YMMV / Luca

• Accidental Aesop:
  • It's okay to admit you don't know everything. Alberto and Luca have a fight because Luca learns from Giulia that the lights in the sky aren't glowing fish (as Alberto told Luca earlier), but stars, making Luca realize that Alberto doesn't know as much about the surface as he claims. It eventually lead to their fallout until they made up, with Alberto paying a ticket for Luca to get a chance to learn what he doesn't know.
  • It's okay to change, and to change your mind. Luca initially leaves his shepherd's life in the sea to live his and Alberto's shared dream of seeing the world on a vespa, but decides upon further self- and world exploration that he'd rather go to school. Both changes initially upset Luca's family and the latter upsets Alberto, but everyone involved eventually decides they care more about Luca's happiness than their own hangups.
  • Sometimes it's better in the long run to assert boundaries, even if it risks causing painful conflict. When Alberto oversteps and begins trying to make life choices for Luca, Luca asserting himself initially leads to an escalating blowout between them, but eventually brings about a more healthy reevaluation of the flaws in their relationship, with Luca stepping up to become more decisive and bold for Alberto's sake and Alberto letting go of control for the sake of Luca's happiness.
• Accidental Innuendo: These lines near the beginning, if taken out of context:
  Alberto: First time?
  Luca: Of course it is! I'm a good kid!
  Alberto: Hey, relax. Breathe.
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Is Alberto, like his namesake, bold, nonchalant, doesn't care what anyone thinks of him and is willing to do anything to protect those he cares for? Or is he a lonely, insecure kid who puts on a brave façade to hide behind, and his overprotectiveness is just him being terrified of losing the only person he knows and calls friend?
  • When Ercole speeds his motor boat toward Giulia's rowboat, Guido nervously calls out "Ercole??". When it becomes apparent that Ercole isn't just trying to scare them but actually intends to ram them, Guido grabs the rudder at the last instant narrowly avoiding a collision. Was Guido having a sudden twinge of his moral compass? Or did he realize everyone was at risk of serious injury and acted to save his skin but was too chicken to call Ercole out on his stupid action?
• Applicability: The director, Enrico Casarosa, states that his intention was to write a film loosely based on his own life about kids from vastly different backgrounds, summer adventures and the strong platonic bonds that form between them, though he welcomes that the LGBT+ community resonates with the movie's themes of diversity, acceptance and inclusion.
• Catharsis Factor: Ercole is such a vindictive jackass throughout the whole movie, that seeing him get his comeuppance at the end of the race, and that his toadies Ciccio and Guido humiliate him further by pushing him into the fountain, is very satisfying.
• Comedy Ghetto: The film is a far smaller and more lighthearted affair than the rest of Pixar's output, as besides the cartoonier art style, it has no grand adventure or the deep emotional and philosophical moments found in other Pixar films, and it has a more grounded and low-stakes conflict than other Pixar films, with even the main villain being more of a mean bully than a true legitimate threat (until the third act). While the film is still popular and beloved overall, its breezy Slice of Life tone and small stakes has caused some critics and Pixar fans to dismiss and scoff at the film, with some viewing it as inferior to Pixar's past work, if not one of the studio's weakest or even worst films, simply because it lacks the emotional depth and pathos that Pixar is known for.
• Common Knowledge:
  • One of the largest misconceptions is that Luca and Alberto are a gay couple, to the point that many have interpreted Luca as a Coming Of Age Queer Romance and have accused Pixar of "queerbaiting" thanks to the lack of explicit romance between them, despite the "hints" between them. Ho Yay and Rainbow Lens aside, Luca and Alberto are officially just best friends, and there is no romance in the film.
  • Concetta and Pinuccia are often interpreted as an elderly lesbian couple by fans. However, not only are there no indications of them being a couple, but the two are actually sisters according to the film's credits and Word of God.
• Crosses the Line Twice: When Luca's parents first come to Portorosso to find Luca, Lorenzo throws a kid into the water and makes him cry, and then there's Daniela trying to get all the kids wet by knocking them into the fountain with a football. In any other context it would be horrible, but here it just comes off as Black Comedy.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Guido has earned a number of fans on TikTok and Tumblr for his quick thinking in diverting Ercole’s motorboat away from hitting Luca and Alberto, as well as for having a cuter design than Ercole and Ciccio.
• Fanfic Fuel:
  • Sea monster biology isn't explored much in the movie other than the plot-relevant aspect of sea monsters changing to human form when on land, and a few other details such as "phantom tail", so it's prime ground for fans to build on and speculate about.
