You're going to get in trouble. That felt juicy, and it felt really wonderful to put the audience into a gaze that comes from the outside. I really loved the idea of taking the world to Italy, to a tiny little town through the eyes of someone that is also discovering it.

The animation of this movie is a different style than anything Pixar has done before. What were your goals with the visual look of the film?

Coming from making La Luna , I wanted something a little more illustrative, a little more painterly. There's something about feeling the hand of the artists. I always love to bring some warmth and imperfection to the computer [imagery] so that it's tactile. So, that was a big part, trying to give detail and richness to the world, but also stylizing it in a way that heightens it and really immerses us in a fantastical way. That idea of wanting to have something specific and different turned me to my own heroes, and I come from a love of 2D animation. [Hayao] Miyazaki is a huge hero of mine. I was even able to show him La Luna a few years back. There was nothing I dreamed of more than to have a moment with Miyazaki. I've had the luck to love and study his movies for so many years -- one of his TV series, I was watching in Italy as a teenager -- so we looked at those 2D inspirations in movement. There's a cartooniness that we're looking for. It's a little bit more playful. We wanted to enjoy the playfulness of being kids, and it's been so much fun with the animators, showing them all the cartoons I love. "How is less more?" has also been something we think a lot about. Sometimes too much detail, I think, can be not as interesting as really having a slightly more pared-down, stylized look.

Tell me about casting Jacob. How did you know he was your Luca?

When we met Jacob, he immediately struck me as so earnest, a complete professional, but just innocent and playful. He is a true kid. I think he lives in this world that is probably asking him to grow up really fast, but he's not and I felt this playfulness and innocence was coming through. He struck me as the kid that wants to stay a kid a little more. My daughter is very similar. She's 13 and she's quite happy to stay a kid for now. So, that was important. I wanted an innocence, some earnestness, and he has a natural curiosity, I think. He was so game to play and do a little bit of improv here and there.

After we found Jacob, we found the perfect troublemaker in Jack Dylan Grazer. He's the kind of guy who's going to drag you into some kind of trouble. It's been such a pleasure with him. He's also super, super funny, super confident and super willing to try improvising. He was so game. He was so good at that. And again, I totally buy that he's going to probably lie through his teeth, but also [show] some vulnerability. Because there is a backstory to our troublemaker, to understand his family situation a bit. These two guys have been so much fun. I'm so, so sad that we couldn't quite get them together with the pandemic. We were pretty much recording Jack Dylan Grazer from his mom's closet for the last year. We keep on laughing, because sometimes we would have to tell him, "Can you not hang on there, because I can hear your mom's skirts dangling."

You've been on the Pixar team for so many of these iconic movies -- Coco , Up , the list goes on and on -- were there any specific lessons you learned from those films that you thought about while directing this?

I've had an amazing time working with Pete Docter, and I feel like there's a lot of lessons I've taken from him. He's a real mentor. First of all, he's a little bit of an introvert -- a little bit like me -- but so creative, and I just love the quirkiness of his movies, the specificity of his movies, being willing to go to strange places and, of course, being willing to really share something personal. He is so good at really just wanting to ask deep questions. And so those are some of the questions that we wanted to make sure to ask, too. What are we saying here? What is it you can share of your life that's worth sharing with the world? That is something that I've really taken to heart.

Luca opens in theaters on June 18.

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'Luca' — release date, cast, plot, trailer and all you need to know

Jacob Tremblay reveals all about Luca, his magical Disney+ animation.

Dazzling animation Luca brings to life a young sea monster’s magical rites-of-passage journey on Disney Plus .

The one-off Pixar film sees teenage Hollywood star Jacob Tremblay, best known for Room and Wonder , provide the voice of shy sea monster Luca, who embarks on a stunning adventure as he heads about the waves.

Here’s everything you need to know about Luca …

Luca release date

The feature-length film will air on Disney+ from Friday 18 June.

What’s the plot?

Luca , inspired by the friendships and holidays of director Enrico Casarosa’s Italian childhood, follows the titular teenage sea monster who lives off the Italian coast with his strict parents but is curious about the human world on land. 

After meeting another sea monster, confident Alberto, Luca is lured out of the water and is shocked when they both suddenly turn into human boys. But as Luca is taken under Alberto’s wing, he quickly falls in love with life on shore. 

As the boys head into the seaside town of Portorosso, they encounter local girl Giulia and prepare to join her in a thrilling triathlon in the hope of winning the prize money and getting a Vespa scooter. But danger beckons if their true identities as sea monsters are revealed...

“Luca’s nervous because his parents are super protective. They tell him that it's scary above the water,” says Tremblay. “But he and Alberto have such a good friendship — Alberto’s brave and helps Luca come out of his shell, and Luca helps Alberto, who’s not as smart. And Vespas symbolise freedom for Luca, he ends up going on an adventure, and Giulia shows them both that maybe the human world isn't so bad. But there are people who are trying to catch sea monsters…”

Who is in the cast of Luca?

Along with Tremblay as Luca, It’s Jack Dylan Grazer is Alberto, newcomer Emma Berman is Giulia, Italian comic Saverio Raimondo is town bully Ercole Visconti, The Mitchells vs. The Machines’ Maya Rudolph is Luca’s protective mother Daniela, comedian Jim Gaffigan is Luca’s dad Lorenzo, Ray Donovan’s Sandy Martin is Luca’s grandma and stage actor Marco Barricelli is Giulia’s dad, imposing fisherman Massimo.

What else do we know?

Starring in a Pixar movie is a dream come true for Tremblay.

“Pixar films were a great part of my childhood. Lightning McQueen [from Cars ] was my favourite character. So to be a part of a Pixar film, and have younger kids look up to these characters in the same way I looked up to Lightning McQueen, it's really cool,” says Tremblay who will next be seen under the sea once more as Flounder in the live-action version of The Little Mermaid .

“We started working on that a while ago and slowed down because of COVID, but I’m so excited,” he says. “Being able to play Flounder is awesome — The Little Mermaid is another huge part of my childhood!”

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Caren has been a journalist specializing in TV for almost two decades and is a Senior Features Writer for TV Times , TV & Satellite Week and What’s On TV magazines and she also writes for What to Watch.

Over the years, she has spent many a day in a muddy field or an on-set catering bus chatting to numerous stars on location including the likes of Olivia Colman, David Tennant, Suranne Jones, Jamie Dornan, Dame Judi Dench and Sir Derek Jacobi as well as Hollywood actors such as Glenn Close and Kiefer Sutherland.

Caren will happily sit down and watch any kind of telly (well, maybe not sci-fi!), but she particularly loves period dramas like Call the Midwife , Downton Abbey and The Crown and she’s also a big fan of juicy crime thrillers from Line of Duty to Poirot .

In her spare time, Caren enjoys going to the cinema and theatre or curling up with a good book.

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Luca Paguro

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Luca Paguro is the titular protagonist of the 2021 Disney • Pixar animated feature film Luca . He is a sea monster that is influenced by his new-found best friend Alberto Scorfano to venture into the surface. Once he discovers his parents will send him to the deep, away from the surface, he and Alberto escape to the town of Portorosso , Italy , and enter the Portorosso Cup so they can buy a Vespa and see the world together.

• 1.1 Official Description
• 1.2 Personality
• 1.3 Physical appearance
• 3.1 Disney Heroes: Battle Mode
• 5 Relationships
• 7 References

Background [ ]

Official description [ ], personality [ ].

Luca starts out as a very timid and shy but curious and imaginative character. He is afraid of the surface, but is also very curious about it. After meeting Alberto who introduces him to the surface, Luca attempts to confidently refuse staying there as he believes himself to be a "good kid." When he receives the opportunity to approach the surface shortly later on, his first reaction is reluctance to disobey his parents' orders and see Alberto again.

As the movie progresses, Luca is able to expand on his curiosities about human life and what was on the surface as Alberto shows him his collection of human items. Alberto is able to teach Luca to ignore his doubts and leave his comfort zone, which is how he gained his skills on a bicycle that he needed to compete in the Portorosso Cup. He credits Alberto with teaching him how to be crazy.

Luca was also a very kind-hearted individual who was willing to stand up towards anyone who threatened to harm his friends. Luca also held a strong desire to see the world above the surface, despite being forbidden by his parents in doing so. Luca was very intrigued in learning new things, which he enjoyed doing while spending time in Portorosso and growing super excited when he learns something new.

He starts bonding with Giulia when she tells him about astronomy and the universe, which makes Luca want to go to school with her. After deeply hurting Alberto, Luca attempts to make it up to him by winning the prize money for their Vespa. He was even willing to come to Alberto's rescue and expose himself as a sea monster when Ercole caught and attempted to kill Alberto when his sea monster identity was revealed during the Portorosso Cup.

By the end of the movie, Luca is much braver and wiser than the fearful, nervous version of him that existed early in the story.

Physical appearance [ ]

In human form, Luca is slender with fair skin, rosy cheeks, brown eyes, and wavy, dark brown hair. He wears a teal striped ivory button-down shirt with sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and blue shorts.

In sea monster form, Luca has blue-green scales, sharp teeth, and blue "hair". His eyes are still brown, but they have bright yellow sclera and oval shaped pupils. He also has a long tail with smooth blue caudal fins. Before Luca obtains his new outfits, he is seen wearing green pants made of seaweed.

Appearances [ ]

Luca was first seen rounding up his fish (which are used as sheep) up and going around his neighborhood, and his neighbors are getting a bit annoyed, as they make it clear he's done this before. As he is headed over to the little circle ranch, he sees "land monster" stuff around there and grows fascinated with them. Although slightly put on edge at first, Luca begins examining the items. Just then, he hears the motor of a boat. He begins ushering his fish under a rock that caves in. However, Luca stares up and imagines himself swimming closer. His fantasy ends when his mother calls him for lunch. Luca hides the human things, rounds up his fish and turns to go home. His mother, Daniela , begins to ask him if he saw a boat, pointing out that he's two minutes late. Daniela begins explaining to Luca that the humans should never see him because they will kill him if they do. Daniela leads Luca in. During lunch however, Luca's mind is somewhere else. His grandmother notices and asks Luca what's on mind. Luca gets startled and begins asking where boats come from. With no hesitation, his grandmother tells him "from the Land Monster Town." Luca begins excitedly asking his grandma questions, to the point where his mom has him stop his curiosity, telling him that the curious fish are the ones who get caught. She further tells Luca that they do not discuss or go anywhere near the surface. Daniela hands a fruit over to Luca and tells him it's time to get back to work. They head out where his mom reminds him that she loves him. Luca swims off.

Secretly, Luca begins looking for more human things and finds a wrench, and a cup that he uses as a telescope, where he sees a gramophone. Mesmerized, Luca begins examining it, not realizing that a diver is standing behind him, harpoon in hand. Luca eventually notices and screams. The figure corners him, but when he gets cornered, Luca realizes it is just a sea monster boy named Alberto Scorfano , who decided to prank him. As Alberto begins getting his things together, Luca asks him if he lives around. Alberto responds with no and that he was only getting his things. Instead of grabbing his harpoon, he grabs Luca's shepherd staff. Luca notices and follows Alberto, telling him he forgot his harpoon. Alberto thanks Luca and swims backward toward the surface. Luca asks what he's doing and is confused when he sees Alberto's human form. Alberto then grabs Luca with his staff and pulls him out of the water unto the surface. Luca becomes a human and begins screaming hysterically, while Alberto just watches. Alberto breaks this by asking Luca if it was his first time. Luca, panicked, says yes, explaining that he's a good kid. Alberto tells Luca to relax and breathe. Luca does so and looks up. He sees the ocean water crashing gently on the shore, the trees bristling in the breeze and birds flying high in the clouds of the sky. Luca is marveled. Alberto then asks if it is not great. Luca says no, wishes Alberto a good day, and leaves. Alberto then hands out Luca's shepherd staff over the water. Luca grabs it, wishes Alberto a good day yet again and leaves for real that time. Luca lays in bed that night, wondering about what in the world just happened. Luca then tries to ask his grandma if she really has been to the surface. She only snores in response.

