
Try watching Luca and Alberto stand arm in arm as they take in a beautiful sunset without wanting to shout, "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" at the screen. It's the male version of The Little Mermaid with a Pride month release date. With its lush score by Dan Romer and its rainbow-colored gallery of hues and tones, you may find this the perfect setting for a same sex connection. Those who can sniff out the undercurrents (pardon the Dad joke pun), however, will see Luca as a thinly veiled coming-out/gay love story. Add a town bully who looks and acts just like Dancing With The Stars judge Bruno Tonioli and scene stealing roles from Napoleon Dynamite legend, Sandy Martin as Luca's droll Grandma, and Sasha Baron Cohen as his loopy Uncle Ugo, and you have an unpretentious delight for all ages. If they win, they can buy a real, if busted, Vespa, and Broman Holiday it up until the dog days of August. They crash at their new friend Giulia's house and learn of a triathlon competition consisting of bicycling, pasta eating, and the dreaded swimming leg. In a delightful sequence, we find them building and crashing janky Vespa prototypes. With a secret only spoiled if they get wet again, the boys seek out all the thrills and spills denied them in their natural habitat. Naturally, or else goodbye movie, Luca meets Alberto (Jack Dylan Grazer) who coaxes Luca to the surface, where their bodies take on human form. They constantly warn Luca to stay away from the dangerous world above their undersea environs. You'd find yourself forgiven for immediately thinking of a certain Oscar-nominated film from a few years ago, but who would have imagined the same scenario applying to the new Pixar movie, Luca? In the battle of text and subtext, Luca finds that sweet spot between a cute family adventure and an unabashedly LGBTQIA+ budding romance.Įnrico Casarosa makes his feature directing debut, and along with co-writers Jesse Andrews and Mike Jones, gives us Luca Paguro (Jacob Tremblay), a 13-year-old sea monster who, in the 1950s, spends his days herding fish and coming home to his parents Daniela (Maya Rudolph) and Lorenzo (Jim Gaffigan).


Peaches, or perhaps peach gelato, may or may not play a role. They share a strong bond, but circumstances seem fated to drive them apart. Picture a story of two young men who meet in an Italian village one fateful summer.