  • Fans have also come up with their own interpretations on what Uncle Ugo's human form would look like (assuming he can survive on land of course), with many fan versions based off of Borat.
  • The character's lives post-film are shown in brief glimpses during the credits, showing things like Alberto being a lifeguard, being thrown a birthday celebration by Massimo, and hanging out with other members of the town, as well as the sea monsters integrating more with Portorosso and Luca being pretty open with his identity as a sea monster in Genova. Filling in the blanks and contexts of these images and exploring the cast's post-film circumstances are popular fanfic subjects.
• Fan Nickname: It is popular to affectionately refer to this movie as "The Gay Fish Movie" due to the large amounts of Ho Yay between the two lead male characters, coupled with the fact that the plot points surrounding their "otherness" as sea monsters (hiding, passing as human, "coming out", being persecuted or being accepted) so strongly parallel the real-life experiences of LGBTQ people.
• Fan-Preferred Cut Content: While the "Gelato Trouble" scene was cut and greatly simplified to a quick gag in the final film due to its pacing, many fans wish it had been kept in the final film, namely because they found the scene to be a hilarious homage to Spaghetti Westerns, and it shows off more of the Aragosta sisters.
• Fanon:
  • Many fans have theorized that the "Bruno" in Alberto's "Silenzio, Bruno!" may be referring to the father who left him. The examples of "Bruno sayings" that Alberto provides do sound like an adult scolding a child. "Alberto, you can't", "Alberto you're gonna die" and especially "Alberto, don't put that in your mouth".
    • Although this has been denied by Enrico Casarosa, some fans decide to ignore that fact and name Alberto's father Bruno in fanfictions anyway.
  • One fan idea suggests that had Luca actually went to the deep and stayed there for a season, his sea monster form would have changed to adapt to his location, making him look more like Uncle Ugo.
  • Some fans believe that Uncle Ugo is transgender, due to his design being based on a female anglerfish.
  • While the film never reveals the reason why Giulia's parents are separated, fans go with the idea that they're divorced, given their long distance and the fact that Giulia only visits her father during the summer.
  • Alberto and Giulia are usually depicted as having a Sibling Rivalry dynamic in fanfics due to Alberto being Happily Adopted by her father, with the two constantly clashing and butting heads, but still loving each other at the end of the day. This is despite the movie making it clear that Alberto only clashed with Giulia due to his insecurities and increasing jealousy over Luca's bond with her (and that it was Luca that got the brunt of that, not Giulia), with the two getting along fine or acting neutral to each other otherwise.
  • Giulia being a Shipper on Deck for Luca and Alberto is nigh-omnipresent in Luca/Alberto fanfics, with her constantly trying to hook the two up in either subtle or not-so-subtle ways.
  • Alberto is usually depicted as being muscular in Time Skip fanfics as a byproduct of being adopted by the very muscular Massimo.
  • There are fans who believe sea monsters are not the only mythical creatures that exist within the universe of Luca. If sea monsters exist, surely other monsters such as werewolves or witches can exist as well.
  • Many artists put their own takes on what sea monsters might look like in other regions on the globe. Considering Alberto was initially supposed to have tentacle hair, there are many fanmade sea monster designs that take inspiration from other sea creatures (such as eels, clownfish, sharks, etc).
  • Artists and fanfiction writers alike love to imagine Giulia turning into a sea monster herself and exploring the sea with Luca and Alberto in her new form.
• Friendly Fandoms:
  • Fans of the movie have quite a bit of overlap with fans of Wolfwalkers, since both films feature two shapeshifting main characters who have to keep their shapeshifting a secret from a society that won't accept them (which, of course, has attracted LGBT Fanbases to both).
  • The movie also shares fans with those of The Little Mermaid due to both being about sea creatures who wish to live human lives on the surface. The overlap of the two has even inspired several Crossovers.
  • And of course there’s the bond between fans of Luca and fans of fellow 2021 Disney movie Encanto, mostly because of the "Silenzio, Bruno!" running gag. It's common to see fanart of Bruno interacting with Alberto, and there has been some fanart of Mirabel, Bruno or Camilo as sea monsters.
  • A bond would occur between fans of this film and fans of Pixar's next film, Turning Red, as both films involve young protagonists who can shapeshift and have to hide their non-human forms among humans. This often leads to fan works of Mei meeting Luca and Alberto, regardless of the disparate time periods.
