Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar have released their latest animated film, Luca. Luca is officially released Friday, June 18, 2021 on the Disney+ Hotstar streaming platform.
Directed by Enrico Casarosa and produced by Andrea Warren, Luca is about the friendship of two 13-year-old boys named Luca (Jacob Tremblay) and Alberto (Jack Dylan Grazer) in Italy.
Both are known to really enjoy the beauty of the Italian Riviera seaside town by enjoying unlimited gelato, pasta and scooters. However, in the midst of Luca and Alberto's fun there, they must continue to keep the secret that they are sea monsters from below the surface of the sea.
Their true identities should not be known because the citizens of the city did not hesitate to kill any sea monsters they encountered.
During a summer adventure on the Riviera, Luca and Alberto must keep their bodies dry so the locals don't know they are sea monsters. The locals always target sea monsters to kill.
Luca and Alberto also met Guila, a girl who would later help them win the Portoroso Cup with the prize money. The money is planned to be used to buy a vespa and be their vehicle around the world together.
To win the competition, Luca, Alberto and Giulia had to go up against Ercole Visconti, the many years winner of the Portorosso Cup. The three of them were doing hard training. However, in the middle of the exercise, Alberto's identity was revealed.
The film, which airs on the Disney+ Hotstar streaming platform, tells the story of a boy named Luca and his best friend Alfonso who is a sea monster.
They ventured on an adventure together in the summer in the seaside town of the Riviera, Italy. Having fun exploring the city, they also have to hide their true identities as sea monsters.
In an exclusive interview with VIVA recently, director Luca, Enrico Casarosa said that his latest film was inspired by Japanese animation.
"I love all those movies and they influenced me. When I was a kid, I grew up with Japanese animation and I loved Ayumi's work and it had a big impact on me. I've loved her comics for years and they inspire me," Enrico told VIVA in an exclusive interview conducted virtually.
Not only in terms of story, setting and appearance of this film is also influenced by animation and Japanese wooden blocks.
“We knew we wanted to make something different by using multiple reference points. A lot of it comes from 2D animation which I have loved since childhood. I grew up in Italy, but watched a lot of Japanese cartoons in the 1980s," he said.
“Beautiful reflection simplification wood block prints, for example, are very attractive and beautiful. They seem to inspire a lot of the Japanese animation and watercolors that I adore. So we spent a lot of time looking at it," he added.
On the other hand, Enrico also revealed that Luca's film is also quite different from the animated films he has worked on before. For information, the setting where this film is made is as close as possible to the city where Enrico was born and raised in his hometown in Italy.
"So the difference is because the scope is much bigger so you want everyone to like it. Families need to laugh, and kids need to feel something emotion to feel. So I felt the need to create more emotion. It was an interesting challenge. makes it feel different because it retains some of that magic and fantasy," he said.
In the process of making
Luca's film, Enrico and his team conducted direct research in Italy, where Enrico and Luca's character were born and raised.
Enrico explained that he wanted to introduce the production team to the aspects he valued most, while allowing them to discover special characteristics. They also walked to the Italian coastline as part of their research.