OK so you remember when I watched The Little Mermaid for the first time ever and then wrote about it like a month and a half ago? I watched a movie called Luca with Luna recently, and I gotta say, it’s a lot like The Little Mermaid except about 55.75 times better.
* Pause while I wait for people to stop pelting me with pebbles. *
Hear me out! It does everything The Little Mermaid did:
- Young sea-humanoids curious and fascinated with life on land, yet forbidden from going on land
- An adventure on land by said young sea-humanoids with humans
- Deadly danger
- Eventual mutual acceptance of sea-humanoids and humans
- The sea-humanoids end up staying on land and continue the grand adventure that they began during the movie
Only it did it better. A lot better.
Now, I will say that there was no music, so The Little Mermaid’s got a leg up in that department. I love The Little Mermaid soundtrack. But everything else was crafted far better in Luca, in my opinion.
First off, there was no horrible, abusive King Triton. There was trauma, misguided parenting, and abandonment, yes. But there was no equivalent to the mentally and emotionally abusive stinking heap of shit that is King Triton.
Already leaps and bounds ahead.
No but seriously, let’s talk about the parents in this movie. There are Luca’s parents, Alberto’s father, and Giulia’s parents. All of them play different roles in this movie, all very important.
Luca’s parents, Daniella and Lorenzo, love their son fiercely and are also seriously misguided. To be fair, they are terribly afraid of humans. Daniella refers to them as “land monsters” and insists that their only objective is to kill. Lorenzo is a little less overtly afraid of them and takes on more of the absent-minded father who doesn’t pay much attention to anything. Which means that Daniella’s fear governs their family.
And so when Luca is caught going to the surface, his mom freaks out and decides that the best solution is to send him away into the depths of the ocean. Presumably, this is so that he doesn’t have access to the land anymore. But it’s just bizarre to me. She is completely uninterested in having a conversation with Luca about what his motives are to understand her son. Instead she completely shuts him down and chooses to send him away.
Great plan Daniella. Really gunning for that “Mom of the Year” award, eh?
At one point, Luca states that his mother doesn’t know humans and so can’t understand that they aren’t as dangerous as she thinks. (He doesn’t say as much, but I assumed that’s where he was going with it before she cuts him off.) Her response is to say,
I know you! And I know what’s best for you. It is done!”
Which is just mind-boggling. Let’s review the facts:
- She had no idea he had a desire to learn more about the land. We see him hiding the human items he finds in the opening scene.
- She had no idea he had actually made it to the surface.
- She gave Luca zero opportunities to have any sort of say in what happens to him, explain what he’d experienced, or even just to express how he feels about the situation.
Yeah, I’d say that she doesn’t know him at all. No, what she is referring to is herself. She knows that she is afraid. She knows that what’s best for her is to lock her son away so that she doesn’t have to face the anxiety and discomfort of her son doing something she doesn’t want him to do. If she knew him, she wouldn’t have decided to send him away.
Side note. I can’t imagine choosing to send Luna away from me. That would be devastating. I can hardly imagine sending her somewhere she wants to go like a summer camp for a week or two, let alone to live far away from me.
What is wrong with Luca’s parents, like seriously?
I get that this is a plot device to heighten the stakes and push Luca to make the big, spontaneous decision to leave with Alberto, but his parents just look really, really bad in this.
Not as bad as King Triton. Never as bad as that douche rocket.
But if you’ve read some of my other blog posts, you know my stance on parenting. You know that my number 1 rule with Luna is I listen to her and then she listens to me. Without communication, mutual respect, and understanding one another, we can’t get anywhere. Not anywhere healthy anyway. And it makes me angry seeing parents act the way Luca’s parents did.
I could go on, but I won’t.
Because now I get to talk about Alberto’s piece of shit dad. Who just up and left him.
What?!
This movie has some seriously effed up crap going on. This kid has gone through a lot. He left the sea with his dad, wound up on a tiny island off the coast of this town. And his dad just decided to go and never come back. For no apparent reason. So Alberto fends for himself, and if the tick marks on the wall are any indication, he’s been at it for a while.
And the saddest part is that he stays on the island alone, not even seeking help from someone in the sea monster village. And why? Because he’s still waiting for the asshat who left him behind.
His dad does not deserve to have an amazing, smart, resourceful kid like Alberto. Who still manages to be selfless and look out for Luca every step of the way while keeping a goofy grin on his face.
Way to go, you pathetic excuse for a father.
I am so enraged at these unbelievably rotten parents. Triton, Daniella, Lorenzo, and nameless turdmuffin who doesn’t even deserve a name.
But there is a silver lining. A beautiful, one-armed, tiny-eyed silver lining named Massimo.
Massimo is a wonderful human, father to spunky Giulia, the girl Luca and Alberto befriend and join the race with. He takes excellent care of not only Giulia, but Luca and Alberto as well. Absolutely no questions asked, he takes these boys in and genuinely cares about them.
He is a man of few words, which gives him the unique ability to hear the kids out when they have an idea they want to try. He trusts his daughter enough to allow her to use her own judgment about joining the race, despite her past troubles with completing previous races. And like I said before, he genuinely cares about the boys. When Alberto does not come home for dinner one night, Massimo immediately goes looking for him.
I mean, it’s total night and day. Massimo gets it. He understands that tiny humans are no less human than any adult, and he treats them that way. He listens, he is open to suggestion, and he trusts them to know what it is they want and need and therefore fully supports them however he can. Whether that’s by opening his home to them, feeding them food, going fishing with them paying for the racing fee, going out in the middle of the night to make sure they are OK, or stepping in so they would literally not be killed by the viallgers.