  • Given that they are animated films starring sea monsters who are disguised as humans, on top of having similarly cartoony styles, fans of Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken were quick to latch onto the film, with crossover art between Ruby and Luca being quickly made in the days following the former's trailer.
  • Given that the film is heavily inspired by Hayao Miyazaki's work (particuarly his more grounded Slice of Life films like Kiki's Delivery Service and My Neighbor Totoro), it should come as no surprise that Studio Ghibli fans immediately latched onto the film, with crossover art inserting the characters from Luca into Ghibli films (or alternatively, drawing them in the Ghibli style) becoming very common after the film's release.
• Genius Bonus: The Tarot card Luca finds is the Page of Cups, a card which correlates with curiosity, creativity, intuition and vision. In many versions of the card, a small fish is poking its head out of the Page's cup to look at him, symbolising the desire to go beyond boundaries.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: When it was revealed that the movie used the towns of Cinque Terre in the region of Liguria as the reference for Portorosso, it gained a lot of interest from Italians, especially those from Liguria who loved it for its accurate portrayal of the region and its lifestyle. In Monterosso (one of the towns of Cinque Terre), they've even placed two statues of Luca and Alberto on the seabed off their main beach a few days after the movie debut.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight: Massimo's Affectionate Nickname for Giulia is "Giulietta". The director of the movie, Enrico Casarosa, has a daughter named Fio, whose middle name is Giulietta.
• He Really Can Act: Prior to Luca, Jack Dylan Grazer was best known for his comedic role in SHAZAM! (2019), but he gets to show off his dramatic acting chops when Alberto reveals his Sad Clown nature to Luca.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • The whole chemistry between Luca and Alberto, which most fans interpret as similar to that of a gay couple, is made hilarious after Alberto's voice actor Jack Dylan Grazer came out as bisexual and non-binary in July 2021.
  • To silence the fears and doubts in his mind, Alberto uses the mantra "Silenzio, Bruno!". The very next movie released by Pixar's parent company involved an outcast family member named Bruno, who we don't talk about.
• Jerkass Dissonance: Ercole is a narcissistic jackass who is despised by the whole town for his condescending personality and treatment of the kids he viciously bullies, but ironically has attracted his own fanbase due to how hilarious and over-the-top he is as an antagonist.
• LGBT Fanbase: The film has attracted a large gay/bisexual following, since the plot reads almost like a story between two gay kids struggling with coming out due to living in a conservative environment.
• Love to Hate: Ercole may be a nasty bully and complete Jerkass but he is also incredibly funny and entertaining.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • Comparisons of Massimo Marcovaldo's design to Tim Lockwood.
  • Comparisons and fan crossovers with other Pixar works are commonplace, such as jokes about Luca using his fish-herding talents to help find Nemo, or Luca finally going to school...at Monsters University.
  • Machiavelli has been inserted into numerous cat-related memes, especially the "Woman Yelling at Cat" meme.
  • Lorenzo pushing a child into the water mistaking him for Luca has been compared to the Yeet meme as well as various Parental Abandonment Black Comedy when taken out of context.
  • Luca and Alberto's sea monster designs are often compared to the advertisements for "Sea-Monkeys".
  • Following the meme about Pixar using "What if X had feelings?" as the main basis of their films, people joked that this film is about what if Italians had feelings. People from Liguria, specifically, played with the meme "What if Genovesi have feelings?" with the answer being "No, they don't."
  • "Alberto invented walking."^explanationWhen teaching Luca how to walk on land, Alberto claims that "I basically invented it". Fans have taken this claim to its logical ridiculous extreme, such as joking claims that he invented running when he tried to walk twice at the same time.
  • Massimo kills anything that swims.^explanationWhen Alberto ponders what Massimo hunts with his harpoons, he replies "Anything that swims." This has made him a bit of a Memetic Psychopath among fans who claim that everybody who knows how to swim is in danger of Massimo.
  • Comparisons to Call Me by Your Name, another movie about an older guy inducing self-discovery in a younger guy in mid-to-late 20th century Italy (especially if one interprets Luca through a Rainbow Lens, as Call Me By Your Name is a gay drama).
  • Comparing the movie's premise to H₂O: Just Add Water, another work that involves teens turning into mythical sea creatures when they come into contact with water—only in the series, it's mermaids instead of sea monsters.
  • "Silenzio, Bruno!" "How dare he talk about Giorno's mom like that!"^explanationIn JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind, Bruno Bucciarati is a mafioso who has a motherly attitude toward his team and takes care of them. The Jojo fandom finding Jojo references in everything is itself a meme, so naturally, it became a meme to pretend to be outraged at Alberto badmouthing everyone's favorite "gangster mom."