Come the next day, Luca sets up a decoy named "Smucca" proclaiming him as in charge and leaves to the shoreline. He repeatedly tries to come out of the water, but fails numerous times. Alberto lets out a blasé "wow," as Luca yelps, startled. Alberto then explains that it "was hard to watch." Alberto swims up to the surface as Luca follows. Luca watches Alberto dry off and go into his human form. Luca tries to walk up holding Alberto's object he handed him, but falls. Luca watches, amazed, as he turns into a human himself. Luca gets confused, as he says he feels his tail is still there, with Alberto explaining that it's called a "phantom tail" and that he will get used to it. Luca tries to get up to walk, but falls and begins jumping around like a half dead fish. Alberto then remembers that walking is the first step of seeing the surface in full. Alberto begins trying to teach Luca to walk, proclaiming that he "basically invented it." Alberto teaches Luca that walking is like swimming, only with no tail and there no water, otherwise, it's just the same thing. Luca tries, but falls. Alberto says to try again and to try leading with his head. Luca tries, as Alberto tries to tell him to use his belly a bit more. Luca tries, but falls backwards. Alberto tries to have Luca not think about it. Luca is confused. Alberto groans and shows him that he just has to lean and catch himself before he falls. Luca watches Alberto walk around for a bit. Alberto then pushes Luca to get him to try to catch himself with his legs. Luca does and begins to walk around, with Alberto saying that it wasn't bad. He introduces himself as Alberto Scorfano and Luca introduces himself as Luca Paguro with a handshake. Alberto says something in Italian, a type of greeting and says that it's a human thing, saying that he's an expert when it comes to humans. Luca asks what that means, but Alberto doesn't necessarily have an answer. To distract Luca from his question, Alberto takes Luca to his tower.

The pair make it and Luca is amazed. He asks if Alberto lives there and Alberto responds that he and his dad live there, but his dad isn't around a lot so he just does whatever he wants. Luca asks if it is dangerous, with Alberto promptly saying yes and that it's the best, adding in that everything good is above the surface. Luca asks in what ways. Alberto examples a couple of things, such as air, gravity (or falling) the sky, the clouds and the sun. To top it all off, Alberto says that there's also human things. The pair climb up the tower via a ladder that has been repaired by Alberto. Luca climbs up first and notices all the items. Alberto tells Luca to feel free to ask anything as he has been collecting for quite a while. Luca comes next to the gramophone, with Alberto stating that it's "the magic singing lady machine," but that it's broken. Luca fixes it, with Alberto excitedly declaring so. Luca's eyes then land on a Vespa poster. Luca asks what it is and Alberto explains what it is, saying that it's the best thing humans have ever invented. He further explains that it take you wherever you want to go "in the whole stinking world." After Luca's short daydream of riding a Vespa, he notices Alberto has all of the parts to make one. He tells Alberto this, with Alberto realizing so and excitedly declaring that they're going to make one. Luca then says he has to leave with Alberto asking if he has to that second. Luca explains that it will be bad for him if he doesn't return. Luca says goodbye to his new friend but, ultimately, ends up helping Alberto make a DIY Vespa until around sunset. Luca keeps telling goodbye to Alberto throughout the whole process, with Alberto saying "bye" or "see ya" whenever he does. When they finish the Vespa, Luca leaves and Alberto says that he'll see him tomorrow.

Luca makes it home late. His mother asks him where he has been. Luca has a short nightmare of him telling his parents he was at the surface and his foot was still human. Luca tries to excuse himself, but his grandma covers for him, telling Daniela that she sent him out to look for sea cucumbers. Luca plays along, fake apologizing to his grandma. Luca thanks his grandmother in a whisper and goes to bed giggling, happy to have seen the surface.

Come the next day, Luca returns to Alberto again. Luca sees that Alberto got the Vespa down. He explains that he rode it down, but he actually threw it out the back window. Alberto states that it took a while to repair, but it works perfectly fine now. Alberto wants Luca to ride it with him, but Luca refuses, scared of the idea as he looks exactly where Alberto plans to go, which is over a ledge of the island. Luca further explains that he feels like that he would probably die if he tried. Alberto than asks Luca to hold the ramp for him instead, since he doesn't want to ride the Vespa. Luca is scared holding the ramp and asks Alberto if they "can sleep on it." Alberto reassures Luca, telling him not to move no matter what. Alberto releases his grip on the ground and let's the Vespa take control. However, it begins breaking apart as he descends down the cliff. He tries to halt using his bare foot, but clenches it back as the impact hurt. Eventually, the last part of the Vespa, the spot Alberto is sitting on breaks. Sending him flying, Alberto catches himself with his legs and begins running, unable to stop. Luca gets even more nervous, as Alberto begins yelling at Luca not to move, running up the ramp and falling into the ocean. Alberto lays face down in the water, the water having transformed him back into a sea monster. At first, Luca thought he killed him and begins panicking. Alberto then turns around whooping and cheering, screaming with exhilaration that it was fun. Luca asks if it was really fun, with Alberto saying that it really was, asking if Luca saw the height he got to. Alberto shakes himself dry. He then says that Luca did good ramping for him. Alberto then tells Luca that they should make another one. Luca gladly helps.

The two friends begin making a new Vespa. Alberto also hands over some human clothes to Luca during their time together. They also dance around to Italian music. They decide to test the new Vespa, with Luca holding the ramp again, but due to the lack of steering controls, Alberto instead lands face first on the ramp. Luca is worried that Alberto might have hurt himself, but Alberto is just happy he made it down the cliff. Alberto shows Luca new things, like jumping off ledges into the ocean below. Luca doesn't do well, instead belly flopping with Alberto laughing. Luca also makes his own Vespa poster, with Alberto looking at it nicely, while scratching his back with a clothes hanger. Luca gets an idea with it and adds it onto the Vespa, which allows it to steer. The two also spy on fishermen boats, where they learn new Italian sayings of the worst variety. They both hang out at the shoreline. Luca messes around with two snails and fixes his hair with their slime to look like Alberto's. They stare off into the sunset, with hands over each other's shoulders.

It is morning once again. Luca is back with Alberto. Alberto asks Luca if he's ready to ride. Luca asks who's holding the ramp, which is actually a turtle. Alberto tells him that he's faster than he looks and to hurry. Luca tells Alberto that he's too scared. Alberto apparently knows his problem, explaining that he has a "Bruno" in his head, something he says is a voice that tells you the negative side of things, explaining how he gets one too sometimes telling him that he can't, that he's gonna die and not to put things in his mouth. Alberto teaches that to stop it, he has to say "Silenzio, Bruno!" Luca repeats, but Alberto says to say it louder. They do this two more times. Alberto than asks if he can still hear it, with Luca responding no and he only hears Alberto. Alberto throws a "helmet" over Luca's head (which is actually a metal pasta skimmer) and they begin their descent down the cliff. Alberto whoops and hollers. Meanwhile, the Vespa breaks in half, but Luca holds onto Alberto for dear life and to keep it together. Luca repeats "Silenzio, Bruno!" over and over as they go down and eventually make it over the ramp. They both look at seagulls in awe, but then realize they're falling and are going to hit a giant rock. Luca pushes himself off of Alberto to split the Vespa in half to avoid hitting it. They both fall in the water. They both begin cheering, with Luca falling backward in the water laughing happily.

It is now nighttime. Luca questions the stars in the sky. Alberto explains that they're actually anchovies and they go to sleep up there with the big fish (the moon) to protect them. Alberto says that he touched it once and it felt like a fish. Luca is wowed. Luca sits up and looks at the town not too far away. He asks Alberto if he's ever been there. Alberto says yes, but quickly says no. He explains that his dad has been there before and has told him everything so he is an expert. Luca says that Alberto is lucky, his dad letting him do whatever he pleases, with Alberto agreeing. Alberto notices Luca is let down. To lift his spirits up, Alberto begins explaining when they almost hit the rock earlier. The boys laugh. Luca then states to Alberto how amazing it would be to own a real Vespa: Alberto says that it's the dream. Luca has a dream about riding through a prairie on a Vespa and shooting into the sky to touch the fish. However, his dream ends scarily, with him falling. Luca jolts awake, but Alberto is fast asleep. Luca begins panicking, as he realizes he fell asleep. His startlement wakes Alberto up. Alberto only leans up and asks what is happening and falls back asleep in no time.

Luca goes back home, relived he got away with it, only for his mother to clear her throat, arms folded at Luca. She sits him down on the table, with the human things he found on it. His father, Lorenzo , explains to Luca that he's in big trouble, making him promise to never sneak off to the surface again. Luca defends himself, saying that it's not so bad saying that he and his new best friend, Alberto are always careful. His Uncle Ugo pops up, with Lorenzo introducing him. Ugo begins explaining what an honor it is to meet him at last, but stops mid sentence because of a heart attack. Lorenzo has Luca punch his heart and after Luca does so, Ugo explains that there's no light in the deep, but there's nothing to see anyways. He then tells Luca that there's no time to lose. Luca, frightened, asks his mom what he's talking about. Daniela explains that they plan to make him live in the deep with his Uncle Ugo, for the rest of the season. Luca tries to defend himself again, and Daniela makes it two seasons and threatens Luca that she'll make him stay for three. Luca asks why she's doing this, with Daniela saying that the world is dangerous and that she'll do anything to keep him safe. Luca, now mad, tells her she doesn't know what it's like on the surface. Daniela then tells Luca that she knows him and what is best for him. Luca looks down with a look of complete discontent on his face. Daniela tries to remind Luca she loves him, but Luca angrily grunts and swims off. Luca thinks about what just happened. Luca finally decides what he'll do and sneaks out to find Alberto.

Luca explains his situation to Alberto. Alberto offers Luca to stay, but Luca says his family will look for him. Alberto says that it might be true and looks out the window. He then smiles and asks Luca if they will look for him over there, pointing to the town not so far away. Luca asks if they'll survive, Alberto replying that they can do anything. He goes to explain that they'll "swim right over to Vespa Town," and "track down Signor Vespa." Luca is intrigued and Alberto shows him a drawing he made of a Vespa. Alberto then tells Luca to think about it, everyday they will ride somewhere new and every night they'll sleep under the "fish" (stars) with no one to tell them what to do, just he and Luca out in the world, and free.

Alberto jumps off a cliff into the ocean. Luca is scared, but as he looks off to the town, he repeats "Silenzio, Bruno!" and jumps into the sea. The two boys begin swimming. Luca tries to avoid a rock, but Alberto grabs his arm and pulls him out to jump over the rock. Luca doesn't land as gracefully as Alberto. Luca instead bellyflops and Alberto laughs. Alberto then gains speed and leaps out of the water, with Luca trying to copy him and failing. Then he gets the hang of it and the two begin jumping in and out of the water, whooping with joy. The two laugh and swim to the coast of Portorosso.

