Young sea monster Luca meets Alberto in the ocean and together they venture out of it (defying Luca’s parents’ warnings), becoming human boys as soon as they’re dry. The director based the story on childhood experiences together with his best friend at the time and the film was thoroughly researched on the Italian Riviera; set in the 1950s, its look and style borrows inspiration from Fellini and Miyazaki. Hard to resist, like so many other sweet, touching and funny Pixar films. The story may be slight, but it also specifically appealed to gay audiences who identified with the boys’ emotions.
2021-U.S. Animated. 101 min. Color. Produced by Andrea Warren. Directed by Enrico Casarosa. Screenplay: Jesse Andrews, Mike Jones. Voices of Jacob Tremblay (Luca), Jack Dylan Grazer (Alberto), Emma Berman (Giulia Marcovaldo), Maya Rudolph, Marco Barricelli, Jim Gaffigan… Sacha Baron Cohen.
Trivia: Co-executive produced by Pete Docter.Â
Last word: “It was a little too complicated [in the beginning]. The first pitch was a little more ‘Stand by Me’. There was a larger group, we had another kid with Luca and Alberto as a sea monster. His name was Ciccio, so we recast him as a goon for our Ercole, and they were on a bigger quest. They were going to become human. They were going to turn fully human, and there were magical tokens, and we realized that it needed to be more focused on the friendship. We got rid of the third wheel, we kept Luca and Alberto a little more at the center, and we realized that is really what we’re interested in here.” (Casarosa, Slash Film)
