Luca | 2021 | PG | – 1.3.2

Why is “Luca” rated PG? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “rude humor, language, some thematic elements and brief violence.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes many encounters with sea monsters, sea monsters transforming to human form, near attacks by humans on sea monsters using harpoons, risky behavior, and some mild language and name-calling. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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Animated feature about a young sea monster (voiced by Jacob Tremblay) anxious to find his place in a world, beyond his watery home. Also with the voices of Jack Dylan Grazer, Sacha Baron Cohen, Maya Rudolph, Giacomo Gianniotti, Jim Gaffigan, Sandy Martin, Emma Berman, Francesca Fanti, Gino D’Acampo, Deyvi Stib Rodríguez, Marco Barricelli and Saverio Raimondo. Directed by Enrico Casarosa. Several lines of dialogue are spoken in Italian without translation. [Running Time: 1:35]

Luca SEX/NUDITY 1

 – A girl hugs two sea monsters in their natural form and in human form a couple of times. Two boys hug.

Luca VIOLENCE/GORE 3

 – Sea monsters have glowing green eyes, long tails, small fins where their ears would be and scale-covered hands.
► Two fishermen on a boat at night talk about stories of sea monsters in the area as something moves through the water around their boat and takes items off the deck; when the creature gets caught in a net, it breaks away and is spotted by the fishermen that throw a harpoon at it but it is not hurt. A sea monster stands just off a beach and when he is spotted by people with harpoons he swims away as they throw the harpoons at him (he is not harmed). Two sea monsters are trapped in the rain and people see them in their natural form; several people approach them with harpoons and threaten them (they do not hurt them).
► A young man on a bike chases a young sea monster on another bike and throws a harpoon at him (he is not struck), the young man knocks a girl off her bike and she seems injured as two sea monsters help her up. A young man pushes a young sea monster in human form toward a fountain and the boy’s flesh turns blue when he is splashed with water (no one sees this). Two young men grab a sea monster in human form and another young man punches him in the stomach, until another sea monster in human form holds a harpoon toward him and the two sea monsters run away. A sea monster in human form attacks her husband (in human form) and slaps him repeatedly before realizing who he is. Two sea monsters in human form push several children into water, spray them with water and drop water balloons on them trying to find their son. A young man tells other young men to push or hit two sea monsters in human form. A young man pulls a girl’s hat down over her eyes and steals her money. A young man speeds past a girl on a bicycle and hits her on the back of the head; he later kicks other riders off their bikes as he passes.
► A young man ridicules a girl about a race she participated in where she “couldn’t stop throwing up”; he later makes similar references and gestures with his hand as he makes retching sounds (we do not see any vomit). A young man threatens a sea monster in human form and draws his hand across his throat. A young man mocks a girl and calls her “Spewlia” (her name is Julia). A girl gags but does not vomit. A young sea monster in human form calls a young man a “bottom feeder” and describes his mustache as “two sad side whiskers.”
► A young sea monster panics when his flock of fish is gone from their holding place and he yells, “Fish out of the barn” as he searches for them and returns them to their safe place. A young sea monster takes a flock of fish to a patch of green where they graze until he sees a boat on the surface and scrambles to take them to cover under a rock (they are not seen). A young sea monster panics when something wearing a deep-sea diver suit and carrying a harpoon moves toward him underwater. An angler fish pops out of the shadows and we see that his flesh is transparent revealing his organs; he gasps and a sea monster tells his son to punch the fish in the heart, which he does and the fish revives (the fish also has eyes that move independently and pointed teeth).
► A young sea monster yells and flails on a beach after another sea monster in human form pulls him out of the water and he transforms into human form; he stumbles and falls a few times before he learns how to walk on land. Sea monsters transform to human form in several scenes and we see them losing their scales, fins and tails in exchange for skin and hair and the change reverses when they get wet. A fish is shown to have several smaller fish in its mouth and it lets them out when a sea monster questions it. A young sea monster finds an alarm clock on the ocean floor and is startled when it rings as he picks it up. A crab snaps a sea monster’s ear fin. When a young sea monster first transforms to human form he talks about feeling as if his tail is still there and another sea monster tells him it’s, “Phantom tail.” Two women hit two sea monsters in human form with their ice cream cones and we see them with the cones stuck to their hair later, before they eat them. A cat attacks two sea monsters in human form a few times and we see scratch marks on their faces. A cat attacks a sea monster in human form and the sea monster throws the cat into water (we see the cat angry and soaked later). Two sea monsters in human form become nervous when they see harpoons hanging on a wall in a girl’s house. People talk about hunting sea monsters throughout the movie.