Luca and Alberto arrive at the Portorosso bay. They stare in awe at the little town. They hear a boat motor and immediately dive into the water in a panic. A girl questions her dad what those things are, as Alberto and Luca swim to the bottom of the water. They hide behind a sunken fisher boat. Luca questions how they'll get up into land without being seen. They both look down at the boat and smile. They use the boat to get out of the water and dry off underneath it. Luca and Alberto make their way into town. Alberto assured Luca that it will be a breeze reminding him not to get wet under no circumstances. Luca begins rethinking his decision to go when he sees fishermen with dead fish on a hook and a harpoon in the fisherman's hand. Luca tells Alberto that the town seemed crowded and turns to go back, but Alberto drags Luca from the collar of his shirt, reminding him of "Silenzio, Bruno!". Luca slaps his hands over his face as Alberto says the Italian saying to the fishermen, making them gasp. Luca excitedly states that it worked. Alberto then tells Luca to just follow his lead.

When Luca sees the plaza of Portorosso for the first time, he is amazed at the beautiful sights. Alberto asks Luca if it isn't cool. Alberto then tells Luca to say the thing they learned. Luca does so to two old ladies, who gasp and hit the boys on their heads with their umbrella and purse. They also stick their ice cream in their hair. Alberto licks his as Luca states that maybe he said the thing wrong. Alberto then shoves the ice cream that was in Luca's hair into his mouth. Luca loves it and savors the sweet flavor as he notices something. He realizes that there are portraits of fishermen killing sea monsters and begins getting scared. Luca drops his ice cream and tells Alberto that's it's time to leave, stating it's too dangerous. They both are interrupted by Ercole, who is riding his Vespa. They stare, but as Ercole comes near, he nearly crashes into them. Luca stealthily pulls Alberto out of the way. They stare at the Vespa and begin walking over. Just then, some kids playing kickball on the plaza lose their ball. It rolls over to Luca, where one of the kids asks him to kick it. Luca doesn't know how and kicks the ball wrong. As a result, the ball hits Ercole's Vespa. Ercole asks who got lucky, while everyone points at Luca and Alberto. He begins pestering the boys. Ercole goes to tell Luca that he stank like fish and drags him to the water fountain, with Alberto being held off by Ciccio and Guido. Ercole doesn't manage to dunk Luca in the fountain, but little droplets touch his cheek, making it begin to transform. Just then, a girl named Giulia rushes over on her bike and stops Ercole, as Luca wipes the water off his cheek. She has Luca and Alberto board her wagon and leaves with the boys.

Giulia begins explaining that "underdogs" need to look out for each other. Alberto confused, asks what is "under the dogs." Giulia corrects Alberto, explaining that "underdogs" are kids who are different; dressed weird and sweatier than usual. She lifts up her arms and shows her shirt stained with armpit sweat. Luca groans. Alberto just stares. Giulia awkwardly shakes it off, asking Luca and Alberto if they're in town for the Portorosso Cup. The boys don't answer. Giulia ends the conversation with the fact that she had to go deliver fish. Luca and Alberto hop off the wagon. Luca realizes that Ercole talked about being able to pay for a Vespa through racing and winning the Portorosso Cup. Luca has Alberto ask Giulia for details. Although reluctant, Alberto goes on to ask Giulia what they get for "racing in a cup." Giulia stated that they would win prize money for winning the race. Alberto turns to walk away, but Luca turns him around and has him keep going. Luca has Alberto ask if the money can be turned into something else. When Giulia asks as to what, Luca points at a Vespa. Giulia says "No", but could get them something else and points at a nearly broken down and rusted Vespa. To Luca and Alberto, it's beyond perfect for them. Alberto states that they'll just win the race and beat Ercole. Giulia explains that it isn't just a race and that it's a triathlon, which included swimming, cycling and eating pasta, further adding that they would need a teammate to make it through the race. Alberto tells Giulia they'll figure it out and thanks her. Luca then grabs Alberto's shoulder and tells him that Giulia could be on their team. Alberto is on board for the idea and gladly proclaims to Giulia that she's part of the team. Giulia rejects the offer, stating she raced alone. Luca then says that they could be "under the dogs" together. Giulia then has Luca show her if he can bike. Luca obviously can't, jumping on the bike and falling repeatedly, while Alberto frustratingly tries to coach him through. Giulia tells Luca to look up and he won't fall. Luca does so and rides around the plaza. Giulia then tests Luca to see if he can dodge obstacles, withstand passive-aggressive verbal assault and make it over the fountain without falling. Luca however, falls off the fountain, Alberto rushing over to help. Giulia asks Alberto if he can swim at least. Alberto begins explaining that he's amazing, but is stopped mid sentence by Luca elbowing him, as to not blow their cover. Giulia is extremely confused as to how Luca and Alberto don't know how to bike and swim. When Giulia asks where they're from, Alberto is unwilling to tell her, but immediately after says that he and Luca are runaways. Luca explains further that his parents were going to send him away and if he and Alberto can win the race, they'll be free. Giulia gets slightly unsure, but accepts and tells Luca that he'll bike, Alberto will eat, and Giulia will swim. The trio put their hands together, naming their team "The Underdogs."

Giulia invites Luca and Alberto to dinner at her house. There, Luca and Alberto meet Massimo , Giulia's intimidating, fisherman father. Luca and Alberto get frightened when they see harpoons on the wall. Alberto asks Luca what he thinks Massimo kills with the harpoons. Massimo responds that he kills "anything that swims," while chopping the head off of a fish. Luca chuckles nervously, as Alberto just stares in horror. Massimo then hands Giulia a newspaper, showing a picture of a supposed sea monster sighting. Giulia scoffs saying that "everyone in Portorosso pretends to believe in sea monsters." She shows Luca and Alberto the photo. Alberto lightly chuckles, but Luca just looks, nervous. Massimo then proclaims that he's not pretending, while grabbing the picture and stabbing it on a board with a knife. Luca gets so nervous that he spits water on Alberto, causing half of his face to transform. Luca yelps as he drags Alberto under the table. He manages to wipe off Alberto's face, but Giulia's cat, Machiavelli , sees Alberto's true form and grows suspicious of the boys. Luca says that they slipped, while smiling awkwardly. Luca and Alberto let out a sigh of relief. Massimo then hands the kids pasta. Luca picks up a fork, not knowing how to use it. He chuckles anxiously and gulps. Alberto then begins eating with his hands. Luca follows Alberto's approach and tastes the pasta with his hands. When he realizes how great it tastes, he begins eating messily, as Giulia just watches. When Massimo asks where the boys are from, Giulia states that they're classmates, Luca and Alberto, who came for the race. Massimo talks to Giulia, not wanting her to enter the race due to past experiences and their shortage of money. On the fly, Luca offers that he and Alberto can help, with Alberto stating that they know lots of fish. Massimo accepts and Giulia hugs her father. Machiavelli attacks Luca and Alberto shortly after. Giulia leads them outside and let's them stay in her treehouse. After bidding them goodnight, Luca reminisces how he rode the bike after taking Giulia's advice. Alberto says that once they win the race, they will be out of the town. Luca agrees and deeply sighs, happy. The boys eventually fall asleep under the stars.

The next morning, Luca wakes up and finds out that he and Alberto reverted to their sea monster forms because it rained last night. Luca wakes Alberto up and they panic as Giulia begins pretend-playing the wake up theme from the military. Luca and Alberto try to make a run for it, but Massimo gets in the way. They stumble and, behind the tree, they manage to dry off. Massimo has Giulia do the fish deliveries and has Luca and Alberto come with him to go fishing. Luca and Alberto wear pairs of gloves and boots, to avoid their hands and feet getting splashed by water and transforming in front of Massimo. A fisherman greets Massimo and tells him to look out for sea monsters. Massimo comforts the fisherman, telling him that his eyes were peeled and that they wouldn't get away, while pulling Out a harpoon. Luca laughs nervously. A sudden bump in the boat causes Luca's forearm to get splashed and partially transform. He hides this behind his back. As Massimo walks back and forth in the boat, Luca and Alberto slide back and forth on the boat. Luca nearly falls in on two instances. Both of the these instances were adverted by Alberto, by him either stiffening up or grabbing Luca's arm. The boys begin pulling the nets in. Luca gets nervous as Machiavelli grumbles at him. Machiavelli eventually attacks Luca. Luca manages to pry him off, but Machiavelli lands in the sea. When Machiavelli is back in the boat, Luca gives him a small fish to content him for a short while and to avoid being attacked again. Luca eventually learns that Massimo was born with one arm, and sees just how well he does with it. Massimo is disappointed by their catch, with Luca explaining that they were over a haunted fish graveyard. Alberto then explains that the fish said so and that they knew it wasn't. Alberto eventually points where the fish are. They all come back with a huge stack of fish. Luca greets Giulia as she stares in amazement. Massimo then points out that they really knew fish. Excited, Giulia has Luca and Alberto follow her to sign up.

The kids make it to the sign up register. There, they are greeted by Signora Marssegliese, who is doing an advertising skit about Giorgio Giorgioni, slayer of sea monsters and "beloved purveyor of pasta." Luca gets a little worried, but Giulia explains that it's just pretend and that it's Signora Marssegliese, who sponsors the Portorosso Cup. Giulia grudgingly adds in that it was gonna take forever. Giulia then has her get to the rules. Signora Marssegliese begins explaining everything that will go down in the race. At the end of the explanation, Luca states that it sounds hard. Alberto assures Luca that they will win, just as Ercole walks in. Ercole pesters and steals Giulia's money for their entry fee. After some more pestering, Ercole slaps Alberto's nose with a sandwich, which angers him and prompts him to fight. Luca says Alberto's name, signaling him to not do it. Alberto tells Luca that it's for their Vespa. Ercole laughs as Giulia says that he's just scared "they'll end [his] evil empire of injustice." Ercole asks Giulia if she has a new insult, where Luca tells her to call him a "catfish" when she begins stuttering. When everyone is obviously confused, Luca explains that "they're bottom feeders and they also have two sad little whiskers." Ercole gasps and has Luca listen. Ercole tells Luca that he eats kids like him "for breakfast." Luca gulps, nervous. Ercole then prompts Luca to sign up, while handing him back the money they made, telling him that destroying their team will be his priority. Giulia is proud of Luca and once Ercole leaves, Luca Giulia and Alberto sign up.

Giulia begins training Alberto, with Luca balancing and handing over plates full of pasta. Giulia then trains Luca. Luca is trained first going uphill on his bike. However, Luca is pretty slow, which makes Alberto slap his hands on his face and groan in disappointment. When they reach the top of Portorosso, Luca looks down and is scared to go down. Ercole is there too and pesters Luca. Giulia tells him to go along and not to mind what Ercole said. Luca repeats "Silenzio, Bruno!" and tries to go down, but halts the bike and is sent flying, hitting the ground.

Giulia begins training her swimming. Luca asks Alberto if that was how humans swam, with Alberto shuddering, proclaiming that the way humans swim is embarrassing. Ercole is on the bay as well with Ciccio and Guido, all with harpoons to find a sea monster. He spots Luca and Alberto and decides to ram his boat into theirs. Giulia warns Luca and Alberto and tells them to get away as she begins swimming away herself. Luca and Alberto begin to try to paddle away, but the boat only spins around and doesn't move. Luca groans as he realizes that the boat is getting closers. He clenches his teeth in fear. At the last minute, Guido shifts the boat as to not ram into them. In the process, Luca manages to duck, but Alberto is splashed by a wave, transforming him into a sea monster. Alberto yelps and quickly ducks down. Luca looks at Alberto, eyes wide as saucers and Alberto looks at Luca. While Giulia distracts Ercole, asking what is wrong with him, Luca looks around for something to dry off Alberto. He then spots that Giulia brought a towel tries to grab it to dry Alberto. However, while grabbing it, Luca accidentally elbows Alberto. He grunts and falls backward into the water. Luca looks overboard and gasps. He turns around to see that Ercole got suspicious and asks where "the other one" went. Alberto is hiding on the other side of the boat. Ercole looks at Luca, with a face full of fear. But when he looks down, Ercole notices Alberto's tail underneath the boat. Ercole questions in Italian, confused as ever. Giulia begins shaking Ercole's boat and makes him drop his wool sweater. As they're distracted, Luca helps Alberto get in the boat again. At the very last second, Luca throws the towel over Alberto, just as Giulia gets in. He is back in his human form shortly afterward. Luca and Alberto grab their paddles and paddle away.

