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!”