    • Given the film is set in Italy, the Italian names and setting is enough to make the Jojo fandom draw plenty of joking comparisons to Vento Aureo, especially this one. The triathlon is also sponsored by Giorgio Giorgioni pasta, similar to Giorno Giovanna, except it has two "Giogio's" in it.
    • Disney themselves sparked another meme based on "Silenzio, Bruno!" in the fall of 2021, when they released new promotional material for Encanto that revealed an outcast member of the Madrigal family who happened to be named Bruno. Adding to this, the Sleeper Hit song detailing what happened to him is titled "We Don't Talk About Bruno".
  • Hitman fans comparing Portorosso and Ercole to Sapienza and Silvio Caruso.
  • The fact that Sacha Baron Cohen of Borat fame has a role in this film as Uncle Ugo has drawn much bewilderment from fans who question his very presence in a children's movie.
  • With an LGBT subtext seen by fans in Luca and Alberto's relationship, it inevitably drew joking comparisons to the multiple times Disney claimed to have the "first" gay character only to make said inclusion extremely minor.
  • The Furry Confusion of Luca having tamed fish that are somewhat sapient but at the same time is perfectly OK with helping Massimo catch fish for dinner is frequently addressed and discussed in comments and reviews.
  • Giulia and Luca's "catfish" insult to Ercole has gained some traction due to how Luca delivers a "sick burn" in such an innocent-sounding voice.
  • "Woah. This is the greatest drawing I've ever seen!"^explanationLuca's reaction when Alberto shows him the (somewhat poor quality) drawing he made of the two of them on a Vespa. The screencap is sometimes used as a way of showing genuine appreciation for fan-made artwork regardless of its quality.
  • Alberto's lip bite after Luca asks him what the "human thing" he greeted him with meant.
  • Ercole the Gay Homophobic^explanationA lot of fans claim Ercole is an Armored Closet Gay by how he is very effiminate in his mannerisms, yet spends most of his screentime bullying Luca and Alberto, who already have their share Ho Yay moments of their own
  • Comparisons with The Shadow Over Innsmouth.^explanationThe story is known for the fishy looks of the titular townsfolk, leading some Lovecraft readers to call this film a Lighter and Softer adaptation of the work.
  • Among Italian fans, jokes about the Gabibbo (a popular TV mascot with a thick Genoese accent) being considered in the first drafts as either an easter egg or a hidden Big Bad.
• Mexicans Love Speedy Gonzales: Ever since it's been revealed that the film used the towns of Cinque Terre in the Italian region of Liguria as the reference for Portorosso, the movie has gained a lot of interest from Italians, especially those from Liguria who instantly loved it for its accurate portrayal of the region and its lifestyle. In Monterosso (one of the towns of Cinque Terre), they've even placed two statues of Luca and Alberto on the seabed off their main beach a few days after the movie debut.
• Moe:
  • Luca, the Constantly Curious Cheerful Child who is amazed by the surface world and also has a wild imagination along with biggest eyes of any character in the movie.
  • Giulia, the absolutely adorable human with great Big Sister Instinct whenever Luca's around, yet is shown to be an absolute Determinator for justice.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • Ercole crosses it at the climax, when he all-but-says that he is using Luca and Alberto's status as sea monsters as an excuse to kill them. All just to win a race and the prize on their heads. Tellingly, this action is the catalyst for his bullied goons to turn on him.
  • Alberto’s Dad most likely crossed it by abandoning Alberto and telling him he was ready to be on his own. Even though Alberto wasn't, leaving him terrified and insecure.
• Never Live It Down: Ercole and his Vespa. It only appears during his introduction scene where it gets knocked over causing Ercole to obsessively inspect it, but many have taken the Vespa to be Ercole's main gimmick, even though he spends the rest of the film worrying more about his "piccolino"—the pink sweater he wears over his shoulders and/or riding his bicycle. Not helping matters is that official merchandise for the film (such as movie posters) shows Ercole posing with his Vespa consistently.
• One-Scene Wonder: Uncle Ugo only appears for about a minute in the film proper and in The Stinger, but his creepy look and funny dialogue made him almost as memorable as the main protagonists. It certainly helps that he's voiced by Sacha Baron Cohen, prompting many jokes in relation to his other characters, especially Borat.