Later on, the kids return to Giulia's house, but as they're entering the gate door, Luca stops dead in his tracks and turns when he hears someone imitating a dolphin call. Luca stares as he realizes that his parents were in town, looking for him. Luca clenches his teeth and hides behind the gate door. He closes it. Later that night, up in the treehouse, Luca tells Alberto that he thinks he saw his parents. Alberto tells Luca that his parents weren't there. Giulia then hops up and begins telling the boys about technique. Massimo leaves with Alberto, to help him draw in the lines. Alberto leaves as Giulia begins explaining that she was only there for the summer and the rest of the year, she lived with her mother in Genova to attend school. Giulia sadly states that everyone thinks of her as the weird kid who doesn't belong. Luca agrees with her, hinting at the fact that he is "a weird kid" himself for being a sea monster that will probably never belong. Giulia asks why Luca wants a Vespa. Luca explains that he and Alberto will see the world and sleep under the "fish" every night. When Luca asks what she will do when they win, Giulia begins explaining that she'll rub it in everyone's face and say "I told you so," further adding that Ercole's life will be ruined. She apologizes to Luca for going overboard, but Luca tells her that it's not too much for him. Giulia then tells Luca that they aren't fish. Luca disagrees, saying that Alberto had told him. Giulia then has Luca follow her.

Luca and Giulia walk on the roofs of houses in the moonlight. Eventually, she makes it to a house with a telescope, stating that the owner lets her use it. Giulia has Luca look through the telescope. She asks if he sees fish. When Luca asks what they are, Giulia explains that they are stars, "raging balls of fire." Luca looks down, stating that Alberto was wrong about what's in the sky. Giulia then shows Luca Saturn through the telescope. Luca has a daydream where he's running on the rings of Saturn that is floating over an ocean. Giulia has Luca ride Leonardo Da Vinci's flying machine. Luca hops on and they glide through the air. They fly through the Colosseum. Giulia then points down to Pinocchio and the fox and cat. Back in Giulia's house, Luca has many questions, where Giulia explains. Luca tells Giulia to promise to tell him everything she says, practically yelling from excitement. Luca apologizes to Giulia, and Giulia tells Luca that it'll never be too much for her. The two laugh as Alberto tells Luca it's time to go. Luca asks if he can borrow Giulia's astronomy book for the night. Instead, Giulia gifts him the book, crossing out her name and writing his. Luca thanks Giulia as Alberto calls Luca again, but in a more demanding way. Alberto leaves, frustrated and coldly stares at Giulia.

Alberto says he wants to show Luca something. Luca begins explaining that the "fish" are actually stars. Alberto disagrees with Luca, saying that they weren't what he says. Alberto leads Luca to the place where they keep the Vespa they plan getting. They both stare in awe at the Vespa, as Alberto pulls out his Vespa drawing, only with more things added to it like gelato, pasta and an umbrella. Luca says that they should add a telescope, with Alberto saying that it should be one that shoots lightning. Luca disagrees and goes on to explain that Giulia has a bigger one at her school, as Alberto just stares at him. Luca then proposes that they should visit Giulia at her school and maybe even attend, expressing his curiosity about it. Alberto then explains that they're getting a Vespa to live on their own and asks Luca what he thinks will happen when people find out he is a sea monster. Luca looks down, sadly, as he realizes that Alberto is right. Ercole then throws a harpoon at the wall shows up out of the dark, mocking the boys that Giulia wasn't there to keep them safe. Luca grabs Alberto's arm, nudging him to leave. Alberto instead steps Luca behind him as Ercole comments that something's fishy about the boys and that he wasn't talking about their smell, but the fact that they're hiding something Alberto tries to come up with an excuse to leave. Ercole has Ciccio and Guido grab Alberto. Luca tells Ercole to leave Alberto alone, but Ercole pushes him to the ground. Ercole then displays his discontent for the boys and proceeds to punch Alberto in the stomach, making Alberto wince in pain and cough. Luca then picks up the harpoon and shakily holds it toward Ercole, threatening him to stop, obviously afraid. Ercole tells Luca to put the harpoon down, pointing out that he'll hurt himself: Eventually, Alberto breaks Ciccio and Guido's grip and stares at Ercole coldly as he tells both of the boys to leave. Luca drops the harpoon and grabs Alberto's shoulder once again. They run right back to Giulia's house. Luca questions Alberto why he angered Ercole. Alberto shrugs it off, saying that he had it under control, reminding Luca that he had to follow his lead, while opening the gate door with force. Luca stares at Alberto. He steps in and closes the door.

The next morning, the training for the race intensifies. Luca begins taking over for Giulia and delivers fish to train. He does a quick perimeter check and makes sure his parents aren't around. Then, Luca pedals and begins going to deliver the fish. As the days pass, Luca gets better and begins biking faster.

The next morning, Luca and Alberto are so tired they can't even walk straight. Giulia introduces them to espresso coffee. They both only stick their tongues in the mugs and groan. The coffee jumpstarts them, with Luca doing cycling with his legs. Luca's biking has improved a huge amount, as kids cheer him on. Later that night at dinner, Alberto has trouble eating pasta with a fork. When Massimo shows him how and Alberto tries and succeeds, he wants to show Luca his accomplishment, but Luca is busy reading a zoology book with Giulia. Filling up with jealousy, Alberto angrily eats the pasta on his fork.

The next day, as Giulia trains Luca for his part in the race with cycling, they have a brief run in with his parents. Giulia and Alberto sit on the back of the bike. Luca, to avoid his parents, takes a different path. The trio make it to the top of Portorosso. Giulia notices the train and explains it takes her to Genova, with Luca asking if it goes to her school. Alberto says nothing, scoffing at the question. Alberto then redirects Luca's attention to the race, proclaiming they won't go anywhere if they don't win. Luca is scared, but when Giulia tries to coach him on how to go down the hill, Alberto tells her to stop bossing him around, saying that he knows what he needs since he's his friend. Then Alberto takes charge of the bike, saying that Luca needs him and begins cascading down the hill at a dangerous speed. Luca keeps pleading Alberto to halt the bike, but Alberto refuses, making Luca think that it's "Bruno" telling him that. The two race down the hill. Luca and Alberto scream as they hit a metal gate. Luca and Alberto plunge into the ocean. Giulia catches up and begins calling for Alberto and Luca, afraid of what could have happened to them. Meanwhile, underwater, Luca and Alberto, back in their sea monster forms, hide behind two big rocks to avoid being seen by her. Luca then tells Alberto to leave before she sees them. Alberto follows Luca.

Luca and Alberto wash up on shore. Luca is obviously discontent, as Alberto begins explaining that he was showing him how to do it the correct way. Luca says that Alberto doesn't know how to do it the right way and all he did was crash them into the ocean, while shaking himself dry. Alberto reassures Luca, telling him everything is fine. Luca, panicked, begins explaining that his parents saw him. Alberto tells Luca that his parents aren't around and that the town was starting to make him crazy. Alberto goes on to tell Luca that they just need the Vespa and they be out of the town, while putting his hand on Luca's shoulder. Luca slaps his hand away and tells Alberto that it won't be any different. Luca then tells Alberto what he really wants; he wants to go to school like Giulia. Alberto is shocked and resists, but Luca says that he's just too afraid. Alberto tells Luca that he's never afraid and that Luca is the one who always gets afraid. Alberto shoves Luca. Luca tells Alberto to shut up and the two get into a fight. Luca yelps when Alberto bites his hand. Alberto begins pounding him on the ground, asking him what will happen when Giulia or anyone sees him. Luca screams at Alberto to get off of him. Just as Alberto is ready to punch Luca, Giulia approaches them, happy they're safe and hugs them both.

However, Alberto and Luca exchange angry looks at each other behind Giulia's back. When they break off, Luca and Alberto don't look at each other since they're still mad at each other. Giulia notices something is wrong, so she playfully scratches Alberto's head, but he growls at her. Luca then asks Giulia if they can go to school with her. Giulia is delighted as Luca says the greeting Alberto taught him. Alberto, out of a fit of jealousy and anger decides to take matters into his own hands. Alberto casually brings up the question if Giulia's school accepts everyone, even to those that aren't human. Luca notices was Alberto is after and says his name, signaling him to stop. Alberto refuses and further asks if some students were sea monsters and states that he doubts that her school would accept sea monsters. Luca stops Alberto and says that it was a very good "joke." Alberto says that it is very hard to imagine, so he'll just show them. Luca screams "No!" as Alberto dives into the water. Luca clenches his teeth in fear. Giulia approaches Alberto, unfazed by his stunt.

Luca, panicked, tells Giulia to wait. Giulia comes near Alberto, who is face down in the water. Giulia tells him to quit goofing around as she grabs his arm. As she does, she notices that Alberto's arm is different, periwinkle and scaled like a fish. Giulia screams and backs up, whimpering. Luca watches the whole thing as Alberto rises up from the water, menacingly, crouched with claws ready to attack, fully transformed into his true sea monster self. He stares angrily at Luca and Giulia, as Giulia screams for help and pleads for him not to hurt them. Luca looks at Alberto with complete fear. Alberto tells Luca to see, telling him that he knew that this scenario would happen. Luca, unwilling to give himself up, yells "sea monster" while pointing at Alberto. Heartbroken by this betrayal, Alberto hurtfully gasps and says Luca's name. Luca looks at Alberto sadly, as Giulia then grabs a stick and points it at Alberto, telling him to stay back. Alberto backs up as Ercole, Ciccio and Guido run towards the shoreline with harpoons. That is when Alberto retreats into the water. Ercole and his boys throw their harpoons, wanting to capture and kill Alberto for the reward. Luca screams "No!" and watches, horrified, as each of the harpoons all miss Alberto. Alberto, however, does nothing to evade the harpoons. He sadly turns around one last time to see Luca as he disappears in a wave. Luca stares off, hands over his mouth, as Ercole gets mad at both of them for letting the sea monster get away. Ercole and his friends then proceed to go find and kill Alberto while he was still near. Luca has no reaction, just staring off at where Alberto could have gone.