► A sea monster tells her son that humans are, “Here to do murder.” A sea monster yells at her son about not going to the surface and making “the change” (to human form). A sea monster talks about her son having a “death wish” as she and her husband reprimand the boy and tell him that he is “in big trouble,” before telling him that he will spend the season in the deep with his uncle (an angler fish). A sea monster in human form talks about his father having left him.
► Two sea monsters in human form speed down a winding, steep road on a bicycle and crash through a barrier into the sea; they argue and shove each other on the beach. A sea monster in human form rides a bicycle down a steep hill and is thrown when he pulls the handbrakes to stop. Two sea monsters in human form build a scooter and one practices riding it down a steep hill toward a ramp held by the other and we see several failed attempts before the rider eventually ramps into the air and falls into the ocean below unharmed; both ride the scooter during one test run and they launch into the air and nearly crash into a large boulder in the ocean. A young sea monster in human form inhales a fly and spits it out. A young sea monster in human form looks directly at the sun and collapses on the ground (we don’t see injuries). A sea monster in human form jumps off the top of a tall tower and crashes through a tree before landing hard on the ground uninjured. A young man rides a scooter through a village and annoys the villagers by revving his engine and speeding around. A young sea monster in human form tries to ride a bicycle and falls several times (no injuries are shown). A young sea monster in human form and a girl walk along rooftops at night to a balcony where they look through a telescope; the girl talks about stars being raging balls of fire and the sea monster imagines walking on Saturn’s rings before they both imagine flying on gliders.
► A young sea monster in human form imagines riding a scooter and being surrounded by “wild Vespas,” as if they are wild horses; he imagines riding up a giant ramp into the sky where he rides among the stars that he sees as fish and touches the moon that he imagines is a giant glowing whale. A scooter is knocked over by a ball and a young man jumps on the ground under it to keep it from getting scratched (he is not harmed).
► A man is shown to have one arm and his sleeve on the other arm is pinned up with a fishhook (he teases about a sea monster eating it, but then says that he was born that way). A man hacks the heads off fish using a large knife and we see blood on the blade. An anglerfish talks about eating whale carcass in the deep. Two men carry tools with large hooks and buckets filled with dead fish. A girl raises her arms to show perspiration marks on her shirt. A sea monster in human form picks his nose and flicks something off his finger (we do not see anything). Two sea monsters in human form eat plates of pasta using their hands and they slurp and gulp the food down. Two sea monsters in human form drink espresso and we see them moving frantically from the effects of the caffeine. A young man slathers oil on another young man before a swimming race and the swimmer is attacked by many fish while swimming (he screams and cannot swim). People eat bowls of pasta quickly and react as if they have stomachaches afterward; a sea monster in human form burps loudly.

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Luca LANGUAGE 2

 – 1 mild anatomical term, name-calling (land monsters, sea monsters, gross, stupido, weird, see-through uncle, crazy, losers, jerk, old, imbecile, brava, evil empire of injustice, bottom feeders, vagrants, trash, Spewlia, slayer of sea monsters, blood thirsty lunatic, pathetic, dumb, idioti, big guy, mad, boring, terrible, disgrace, too much, miserable), exclamations (whoa, nice, heh, oh no no, go away, oh mama mia, no way, ah sharks, jeez, relax, woo-hoo, phew, mother of pearl, yeah, ow, oops, wait, huh, you’re gonna die, don’t put that in your mouth, Andiamo, get outta here), 7 religious exclamations (e.g. Holy Carp, Santa Pecorino, Santa Gorgonzola, Santa Mozzarella). | profanity glossary |

Luca SUBSTANCE USE

 – A man is shown with a glass of wine on a table in front of him.

Luca DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Abandonment, friendship, being different, fitting in, betrayal, dreams, freedom, cheating, competition, waning fish populations.

Luca MESSAGE

 – Wanting more from life is OK and friends can help you achieve your dreams.