Massimo is my hero. Massimo is the kind of parent I strive to be. And he is the kind of parent I want to see more of in movies and TV shows.
Better than Giulia’s mother, who is only mentioned by Giulia when she asks Luca if she’s “too much” because her mother sometimes tells her that she is.
Go to hell, Giulia’s mom! Your daughter is not “too much,” she is vivacious and dazzling. She is full of life and excitement, and she is fantastic. Too much indeed! Perhaps for a small-minded person, Giulia is too much. As Tessa has told me on occasion when I’ve faced similar feedback, “maybe they’re not enough for you.”
So yes, Giulia’s mother is not enough for Giulia’s vibrant, brilliant personality that is abundant in every aspect. But for my personal hero Massimo and for Luca, she is perfect.
And that’s how you know when you’ve found your people.
Eff off, Giulia’s mom and Alberto’s dad. Just eff right the eff off.
OK so that takes care of the 7 trillion parents in this movie. There’s so much more to this than just that though. I want to talk about the relationship that develops between Luca and Alberto. These boys have this wonderful connection that is so innocent and pure and strong, it makes my heart feel full just watching them.
When they first meet, Luca and Alberto have an adorable interaction where Luca freaks out, and Alberto sort of lets him while also encouraging him. So while Luca is rolling around wailing that he’s a “good kid,” Alberto supports his acclimation to land. I love that Alberto meets Luca exactly where he’s at, and at the same time, he shares his excitement and enthusiasm.
These two boys have the same desire — freedom. Alberto wants desperately to be free of the island and his abandonment baggage while exploring the world with his new best friend. Luca wants to be free to explore the land and not get sent away to the deep ocean with his gross uncle. The two boys dream of going away together on a Vespa.
Vespa equals freedom.
The pure innocence of their dream and the way their excitement compounds on each other is very familiar. I was like that once with my best friends in grade school, dreaming of freedom and taking on the world together. I especially love the dream sequence where they are flying in the sky with the fish on their Vespa. It’s surreal and beautiful and feels just like a child’s daydream should.
And Alberto has these little sayings that I love. The way he quiets the doubt in his mind, saying, “Silencio Bruno!” and telling Luca to “just do it without thinking. Just catch yourself before you fall” when he’s learning to walk. It’s so simple and child-like, but effective too. As an adult, I overthink so many things. The simplicity of Alberto’s faith in Luca is the kind of faith I wish I had in myself.
At one point, he tells Luca,
You and me? We can do anything!
We all need a friend like Alberto.
I could go on and on about this movie; there is so much here to pull apart, snidbits of delightful, relatable material. And that is precisely why I love it so much more than The Little Mermaid.
It has all the same elements, minus the music, but story-wise, it’s all there. I mean Alberto even has the Ariel-esque collection of things. The parents of the protagonists are jerks, and the kind stranger and her parent are wonderful, just like Eric and Grimsby. And at the end, there is an inexplicable change of heart by almost literally everyone. Suddenly they all accept each other, the kids can stay on land, and everything is fine.
That part is still unrealistic, but I am willing to forgive that because the rest of the story was so much better developed and didn’t involve a man in his twenties falling in love with and marrying a 16 year old girl.
Gross, Prince Eric. Gross.
This movie made me feel all the feels. The writers did an excellent job of making me angry when the parents were jerks. It made me feel whimsical and hopeful when the boys dreamed. I felt indignation when Ercole (main villain on land) was a bully. I felt devastated for Alberto when I learned of his father’s abandonment, betrayed by Luca when he pretended to be afraid of Alberto, and frustrated when Alberto refused to express his fears to Luca.
And my oh my did my heart swell when the boys said their farewells. When Luca asks Alberto if he will be OK, and he responds, “You got me off the island, Luca. I’m OK.” and then Alberto runs after the train, cheering Luca on the way he did from the very start, my heart was so full. It was a beautiful scene.
And knowing that Alberto was going to be OK because Massimo took him in gave me a real sense of peace. I know this is a work of fiction, but I became very invested in these characters, especially Alberto. An orphaned boy with a kind and gentle single dad who really cares about him…what could be more heartwarming?
The movie is called Luca, but there was so much more character development with Alberto, and he was the most compelling character. The movie seemed more about him, and though he wasn’t the main character, he was definitely the driving force.
All in all, I loved this movie. Disney movies have never been something I’m into. I mean I liked Tangled and Frozen, but I can’t think of any others off the top of my head. But this one was really great, and if there are more Disney movies like this one, I would be interested in watching more.
Which is the hole point of all this. I never would have discovered that I like this kind of movies if I hadn’t watched it with an exploratory approach. If I had just dismissed it as a kids’ movie that Audrey wants to watch without paying close attention, I never would have found something I love so much. Once again recognizing the value of this exercise and feeling one step closer to knowing myself better than I ever have.
**READ ME (please)**
Two things!
One, please note that the names of everyone in this blog have been altered to protect the people I write about. My main goal is to explore my experiences and my growth, not air anyone’s dirty laundry out. Any likeness to people you know in real life are probably coincidental. (I mean what are the chances? It’s a pretty big world!)
Two, the thoughts and opinions I express in this blog are merely a result of my personal experiences to this point in my life. If there is anything I have misrepresented, overlooked, or have a blind spot for, feel free to leave a comment or email me at contact@livingbetween.net. (Yes, this includes typos. Let me fix my typos, please!) All I ask is that you always remain respectful.
Talk soon!
– Lynda –
Living Between 