Later on, Luca and Giulia return to Giulia's house. Luca and Giulia are silent, lost in their thoughts as to what had just happened. Massimo then tells the kids that he was awaiting them and announces that he made their favorite pasta. Just at that moment, Massimo notices that Alberto isn't around. Luca explains that he left. Massimo asks if Luca has any idea where he could have gone, but Luca doesn't know, adding in that Alberto probably doesn't want to be looked for. Worried about the boy's safety, Massimo sets out to find Alberto. A bit later, Luca begins trying to persuade Giulia to race without Alberto, proposing that Giulia can swim and he'll take over both the eating and biking. Luca begins talking so fast. To get him to stop and calm down, Giulia throws a glass of water at Luca, but it only manages to splash his hands. Luca and Giulia look at Luca's scaled and webbed hands. It was at that point that Giulia found out that, like Alberto, Luca was also a sea monster, this time unafraid as she knows the two mean no harm towards anyone. Luca tells Giulia that he can explain while drying his hands. Giulia is disappointed with the fact that out of anywhere they could have visited, they visited Portorosso, where everyone hunts and, should the need arise, kills sea monsters. With no choice, Giulia sends Luca away for his own good and safety. Giulia says she doesn't understand why he and Alberto are risking their lives for a Vespa. Luca explains that his parents were going to send him away. Luca then states that it didn't matter anymore. Luca reluctantly agrees and leaves sadly, telling Giulia goodbye and that he is sorry.

Later on, Luca sits on the shoreline where Alberto revealed himself alone, ashamed of what he had done. Luca looks off at the Isola del Mare. He decides to go look for Alberto. Jumping into the water, Luca sets out to find Alberto. He swims to the island and dries off. Luca then walks over to Alberto's hideout. The ladder to the hideout had been tipped over and broken. Luca, instead, scales the wall using the protruding bricks. When Luca makes it to the top, he calls for Alberto, as he sees that the place has been trashed, almost every item is destroyed. It looked as if Alberto was in a rage. The Vespa drawing Alberto drew was found on the floor, ripped in two. Alberto, back in his human form, calls from the top of the tower, asking Luca what he's doing there. Luca looks up. Luca then apologizes to Alberto, saying he wished he could take it back. Alberto, still hurt by his betrayal, tells Luca coldly that he got the message and to go away and leave him alone. As Alberto walks out of view, Luca notices the Vespa poster is on the ground, and in its place, there are tally marks on the wall, 383 of them. Luca wonders what the marks mean and goes up to question his friend about the marks. Alberto is reluctant, curling himself up. After Luca asks again, Alberto explains that he started counting when his dad left, but he never seemed to come back. Luca asks Alberto if he had been alone for that long. Alberto, beginning to tear up, said that he stopped counting after a while. He hoped that his dad would come back, but he left it, saying that his dad was better off without him, including Luca. Luca tells Alberto that it isn't true. Alberto disagrees. With tears in his eyes, Alberto states that Luca is always the good kid everyone loves and he's the kid that ruins everything. Luca comforts Alberto, telling him to remember the "Silenzio, Bruno!" thing he taught him. Luca tries to lift Alberto's spirits by reminding Alberto about their dream of having a Vespa. Alberto, however, angrily tells Luca to drop it, adding in that they should have never become friends in the first place. Luca tries to comfort Alberto, by touching his shoulder, but Alberto slaps his hand away, telling him once again to get out and not make him say it again. Luca then agrees and says he'll enter the race and win the money for the Vespa. Alberto tells Luca that the idea is crazy. Luca says that he might be crazy and re-enacts when Alberto showed him gravity, by jumping off into the tree. Luca lands face first on the ground. Alberto asks what he's doing, with Luca responding that he fine and that he was going to fix everything.

It is now the day of the race. Luca is at the sign up booth, trying to reconsider with Signora Marsegleisse, determined to make it up to Alberto. Giulia finds Luca and asks him what he's doing there. Luca tells Giulia not to worry. Giulia finds out that Luca has decided to be a part of the race, this time splitting up the team to go alone, as it was too risky to keep his sea monster identity a secret and getting Giulia involved into the problem. Giulia panics and tells Luca that he can't swim. As everyone warms up, Luca shows up in Alberto's diving suit, to avoid transforming into a sea monster in the water. Everyone stares at Luca and his bizarre swimming attire. Ercole laughs at Luca, as Giulia tells him it's not a good idea. Ercole further pesters Luca, asking him if he can't afford a proper swimsuit. Luca looks a bit scared at Ercole, but his face quickly changes as he is determined to win the race for Alberto. Signora Marssegliese then announces that the race is about to begin. She adds in that since there have been sightings of sea monsters lately, they have hired fishermen to keep guard, harpoons in hand. Luca gets scared. He lowers his head in fear. Luca shoots a look at Giulia who shakes her head afraid for Luca's life. When Signora Marssegliese gives the ring to go, all the swimmers run into the water, Giulia as well. With a deep breath, Luca secures the helmet of the suit and goes in. Luca doesn't swim, however. Instead, he walks at the bottom of the ocean. A sudden leak causes water to begin flooding the suit, transforming him. When Luca comes out, he gets tripped by Ercole. When he realizes that the helmet had been knocked off in the fall, he retreats his head into the suit. Luca climbs under the table.

Once dry, Luca begins the pasta eating segment of the race, the segment Alberto was supposed to do. Luca struggles a bit with the pasta eating, but after Giulia shows him how to eat pasta the right way, he manages to finish and eats his pasta. Luca then begins the bike riding segment as he hops on his bike. After a loud burp, Luca begins pedaling with all of his might. Thunder is heard as clouds begin to cover the sky. Luca runs into his parents, but manages to get away, apologizing and saying he had to do this. Luca manages to surpass Ercole, but just as he gets in the lead, it begins to rain. Droplets fall on Luca and he begins to transform. Luca then seeks refuge under an awning in the rain. Luca is disheartened, realizing how close he was. As he looks on, he hears his name called in the distance and notices a blue umbrella in the rain. Luca squints his eyes as the person lifts the umbrella, revealing it to be Alberto, running back for Luca who becomes happy to see his friend again.

Ercole comes up and pesters Luca, asking him if he was afraid of the rain. Alberto catches his attention, yelling "hey!" Ercole, fed up with the two, tells them that they down belong and to get out of his town. With a swift moves, he kicks Alberto in the cheek, causing him to drop his umbrella. Alberto falls on the street and soaked in the rain, he transforms back into a sea monster. Luca's eyes widen in horror, as Ercole immediately stops, screaming "sea monster." Alberto looks up as people scream in fear and a mother picks up her child. Luca wants to ride over to help, but not willing to let Luca come and risk himself getting caught too, Alberto tells Luca to stay put, and that he's still okay. Alberto then starts screaming happily while flailing his arms around, running towards Ercole. Luca calls Alberto's name. Ercole then throws a net over Alberto and he falls hard on the ground with a grunt. Luca narrows his eyes, angered by what they did to Alberto. Seeing his friend trapped and helpless, Luca puts his feet on the pedals of his bike and races towards Alberto in the rain. As he does, the rain gets Luca wet, transforming him in front of everyone into a sea monster. Everyone turns and Alberto lifts the net up his face as Luca gut wrenchingly reaches for Alberto's hand. Alberto reaches for Luca and the two manage to hold each other. Luca manages to land Alberto on his bike. The two ride through town. Ercole catches up to them, harpoon in hand, screaming that he was going to kill himself some sea monsters, while laughing evilly. Giulia, who is right behind Ercole rams her bike into Ercole's, knocking him and her off their bikes which Luca and Alberto notice. Alberto yells Giulia's name as Luca halts the bike. They both run to her, with Giulia's dad getting a harpoon to kill the sea monsters.

However, as he gets nearer to them, he notices that their faces aren't unfamiliar to him. Massimo notices that the sea monsters he was readying to kill were actually Luca and Alberto. Everyone surrounds them with harpoons. Ercole comes out of nowhere saying he saw them first so he gets to kill them. Luca firmly states that they're not afraid of them, with Alberto stiffening up in response. Ercole says that they might not be afraid, but that the people are afraid, horrified and disgusted by Luca and Alberto because they are "monsters." Luca looks sadly at everyone with the harpoons, realizing that Ercole is right. Giulia screams to stop and that they are not monsters, with Ercole asking who they are then. Massimo comes out, claiming he knows. He looks at the kids, first at Luca, then at his daughter, and then Alberto, before proclaiming them as Luca and Alberto and the winners of the race. Ercole says that they can't have won, saying that they aren't people. Massimo has Signora Marssegliese determine if so or not. The bike that Luca and Alberto abandoned is across the finish line. She proclaims that technically and legally, they won. The trio look at each other, happy, as Ercole says that it doesn't matter and they're sea monsters. Fisherman get close with harpoons. However, Massimo comes behind the trio, causing everyone to drop their harpoons.

As Ercole stares in disbelief, Luca, Alberto and Giulia grab and destroy his harpoon. Ercole orders for Ciccio and Guido to grab him another and insults them by calling them idiots and tells them to "be useful for once in their pathetic lives." Fed up with Ercole's abuse, Ciccio and Guido throw him and his wool sweater into the fountain. Giulia declares the reign of terror over. Luca's parents come out and transform in front of the crowd. Daniela loads on Luca saying that he had them scared. Luca apologizes, but Daniela goes on to tell him that he did so well in the race, raising his tail up and "kicking so much human butt." She hugs Luca saying that she's so happy, but still mad at him for sneaking off. In the end, Daniela cries, relieved that her son is okay. Luca puts his hand over her back proclaims he loves her and embraces his mother, as his father hugs him. Daniela looks at Alberto and Giulia. Alberto just shrugs and doltishly smiles. Finally, the Underdogs are given their reward, a trophy as winners of the Portorosso Cup. The three begin rejoicing, happy to have won. Meanwhile, they receive applause from the crowd. Many kids begin running up to them, congratulating them. Luca looks on happy.

Later on, the three have fun on the Vespa, with Alberto messing around with the cat, Machiavelli, making it look like he's driving. Luca laughs so much that he falls to the floor. Giulia helps him up. Luca's parents talk about how well he did, but that he can't stay in the surface. Luca's grandma goes on to explain that many will never accept him, but some will and Luca seems to know who are the good ones. Giulia then asks Luca and Alberto where go first. Alberto explains that Luca and he will stay to repair it in order for it to take them around the whole earth. Giulia says to them to not forget to pack for it, but then remembers she forgot to pack to go to school. Luca sighs and sadly states that she'll learn so much. Alberto listens quietly. Giulia says that she'll lend Luca some books, Luca excited to hear so. Giulia leads and Luca tells Alberto to follow. As Luca and Giulia leave, Alberto looks down at the Vespa and smiles. He then follows Luca and Giulia.

It is now time for Giulia to leave. Giulia states how she's amazed that they actually won the race. Alberto tells her that maybe they can race next summer. Giulia then says that maybe they can just have some fun. She hugs the boys. Luca and Alberto hug her goodbye. After a final goodbye, Giulia boards the train. Luca then asks Alberto if he's ready to fix the Vespa, but Alberto says that he has sold it while handing Luca a train ticket. Luca's family come and they tell Luca that if he writes to them every day and stays safer than safe, he can go to school. It was revealed that Alberto talked them into it, and according to Luca's grandmother , it wasn't easy to persuade them. Luca happily accepts. His mother reassures Luca, telling him that they'll be there for him always. Luca reminds his mother that he loves her and wipes a tear from her eye. Luca is given his suitcase and happily heads to the train, telling Alberto to come, but Alberto isn't going. He tells Luca that it was the only ticket he could buy and that Massimo wants him to stay behind and help with fish, probably even move in. Luca is unsure, saying he can't do it without him. Alberto says that he already has been doing it and hands Luca the Vespa drawing they made, taped back together. Alberto tells Luca that whenever he jumps off a cliff or tells Bruno to stop bothering him, that will be him. Luca asks Alberto how he'll know he's okay. Alberto has no answer. Instead, he hugs Luca as tears stream down his face. Luca embraces Alberto tight, tears filling his eyes as well. Alberto comforts Luca, telling him that he got him off the island, and he'll be okay.

