Luca
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures | Release Date (Streaming): June 18, 2021 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
71
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 52 Critic Reviews
Positive:
37
Mixed:
15
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The PlaylistDrew TaylorJun 16, 2021
This movie will fill your heart up. Casarosa is an artist with a true perspective, fearless in his creative impulses and limitless in his compassion, and Luca is a pure expression of these sensibilities. Read full review
95
SlashfilmHoai-Tran BuiJun 16, 2021
The layered dynamics and pure, honest emotions underneath Luca‘s simple coming-of-age story are what elevate the film to one of Pixar’s best — and an example of what animation can be if they stop trying to race forward, and just stop and take a breath. Read full review
90
Film ThreatChris SalceJul 7, 2021
It is sweet, engaging, and has a great message. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangJun 16, 2021
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. Read full review
90
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeJun 16, 2021
Luca is sweet and affecting, capturing the bond that strangers can build over a summer, and how that friendship can endure. And like its shape-shifting protagonists, it’s got plenty going on beneath the surface. Read full review
88
ABC NewsPeter TraversJun 18, 2021
It’s not in the same league as such Pixar classics as ‘WALL-E’ and the ‘Toy Story’ quartet, but there’s no denying the pure enchantment of the visual, comic and subtextual dazzle in this tale of two sea monsters trying to pass for human boys in 1960’s Italy. Read full review
88
The Associated PressJake CoyleJun 17, 2021
Casarosa’s film comes and goes like a soft summer breeze, but that doesn’t stop it from being utterly charming and, by the time of its magnificent final shot, a little devastating, too. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJun 16, 2021
Director Enrico Casarosa is making his feature-length debut here, and he and the vast Pixar animation army have delivered a gorgeous and lovely coming-of-age fantasy with plenty of slapstick laughs, the obligatory heartwarming family moments and a friendship for the ages. Read full review
85
PolygonPetrana RadulovicJun 18, 2021
Luca isn’t trying to make people cry, the way some Pixar movies now feel obligated to do, but it still rings as a bittersweet experience. Instead of a tearjerker, it’s a fond memory, a soft sigh after a recollection of a time gone by. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattJun 18, 2021
The story's bright swirl of Pixar pixie dust, jangle soundtrack, and gentle lessons on accepting otherness and learning to move past fear feel like a temporary passport: a sweetly soulful all-ages dip in la dolce vita. Read full review
83
ConsequenceClint WorthingtonJun 16, 2021
Some may well dismiss Luca as “mid-tier” Pixar, perhaps out of frustration that it doesn’t fit those aforementioned molds. But in its stillness and modesty, I found a lot to adore; it’s a simple, charming story of two boys having the summer of their lives, and the big and small ways it changes the both of them. Read full review
83
The Film StageBrian RoanJun 16, 2021
Luca is a film soaked in nostalgic affection for the Italian coast, awe for the empowerment of knowledge, and love of the power of family, whether born of blood or choice. Read full review
83
IndieWireDavid EhrlichJun 16, 2021
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. Read full review
80
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeJun 20, 2021
While Luca might lack some of the dizzying inventiveness that marks out top-tier Pixar, it’s packed to the gills with charm. Read full review
80
The TelegraphRobbie CollinJun 18, 2021
In all kinds of ways, Luca is the smallest film that Pixar has made, but it’s also unquestionably one of the studio’s loveliest. Read full review
80
The New York TimesA.O. ScottJun 17, 2021
It’s about the sometimes risky discovery of pleasure, and it’s a pleasure to discover. Read full review
80
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Aparita BhandariJun 16, 2021
As you get immersed in the story, you’re also entranced by a lovely escape to a nostalgic Italian summer that’s inspired by visits to real-life places and rendered in a style akin to that distinctive Miyazaki aesthetic. I also want to get my hands on the original score – the music soars gorgeously. Read full review
80
Screen DailyTim GriersonJun 16, 2021
Luca is undeniably slight. But there’s also relief in its modesty: rather than shoehorning spectacle and stakes into this story, Casarosa gives the film and its easygoing humour room to breathe. Read full review
80
BBCNicholas BarberJun 16, 2021
Casarosa has crafted a modest and gentle yarn about a few good-natured people in a small area, and their enviably simple way of life. His cartoon is aimed at the heart – and the tastebuds – rather than the brain. And it's no less of a delight for that. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyJun 16, 2021
It’s not canonical Pixar, but it’s as sweet and satisfying as artisanal gelato on a summer afternoon. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJun 16, 2021
If this is a story told more broadly than what we’ve seen from Pixar the past few films, so be it. It may not be a masterpiece, but its message is one that can’t be expressed enough. Luca expresses it in a gorgeous, fun way. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJun 18, 2021
There is, however, just enough atmospheric detail and, in the final lap, enough genuine feeling in the thorny friendships to make it worth seeing. Read full review
75
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiJun 17, 2021
For the most part, though, Luca is light and effervescent as a summertime Bellini, which is something parents can drink while the kids watch this. Read full review
75
Vanity FairRichard LawsonJun 16, 2021
Luca does, despite its vagueness, successfully pull off some of the usual Pixar tricks, provoking warm tears and weary sighs as one considers the familiar trajectories of life. Read full review
75
USA TodayBrian TruittJun 16, 2021
The movie’s both a reminder to always believe in ourselves, and believe in that old Pixar magic. Read full review
75
LarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenJun 16, 2021
One of Pixar’s smaller, sweeter efforts. Read full review
75
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottJun 16, 2021
Granted, Luca might not go down as one of the more profound entries in the Pixar catalog. Don’t expect it to make you well up the same way Up or Toy Story 2 did. Still, at a time in which international travel is mostly for the bold, it’s an undeniably pleasant summertime trip. Read full review
75
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldJun 16, 2021
It’s a nice message, told with charm aplenty. And as always, the Pixar magicians create a wonderfully populated world. Read full review
70
Screen RantMae AbdulbakiJun 18, 2021
Luca is a wonderful coming of age story with a nice message that balances deep emotions and a lot of adventurous fun. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJun 17, 2021
As pleasing as the film is, some of it feels arbitrary, underdeveloped, possibly rushed. Read full review
70
IGNNicole ClarkJun 16, 2021
Pixar's Luca may not be one of the animation studio's strongest efforts, but it's still a sweet summer getaway. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Jun 16, 2021
The generous read on Luca is that it has the sweet simplicity of a fairy tale, something that tired kids and the exhausted parents reading to them could follow even while on the verge of slumber. Less euphemistically, this is an exceptionally mild addition to the Pixar canon, pleasant but nearly as shallow as a bathtub. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJun 18, 2021
The message is laudable and Luca’s heart is in the right place but its sledgehammer tactics make parts of the movie feel more like a homily than summer entertainment. Read full review
63
Paste MagazineAndrew CrumpJun 17, 2021
There’s a long pedigree for Casarosa, Andrews and Jones to live up to. Mostly what they manage is sweetness, and so sweetness must suffice. A little more body would have been better. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineKeith WatsonJun 16, 2021
Pixar’s most intimate and laidback effort since Ratatouille feels like a throwback to one of Mark Twain’s rollicking picaresque sagas. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comRobert DanielsJun 16, 2021
While some material may hit with younger audiences, Luca makes for Pixar’s least enchanting, least special film yet. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy BurrJun 16, 2021
Luca has energy to spare and it’s certainly easy on the eyes, if not as visually outrageous as, say, the recent Coco. The moral lessons — be true to your friends, overcome your fears — are tidy and shopworn, fresh to young audiences but lacking the jolts of originality that make classic Pixar films an all-ages proposition. Read full review
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