• One True Pairing: Although there is no main couple in the movie, Luca and Alberto are, by far, the most popular pairing of the movie given the entire movie revolves around their friendship which provides ample opportunity for Ho Yay.
• One True Threesome: While the fandom is still picking up speed, no one can deny that Alberto/Luca/Giulia would work as a ship given that all three of them have wonderful chemistry on a platonic level.
• Popular with Furries: The work appeals Transformation Fiction and Fish Person fans with the Sea Monsters being far from "monstrous" and having awe-inspiring vivid colors on their true forms. This fandom even crosses over with Pixar's Turning Red with fans of one film also appreciating the other due to the shared transformation theme.
• Portmanteau Couple Name: Luberto for Luca/Alberto.
• Rainbow Lens: The story is a coming of age tale where three kids, Alberto, Luca and Giulia, have a grand adventure over the summer while becoming close friends, the catch being that Alberto and Luca are sea monsters that assume human form when out of the water and they are exploring Portorosso, a town that is known for hunting sea monsters. As such, many events in the movie can mirror the experience of a LGBT+ child. Luca's parents plan to send him away to the deep sea after discovering his "human stuff" — much like a youth might be confronted upon discovery of questionable magazines or Internet search history — and to keep him from Alberto's "bad influence", prompting the two to decide to run away together. Alberto shows visible jealousy when Luca starts spending more time with Giulia, leading to the betrayal by Luca at the beach like how a closeted gay person could throw their mate under a bus to firmly remain in the closet. Alberto reveals he was abandoned by his father like a lot of LGBT+ youth who are disowned by their parents, Luca's parents wonder what they did wrong and say that they never thought he'd "do something like this", and at the end, when Luca's parents have accepted him, they are worried for his safety since they know there will always be people who don't accept him for who he is.
• Shocking Moments: Many found the scene where Luca shouts "Sea monster!" after Alberto transforms in front of Giulia to be a particularly hard-hitting moment because of how unexpected it is. Even though the audience has seen the events leading up to it and could feel something was going to give, it's still surprising seeing it come from Luca.
• They Copied It, So It Sucks!:
  • While the art style was well-received overall, the way the characters are animated has lead to some detractors accusing Pixar of trying to copy the more recent output from Sony Pictures Animation, mainly in how they seem to move in a cartoony, exaggerated manner at times.
  • Some longtime Pixar fans are displeased at how the characters' faces are veering closer to the style from Aardman Animations. The similarity is especially noticeable in the teeth where it can become distracting.
• Ugly Cute: Uncle Ugo comes off as somewhat endearing, despite his creepy eyes, transparent body and visible organs. He seems to be a quite cheerful and eccentric fellow despite his unsettling appearance.
• The Woobie:
  • Giulia, as it is apparent that she is lonely when she visits with her father during the summer as shown during her line with Luca... "Do you think I want you to leave? This is the happiest I’ve..." Her voice breaks and she cuts her sentence short to regain her composure.
  • Luca begins the story with considerable woobie vibes. He's an intelligent and curious child saddled with extremely boring chores and an overprotective mother. When it's discovered that he's been shirking his chores to explore the surface world, his parents decide to send him to live with his uncle down in the depths of the sea. A dark, cold world where one is forced to be alone with their thoughts and essentially a tomb for someone with as much imagination as Luca. Fortunately, his time with Alberto exposes him to a wider world and gives Luca the strength to choose to run away from this fate. At this point, Luca's woobie shackles fall away. While his adventure in Portorosso does expose him to bullying and the hurt of a Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure, this is now part of his character development arc and a necessary part of him growing up.
  • Alberto is introduced as a brash, self-confidant, sometimes obnoxious, Know-Nothing Know-It-All. As the story progresses, we learn that this is a mask that hides some deep insecurity from a past trauma where his father abandoned him. This hurt made it difficult for Alberto to handle Luca's growing relationship with Giulia because he felt he was losing another person that was important to him. Alberto responds by becoming more and more possessive of Luca culminating in their Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure after their bike crashes into the sea. Alberto tries to force Luca's hand by revealing himself as a sea monster in front of Giulia and is shocked when Luca not only doesn't join him, but calls him out as a sea monster. This leaves Alberto so heartbroken that he's numb to the fact that Ercole and his goons are tossing harpoons at him as he swims away. When Luca searches out Alberto on his island, we learn that this episode reopened his deep feelings of insecurity that his father left him because he was a bad kid.
    Alberto: (To Luca) You’re not like me. You’re the good kid. And I’m just the kid that ruins everything.

---