As Luca boards the train, Alberto then says the greeting he taught him one last time. Luca asks what it seriously means, and Alberto tells Luca he doesn't know and to find out for him. They both hold hands as the train departs. They eventually let go. Luca sadly watches as Alberto follows the train, with tears in his eyes, running. As he makes it into the rain, he transforms. Alberto begins screaming and cheering for Luca, waving goodbye with his hat to his best friend. Luca watches and listens to Alberto cheering him on down the tunnel. He gets one last look at Alberto. The train exits the tunnel and Luca makes it into the rain, where the rain transforms him. Luca cries, realizing how much he'll miss Alberto. He wipes a tear from his eye. He then looks out into the ocean, to the Isola del Mare. The rain clouds don't meet, causing a ray on sunlight to shine over the island, the same island where he and Alberto first met. Luca smiles, remembering Alberto and knowing their friendship and summer memories would live on forever. Luca then leans out of the train, feeling the rain with his arm as the train takes him to his next adventure.

Video games [ ]

Disney heroes: battle mode [ ].

Luca and Alberto in Disney Heroes: Battle Mode .

Luca and Alberto appear in the game as playable characters. They are Control Role Heroes. They are always riding their Vespa and are using Vespa to drive though the battlefield to damage enemies and also to apply debuffs. Luca also kicks soccer ball to damage nearest enemy, while Alberto is using seltzer bottle to turn into sea monster to distract and debuff enemies.

Luca and Alberto's friendship campaigns are with Lilo Pelekai and Huey, Dewey, and Louie .

Gallery [ ]

Relationships [ ]

• Luca's birthday is on November 20. [2]
• Luca is Pixar's fifth titular character, the others being Nemo , WALL-E , Dory , and Coco , as well as the third titular character to be a protagonist, the first two being WALL-E and Dory.
• His actual surname, Paguro, is Italian for "hermit crab".
• Luca is based on Enrico Casarosa himself. He chose the name, Luca, over his own because he felt it would be easier for foreign countries to pronounce.
• Luca's design is loosely recycled from the character of Bambino from Casarosa's short film, La Luna .
• 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."
• Luca also shares some similarities to Pinocchio . Both characters arguably desire to be human, or at least be accepted as human. They are drawn into a rather intense life of debauchery and make mistakes before getting help from educated characters. However, Pinocchio ends up losing many people during his adventure while Luca is able to reform and help his. The Pinocchio comparison is somewhat hinted at in the movie.
• Early concept art seemed to imply that at one point, Luca lived on the island with only his mother, Daniela , who appeared younger and much more free spirited than in the final film. Additionally, Luca's dream was originally to work as a mechanic in a Vespa factory, instead of riding one around the world.
• This is also another hint that Luca is a bit more of a weaker swimmer than Alberto. Alberto's fin design is sharper (like the fins of a tuna) than Luca's because Casarosa said that "[he] is a stronger swimmer." Even still, Luca swims faster than the average human can.
• In the film, Luca has many imagination scenes. This was added by director Enrico Casarosa. He explained because of Luca's meek and quiet personality, he thought the audience would have a hard time understanding him. Because of this, Casarosa concluded that the way for the audience to understand Luca was by taking them into his mind and to be able to physically see what he was feeling.
• Luca's eyes obviously have two different forms, sea monster and human, but there is a detail. Luca's irises are bigger when he is in his sea monster form. When he is in his human form, Luca's irises shrink down a bit. Another noticeable detail is that Luca's irises as a sea monster are a little more tinted maroon, but in human form, they appear more lighter brown in color.
• Luca's face and eyes in Sea Monster form almost bares a striking resemblance to Spike the Dragon from the 2010 show “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic”.
• Luca would not like pineapple on pizza. [4]

References [ ]

• ↑ https://mamasgeeky.com/2021/04/pixar-luca-characters.html
• ↑ https://twitter.com/sketchcrawl/status/1500986177549074440
• ↑ https://thedisinsider.com/2020/08/10/luca-main-character-reportedly-pays-homage-to-a-studio-ghibli-classic/
• ↑ Casarosa, Enrico (October 11, 2022). " Pizza ". Twitter .
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VIDEO: Trailer for new original Pixar film takes you on a journey with “Luca”

• by John Frost
• February 25, 2021 February 25, 2021

Pixar invites you to experience a summer like never before in a new original film, “Luca.” Directed by Enrico Casarosa, who was nominated for an academy award for his short film “La Luna,” Luna tells a very personal story for Casarosa.

Luca is set in a beautiful seaside town on the Italian Riviera and tells a coming-of-age story about one young boy experiencing an unforgettable summer filled with gelato, pasta and endless scooter rides.

Luca shares these adventures with his newfound best friend, but all the fun is threatened by a deeply-held secret: he is a sea monster from another world just below the water’s surface.

“This is a deeply personal story for me, not only because it’s set on the Italian Riviera where I grew up, but because at the core of this film is a celebration of friendship. Childhood friendships often set the course of who we want to become and it is those bonds that are at the heart of our story in ‘Luca,’” said Casarosa. “So in addition to the beauty and charm of the Italian seaside, our film will feature an unforgettable summer adventure that will fundamentally change Luca.”

Pixar is known to stretch its artistic legs and it’s very noticeable in the animation style they’ve chosen for this film.

Watch the trailer here:

Now that’s not your typical fish out of water story.

Wow that scenery makes me want to take a vacation… as soon as it’s safe too. Which might make this the perfect movie for a summer when everyone will want to get ‘the jab’ so they can venture out again.

Meet the Voice Cast for Luca

Another reason to go see Luca is the remarkable voice cast. 

• Jacob Tremblay  (“Room,” “Wonder”) lends his voice to Luca Paguro, a bright and inventive 13-year-old sea monster with endless curiosity—especially when it comes to the mysterious world above the sea.
• Jack Dylan Grazer  (“We Are Who We Are,” “Shazam”) voices Alberto Scorfano, an independent, free-spirited teenage sea monster with unbridled enthusiasm for the human world. 
• Emma Berman  provides the voice of Giulia, an outgoing and charming adventurer who befriends Luca and Alberto.
• Maya Rudolph  (“Bridesmaids,” “Saturday Night Live,” “Big Mouth”) voices Daniela, Luca’s mother.
• Marco Barricelli  voices Massimo, Giulia’s father. 
• Jim Gaffigan  (“The Pale Tourist,” “Troop Zero”) voices Lorenzo, Luca’s father. 

Jim Gaffigan in a Pixar film? Yes please. Maya Rudolph clearly knows how to delivery the funny too.

We love original storytelling from Pixar and can’t wait to see the first feature length film from Enrico Casarosa. Luca arrives June 18, 2021.

Let us know what you thought of the trailer for Luca in the comments!

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Luca Paguro

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Luca Paguro is the titular main protagonist of the Disney and Pixar 2021 animated feature film Luca , and a minor character in its short film, Ciao Alberto .

He is a sea monster who goes to the surface with his friend, Alberto Scorfano . He tries to win a race in Portorosso, and island town/city in Italy with help of Alberto and Giulia Marcovaldo . He's the son of Daniela and Lorenzo Paguro, grandson of his grandmother, and nephew of Ugo.

He is voiced by Jacob Tremblay , who portrays Blue Winslow in The Smurfs 2 and Auggie Pullman in Wonder , and voices Robin in the adult animated TV series Harley Quinn and Flounder in the 2023 live-action remake of The Little Mermaid .

• 1 Personality
• 2 Biography
• 3 Powers and Abilities
• 5 External Links
• 6 Navigation

Personality [ ]

Luca is a nice, shy and timid boy, unlike Alberto , who is a daring young boy. He is constantly told to not go to the surface, but after finding some “land monster” stuff in the ocean, he gets curious and goes to the surface.

Throughout the movie, Luca gets used to human life, and becomes more curious not just only about human life, but what is on the surface as Alberto shows him his collection of human items he found. Alberto was able to teaches Luca to ignore his doubts and to leave his comfort zone, this led him to get the skill of being able to ride a bicycle in order to compete in the Portorosso Cup. He also becomes more brave and wiser instead of nervous and being the "good kid" by the end of film.

Biography [ ]

He was born as a sea monster to strict parents, under water, obviously.

He was first seen rounding up his fish (which are used as sheep) up and going around his neighborhood, and his neighbors are getting a bit annoyed, as they make it clear he’s done this before. As he is headed over to the little circle ranch, he sees “land monster” stuff around there, that Alberto knocked down from a ship. He heads to the surface and becomes a human.

When Luca is asked for the ball, he kicks a ball. As a result, the ball hits Ercole’s Vespa. He met Giulia and trained for a bike race. Luca and Giulia started to share a bond in learning and Giulia tells him about school, which sparks his interest, which causes Alberto to become jealous. When Alberto's jealousy reaches to a point where he intentionally reveals his true form to Giulia to prove that that they can't go to school because they're sea monsters, Luca, unwilling to give himself up, feign surprise, which causes Alberto to go back to his hideout out of heartbreak.

Luca felt remorseful and makes it up to him by winning the Vespa. He defeated Ercole and went to school with Giulia.

Powers and Abilities [ ]

• He can turn into a human (“land monster as they sometimes call humans”) when he’s dry.
• He can swim really well in his sea monster form.
• He is based on Luca director Enrico Casarosa. He chose his name, Luca.
• His actual surname, Paguro, is Italian for "hermit crab".
• He is the seventh Pixar character to have both of his parents alive the first being Violet, Dash and Jack Jack, the second being Bonnie, the third being Merida, the fourth being Riley, the fifth being Dory, the sixth being Miguel and the eighth being Mei Lee.

External Links [ ]

• Luca Paguro on the Disney Wiki
• Luca Paguro on the Pixar Wiki
• Luca Paguro on the Luca Wiki
• Luca Paguro on the Pure Good Wiki

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LUCA’s Humanizing Vision of Masculinity

Nov 13, 2021 | 2021 Fall , Film |

By Jeffrey Nall

The 2021 Disney movie Luca is a coming-of-age story about a young sea monster boy on the cusp of adolescence; but it is much more than that. It is a repudiation of conventional, restrictive male socialization, and a celebration of expansive, healthy, male emotional connection.

Inspired, perhaps, by Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey, the main character, Luca’s call to adventure interrupts his humdrum life. While exploring tantalizing sea objects, he encounters a seemingly carefree boy, Alberto, who introduces him to a simultaneously exciting and frightening new world beyond the waters of ordinary sea-monster life. Luca quickly discovers that he has as much to learn about himself as he does the broader world he inhabits.

Luca’s first obstacle is his fear of transgressing the status quo boundaries that have dictated his life. Alberto tells him, “You’ve got a ‘Bruno’ in your head”—Alberto’s term for our inner critic; the one who says, “you can’t.” Rather than obey the critic, Alberto teaches Luca his mantra for courageous and authentic living: “Silenzio, Bruno!” While there are times our inner critic is just the voice of prudent caution, often it prioritizes propriety over authenticity. Alberto teaches his friend that our “Bruno” sometimes holds us back from our true self.

Sex, Gender, and LUCA

Luca beautifully subverts patriarchal masculinity—a damaging vision that not only presumes men as inherently superior to women, but also asserts that men are naturally domineering, violent, and detached from life. That expression of manhood limits—and diminishes—men’s lives. Luca succeeds in honoring the parts of boys’ humanity they are otherwise expected to “kill off—the emotional parts of themselves,” as bell hooks put it in her 2004 book, The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love . The film is an antidote, presenting a healthy and humane vision of boyhood masculinity.

Given the dearth of representations of gay, lesbian, and bisexual young people in popular culture, it’s understandable that many people were disappointed when Luca ’s director announced that the boys’ relationship was never meant to be interpreted to include romance, but, rather, to show them forging nonromantic friendships. Others have suggested that Luca’s struggle with acceptance—and having to hide his true self—reflects the experiences of many in the LGBTQ+ community.

Though this interpretation has validity, it’s also true that virtually all boys struggle (though in different ways), with painful, alienating patriarchal socialization. From a very young age, boys are subjected to a pervasive education in the patriarchal masculine ideal. As hooks says, “Today, small boys and young men are daily inundated with a poisonous pedagogy that supports male violence and male domination, that teaches boys that unchecked violence is acceptable, and that teaches them to disrespect and hate women.”

The lesson is soon made clear, hooks says: “They know they must not express feelings, with the exception of anger; that they must not do anything considered feminine or womanly.” In such a world, neither boys nor girls are permitted to freely explore and then develop a complete, multifaceted identity. Instead, they are pressured, or shamed, into fitting in to limited, one-dimensional models of boyhood.

LUCA’s Loving Boys

Those arguing that Luca and Alberto’s relationship can only be understood as gay reinforce this damaging patriarchal conception of boyhood masculinity, while others believe Luca and Alberto are obviously gay since they embrace one another, exchange emotionally intimate moments, and plan to live together. Slate associate editor Marissa Martinelli observed that “[Luca and Alberto] have their share of moments that could be easily interpreted as puppy love, such as when they’re stargazing with their arms around each other… their secret time together is liberating for them. It’s also forbidden,” she pointed out. “[T]heir relationship is very physically intimate for a friendship. They put their arms around each other. They watch the sunset. They’re stargazing. It’s a little bit romantic.”

Reflecting on Martinelli’s interpretation reminded me of hooks’s sad observation about how lovable boys can be: “Boys are not seen as lovable in patriarchal culture.” Though boy children undoubtedly possess unearned privilege that girls do not, hooks also noted, “status and even the rewards of privilege are not the same as being loved.” In patriarchal culture, men receive praise and societal prizes for displays of power and usefulness—on the job, in athletics, and in the military. Past a young age, though, boys are frequently deprived of affection from parents not only out of homophobic concerns that the child might be “made gay”, but also out of concern that they develop the “necessary” toughness to endure a cold, fierce world. The notion that Alberto or Luca could only be loved by one another romantically reinforces that very patriarchal idea.

What’s revealed is a potent cultural bias that narrows the vision of masculine humanity. Imagine if Luca and Alberto were two girls of the same age and circumstance who embrace one another, exchange emotionally intimate moments, and plan to live together. Would those details be sufficient to confidently deduce the sexuality of the two characters? Probably not. Presuming that men of all sexual orientations are incapable of a nonsexual connection with other men—friends, family members, or children— reinforces the dehumanizing patriarchal stereotype that men lack emotional intelligence and are solely driven by sexual desire.

How LUCA’s Boys Are Different

Rather than the usual media representations of “boys will be boys”—including abusive banter and teasing—Luca and Alberto are generally kind to and mutually respectful of one another. They take time out of adventure and play to reflect, talk about their emotions, and tenderly empathize with each other. Happily absent in the film are representations of meanness, cruelty, bullying masquerading as “play,” and bonding over putting girls down. (The film’s one mean, cruel, misogynistic character is also its villain.)

The timing and context of Luca and Alberto’s bonding is also important. Their friendship develops when Alberto is particularly vulnerable after his father disappears. Before meeting Luca, Alberto was feeling isolated and abandoned; hurt and anger lurk beneath his exuberant exterior. In this sense, Alberto is like a lot of boys in society. “Many boys are angry,” hooks notes, “but no one really cares about this anger unless it leads to violent behavior. If boys take their rage and sit in front of a computer all day, never speaking, never relating, no one cares.”

What makes Luca such a powerful expression of healthy, humane, and feminist masculinity is precisely that it suggests any boy—of whatever sexual identity or orientation—can be a caring, loving person. Luca and Alberto might go on to be in romantic relationships with other men, women, or both. (Or, with no one.) What the movie makes clear, though, is that boys do not need to wait for romantic love to act lovingly, or to be in love. Luca suggests that boys are not strictly motivated to outdo other boys or to prop up their egos by insulting girls. Instead, the message of the film is that boys can be as expert at caring for others as they can be at, say, winning a race. Ultimately, Luca is a hopeful movie, an affirmation of male humanity at a time when popular culture offers too few meaningful examples.

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The 12 Best Movies That Follow the Hero's Journey

These movies use the monomyth to spectacular results.

Everyone who's interested in how stories are made is bound to have heard the term "the Hero's Journey." Also known as the monomyth, it's a story archetype coined and popularized by Joseph Campbell in the mid-1900s when he noticed that heroes in myths typically go through the same 17 stages in their journey, from the call to adventure that gets the character out of their comfort zone, to the freedom to live found at the end of the ordeals in their adventure.

This narrative template has served as the basis and inspiration of countless stories throughout history – including numerous outstanding films. From a grand fantastical story like Star Wars , to something more grounded in reality like O Brother, Where Art Thou? , these movies don't always follow every single one of the steps outlined by Campbell, but they stick to more than enough to call each of them a hero's journey . A tried-and-true way of telling successful stories that resonate with audiences of all ages and nationalities, movies that follow the Hero's Journey, if well-written, are always a delight like no other.

12 'Men in Black' (1997)

Barry sonnenfeld's campy sci-fi comedy.

One of the most iconic movies you may not know is based on Marvel comics , Men in Black is the story of a cop ( Will Smith ) who, after a chase with an otherworldly being, is recruited by an organization that monitors and polices alien activity on Earth. There's something for every sci-fi fan to enjoy in this movie, from visually stunning special effects to mind-blowing action and just the right amount of humor.

Men in Black follows the Hero's Journey nearly to a tee , from Agent J getting the call to join the mission of protecting the planet from alien threats and initially refusing the call, to him finally learning to master his two worlds and become the hero he was meant to be. The result is a thrilling sci-fi action adventure that doesn't get nearly enough praise nowadays, with a heroic protagonist that's a joy to follow through his journey.

Men In Black

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11 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' (2000)

Joel and ethan coen's take on an old classic.

The Coen brothers are masters of making some of the most entertaining crime movies, and O Brother, Where Art Thou? is definitely one of their best. Loosely based on Homer 's The Odyssey , it's about three fugitives roaming the southern U.S. in search of treasure with the law hot on their heels. Unlike the Greek classic, however, the Coens' crime film has great Southern American music, traditional Western tropes, and stars George Clooney , Tim Blake Nelson , and John Turturro .

The characters in O Brother, Where Art Thou? encounter mentors, face challenges, and go through profound transformations , just like the heroes in the monomyth do. The ensuing adventure is as humorous as it is exciting, an offbeat adaptation of a massively important and influential classic. You can't go wrong with a well-written and well-directed Coen brothers movie, so O Brother should easily please all cinephiles' palates.

Rent on Apple TV

10 'Batman Begins' (2005)

Christopher nolan's reinvention of the caped crusader.

Movies with Hero's Journey archetypes are fun enough as they are, but mix those elements with a superhero origin story, and you get one of the best entries in the superhero genre . That's what Batman Begins is, as it reinvents the story of Bruce Wayne's ( Christian Bale ) origins as the vigilante hero Batman, by placing the character on a journey to become the guardian that his beloved Gotham City deserves.

Christopher Nolan's first installment in his Dark Knight Trilogy feels more like a character-driven thriller than a traditional superhero film, in the best sense possible. The director cleverly fits Bruce's process of becoming the Dark Knight into Campbell's monomyth , showing audiences how the hero is eventually able to master his new identity to save his city.

Batman Begins

Watch on Max

9 'The Matrix' (1999)

Lana and lilly wachowski's game-changing extravaganza.

When the Wachowskis released The Matrix before the turn of the century, the world was taken by storm, and the sci-fi genre in films would never be the same again. In the movie that cemented him as an action star, Keanu Reeves plays Neo, a man who joins a group of insurgents in their fight against the powerful computers who rule Earth. To this day, The Matrix still receives praise as one of the best sci-fi movies ever .

With its visual innovations, clever cinematography, and unique philosophical themes that have been endlessly analyzed throughout the years, The Matrix was unlike anything audiences had seen before at the time of its release . Perhaps one of the main reasons why its story clicked so well with viewers around the world was because it closely follows the stages of the Hero's Journey, as Neo goes from an average Joe to an all-powerful hero.

Neo (Keanu Reeves) believes that Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), an elusive figure considered to be the most dangerous man alive, can answer his question -- What is the Matrix? Neo is contacted by Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), a beautiful stranger who leads him into an underworld where he meets Morpheus. They fight a brutal battle for their lives against a cadre of viciously intelligent secret agents. It is a truth that could cost Neo something more precious than his life.

8 'Kung Fu Panda' (2008)

Mark osborne and john stevenson's martial arts adventure.

For those that think that family animated movies are exclusively for children, Kung Fu Panda is the perfect mind-changing watch. It follows Po ( Jack Black ), a lazy panda who dreams of being a kung fu hero, as he's thrust into a journey of discovering his destiny as the Chosen One. There are many examples of the Hero's Journey in movies that logically follow the same structure, but the creative things that Kung Fu Panda does with the archetype are entirely its own .

Just like all the compelling heroes of Campbell's model, Po is called to action, goes through several life-threatening ordeals with help from friends and allies, and finds that the power to be the guardian of the Valley of Peace comes from within. Sprinkled with hilarious humor, outstanding voice acting, and some of the best action in any animated film , it's undoubtedly one of DreamWorks Animation's best efforts.

Kung Fu Panda

7 'finding nemo' (2003), andrew stanton's love letter to fatherhood.

Hero's Journey movies are usually action-focused epics, and not often family-friendly stories about fish. That only makes Finding Nemo even more special. It's the story of Marlin ( Albert Brooks ), a timid clownfish who, after his son Nemo ( Alexander Gould in one of the best child voice performances in animated cinema) is kidnapped, sets out to find him against all the threats that the deep blue sea has to offer.

Though Finding Nemo isn't your typical kind of hero's journey, where the story is much more intimate and the biggest threats that the characters face are mostly internal, it very much follows the formula. What finds itself transformed in the end is the relationship between Marlin and Nemo, in one of the most touching endings of Pixar's filmography.

Finding Nemo

Watch on Disney+

6 'The Wizard of Oz' (1939)

Victor fleming's timeless musical classic.

An exciting adventure that uses both black-and-white and beautiful color , through a fantastical land that any movie fan would love to live in, The Wizard of Oz follows Dorothy ( Judy Garland ) in her journey through the magical land of Oz, searching for a mysterious wizard who can send her back home.

The movie was an absolute sensation when it came out, and even after more than three-quarters of a century, it's still remembered as one of the greatest American movie masterpieces. The stages of the monomyth are clear in The Wizard of Oz : the ordinary world is Kansas, Dorothy crosses a very literal threshold to a vastly different world, and her journey of transformation is full of faces both friendly and menacing.

The Wizard of Oz

5 'the lion king' (1994), roger allers and rob minkoff's twist on shakespeare.

1994's The Lion King is a movie that needs no introduction. Many would say that it's the best-animated movie to ever come out of Disney, and it's fully understandable, thanks to its timeless songs and the animated film's brilliant depiction of grief . It's the grand and epic story of Simba ( Matthew Broderick ), a lion cub prince who's tricked into exile by his uncle Scar ( Jeremy Irons ), who wishes to have the throne for himself.

The animation is majestic, with some really charming character designs, and the story is compelling from beginning to end. Its philosophical themes of identity and self-discovery are beautiful, and the way they're conveyed through a classic hero's journey structure in The Lion King is simply perfect . The film is in certain ways an adaptation of William Shakespeare 's Hamlet , but its fidelity to Campbell's monomyth is much more interesting to dissect.

The Lion King (1994)

4 'harry potter' saga (2001 - 2011), warner bros.' magical journey through hogwarts.

The Harry Potter series features not just one, but eight of the movies that best follow the Hero's Journey. From Chris Columbus 's Sorcerer's Stone to David Yates 's Deathly Hallows — Part 2 , the franchise follows the coming-of-age story of the titular character ( Daniel Radcliffe ) and his two best friends, as they grow to become key players in a war against an evil wizard.

Everyone has a different favorite installment in the series, but every Harry Potter movie plays an equally crucial role in the overarching narrative of the story, which very closely follows the monomyth . Not only that, but each film follows a smaller version of the general model as well. It's probably what makes these movies so easy to enjoy, since they so faithfully walk along the lines laid out by Campbell and so many filmmakers from before 2001.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

An orphaned boy enrolls in a school of wizardry, where he learns the truth about himself, his family and the terrible evil that haunts the magical world.

3 'The Lord of the Rings' Trilogy (2001 - 2003)

Peter jackson's walk to mordor.

There are countless things that make Peter Jackson 's The Lord of the Rings trilogy one of the best fantasy film franchises of all time, and one of the most important is the fact that all three installments in the trilogy truly feel like part of a greater whole, as they collaborate in telling the story of Frodo ( Elijah Wood ), the Fellowship of the Ring, and their efforts to destroy the greatest tool of an evil tyrant terrorizing Middle-earth.

Of course, the monomyth-following template was already there, set in stone by the legendary J.R.R. Tolkien when he wrote what's undoubtedly one of the best series of fantasy books in history. Even yet, the way Jackson and company built on top of that, telling a story that feels undeniably cinematic, is admirable beyond measure.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

2 'citizen kane' (1941), orson welles's groundbreaking masterpiece.

When Orson Welles made his passion project Citizen Kane , he probably had no idea that he was making what would in the future be referred to as the single greatest film of all time by thousands of people, as well as one of the most essential movies of the '40s . Inspired by magnate William Randolph Hearst , it's a character study about a group of reporters trying to decipher the last words of Charles Foster Kane (Welles), a powerful newspaper tycoon.

Citizen Kane is an entirely unique picture, and the way it's structured is just as well. Citizen Kane follows Campbell's monomyth formula in a very non-traditional way , which only makes it more of a groundbreaking story. There are plenty of good reasons for its fame, and that's certainly one of the biggest.

Citizen Kane

1 'star wars' (1977), george lucas's revolutionary space opera.

Perhaps no movie more famously follows the Hero's Journey archetype than Star Wars , with George Lucas having taken direct inspiration from Campbell . The hero in this particular story is Luke Skywalker ( Mark Hamill ), a young farm boy who's thrown into an adventure far greater than anything he'd encountered before, joining the Rebellion against the dictatorial Galactic Empire.

One of the best space operas of all time, Star Wars showcases what makes the monomyth such an effective way of telling stories and celebrating the art of storytelling itself. Luke is a deeply compelling hero, his journey is incredibly entertaining, and all the allies and villains that he encounters along the way are equally iconic. As far as modern myths go, Star Wars is certainly one of the best.

Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope

NEXT: Movies You Didn't Realize Were Based on Greek Mythology

12 Hero’s Journey Examples in Disney Movies

Looking for the hero’s journey examples in Disney movies? Discover our guide with our top picks!

The hero’s journey is a narrative structure that’s been used in literature for thousands of years. This structure and its inherent stages are discussed in the seminal work by Joseph Cambell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces . Checking out the best Disney movies can be helpful when writing essays about movies .

The hero’s journey structure can be identified in movies, too, and those from the Disney studio are no exception. Below you’ll find our selection of the top twelve Disney films that follow this distinctive pattern. And once you recognize the structure, you might start to spot it everywhere!

Here Are The Best Hero’s Journey Examples in Disney Movies

1. the lion king, 3. hercules, 5. toy story, 7. finding nemo, 9. pocahontas, 12. the jungle book.

The Lion King is a much-loved Disney movie released in 1994. It follows a clear hero’s journey narrative structure. Simba’s Ordinary World is the Pride Lands, where he was born and lives with his family. We learn how important it is to him to grow to be as strong and competent as his father, Mufasa, who he will one day succeed as king.

Simba’s story progresses through all the stages of the hero’s journey. From the Call to Adventure, where Simba is encouraged to visit the elephant graveyard by his uncle Scar, to The Reward, which sees the young protagonist lose his self-doubt, the one thing holding him back from becoming a hero. Finally, the Return with the Elixir. Simba, taking up his father’s crown, restores his kingdom. His journey has healed both himself and the Pride Lands. You might also be interested in these hero’s journey examples in real life .

Mulan is another Disney movie in which the hero’s journey is clearly evident. A couple of stages are particularly clear. Encountering Mushu the dragon is a comedic rendering of The Meeting of the Mentor part of the hero’s journey. At the same time, The Road Back is Mulan’s physical race against time as she dashes home to warn Shang of the Huns’ plan to storm the palace. You might also be interested in these personal narrative examples .

• Ming-Na Wen, Eddie Murphy, BD Wong (Actors)
• Barry Cook (Director) - Alan Ormsby (Writer)
• English (Subtitle)
• Audience Rating: G (General Audience)

Pretty much the epitome of the hero’s journey, Hercules is a Disney classic from 1997 that literally follows a hero’s journey! While it departs a fair way from the twelve labors tale of the original legend, it still sticks to Joseph Campbell ’s monomyth structure. Even the Crossing the First Threshold stage is clearly delineated, with Hercules engaging in a little warm-up roundhousing with a centaur to save Meg.

• Tate Donovan, Susan Egan, James Woods (Actors)
• John Musker (Director) - Bob Shaw (Writer)
• English, English (Subtitles)

The hero’s journey can be simplified into three key stages: Departure, Initiation, and Return. The title character of Aladdin begins life in Agrabah as a ‘street rat’ – but we see him leave his ordinary world when he’s lured into entering the Cave of Wonders, sent on a mission by the villainous Jafar (Departure). 

Our hero meets the genie and sets off on a spectacular adventure, dealing with enemies and difficult matters of the heart (Initiation)! He triumphs in the end, though, defeating Jafar, winning over his true love, and finally becoming comfortable in his skin (Return). For more, check out these hero’s journey short stories examples .

It’s not just the narrative structure that can have an archetypal structure: the heroes themselves can often be categorized into archetypes, too, such as The Warrior (Hercules) or The Orphan (Aladdin). One of the lesser-seen hero archetypes is The Caregiver, represented in Toy Story by the character of Woody the cowboy, who oversees and generally looks after all of Andy’s other toys.

The arrival of Buzz Lightyear causes Woody’s consternation. Still, after many trials and challenges Woody has to face in rescuing the toy astronaut, the pair must team up to escape the cruel boy next door, Sid, and save his ill-treated toys. You might also be interested in these tragic hero examples .

In Moana , when a mysterious, dark force threatens her island, Moana is called to adventure to discover how to save her community. During her quest, the heroine faces multiple challenges, meets her mentor, the mighty Maui , and Returns with the Elixir, saving her island and coming home triumphantly, recognized as the firm leader she is. 

It’s worth mentioning that Moana actually has two mentors. As well as Maui, her grandmother, also embodies the role of mentor, demonstrating how the hero’s journey structure has a little give in it and can flex to the story’s needs. Check out these essays about films .

• New Store Stock
• Japanese, Spanish, French, Russian, Arabic (Subtitles)

Finding Nemo is a classic hero’s quest tale – even if it features the most unlikely protagonists! The stages of the hero’s journey are nice and clear: Nemo is swept from his Ordinary World when he’s captured by a scuba diver and taken far from his home. His mission is to return to his dad, Marlin, who finds himself on the adventure of a lifetime as he seeks his lost son. 

Marlin finds his mentor, Dory. Together they navigate many dangers until they eventually find Nemo and return to their home in the reef. And the Elixir? Marlin is a way more chilled-out dad and enjoys a closer relationship with his son due to the quest.

• Lee Unkrich, Andrew Stanton (Actors)
• English, Dutch (Subtitles)
• English (Publication Language)

In Up , another unlikely hero, Carl, lives alone following the death of his beloved wife. The Call to Adventure takes the form of a construction company trying to force Carl out of his home to redevelop the land. And Carl’s having none of it. Faced with the prospect of a move to the Shady Oaks retirement home, Carl takes extreme action, attaching thousands of helium balloons to his house. There’s no going back once his adventure has literally taken flight!

• Running time 96 minutes
• Edward Asner, Jordan Nagai, John Ratzenberger (Actors)
• Bob Peterson (Director) - Bob Peterson (Writer) - Andrew Stanton (Producer)

Released in 1995, Disney’s Pocahontas may have raised eyebrows with its re-writing of history. Still, in terms of its adherence to the hero’s journey structure, it’s authentic. It features Captain Smith, the stereotypical brave explorer-type hero, and Pocahontas, the heroine of this tale.

The story focuses on the importance of remaining open-minded, accepting of differences, and knowing oneself – deeply – this is a hero’s journey story with a difference – but a hero’s journey story all the same.

• Polish Release, cover may contain Polish text/markings. The disk has English audio and subtitles.
• English, Spanish, Dutch (Subtitles)

A beautifully vibrant movie, Coco ’s plot follows Miguel, who loves music but has the misfortune of growing up in a family where music is banned. The young hero literally crosses the threshold when he enters the Land of the Dead in search of the truth about his family history and why music is such a taboo.

The Return with the Elixir stage is particularly magical in Coco : upon returning to the world of the living, there is reconciliation within Hector’s family, and music flows through the house once more – for good.

• Lee Unkrich (Director) - Adrian Molina (Writer) - Darla K. Anderson (Producer)

Step into the land of Brave , where a Scottish medieval Princess named Merida is frustrated at the fate being imposed upon her. She has no wish to marry and, to defy her family’s wishes, runs away to escape the betrothal. 

In the forest, Merida meets a witch and makes a life-changing (literally) bargain with her. Returning to the castle, she presents her mother, Queen Elinor, with the cake the witch has given her, promising that it will alter the situation. But this ‘alteration’ is not what Merida imagined.

• English, French (Subtitles)

Released in 1967, the original The Jungle Book movie remains much loved by audiences and features many unforgettable characters. In many ways, the movie reverses the traditional hero’s journey. Young Mowgli’s Ordinary World – the jungle – is anything but ordinary. And the narrative arc is driven by his journey (physically and spiritually) to a destination entirely alien to him: the human world. Looking for more? Check out our guide with movies that follow the hero’s journey !

• UK Import Exclusive Disney Villains Gloss Slipcover
• Subtitles: English, Spanish, Portugese
• Audio: English, Spanish, Portugese
• Phil Harris, Bruce Reitherman, George Sanders (Actors)

Melanie Smith is a freelance content and creative writer from Gloucestershire, UK, where she lives with her daughter, long-suffering partner, and cat, The Magical Mr. Bobo. Her blog posts and articles feature regularly in magazines and websites around the world.

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