This article discusses the ending of the Disney+ film Luca, so it will contain major spoilers.
Disney+’s Luca is inspired by director Enrico Casarosa’s childhood, growing up in the Italian Riveria. He is working from a script that has quite the pedigree. It comes from novelist/screenwriter Jesse Andrews, of Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl fame. Also from Mike Jones, the scribe who brought us the groundbreaking film Soul, just last year. Ready Steady Cut film critic, M.N. Miller, said, “Luca is a charming film with a more relaxed Pixar style that’s made for the dreamers in all of us.“
Disney+’s Luca ending explained
Luca (voiced by Room‘s Jacob Trembley) doesn’t know much about the above water people, only the items they keep dropping in the sea. He is an adorable little sea monster that has always been taught to stay away from the above-water land. He is a curious fellow, and we all know boys are put on this earth to worry their parents (Luca’s are voiced by Maya Rudolph and Jim Gaffigan). So, when he ventures off above water, he sees Alberto (Shazam’s Jack Dylan Glazer), a slightly older, let’s say a teenage sea monster, who has been living in the human Riveria for years. From land, he sees it— a beautiful Vespa. They go on a quest like a couple of Vespardos to acquire one.
To help them, they meet Guilia (Emma Berman, making her feature film debut), who enters a yearly race. The prize money will help them buy the Vespa of their dreams… Or just one that moves. The catch is their rainbow-colored fins and skin turn into human camouflage, taking the shape of normal adolescent boys. If they get wet, however, their secret identity will be revealed. They forge a friendship filled with Italian treats and the urge to buy a Vespa to voyage out to the great above-land unknown. The question remains do they trust Guilia enough to keep their secret?
She does, but the rest of the town finds out after it starts to rain during the big Italian Riveria race, including swimming, pasta eating, and a bike race. Alberto brings him an umbrella and tosses it to his best friend. Unfortunately for him, his true colors are revealed. While Alberto is being netted and almost harpooned by the evil (the Italian Dazed and Confused version of Ben Affleck’s Fred O’Bannion), Luca has had enough of being ashamed of who he is. He rides his bike into the storm, turning into the handsome little sea monster that his parents love. He saves Alberto as he jumps on the back of the bike, and they rage down the hill and win the big race. Winning enough money for the broken-down Vespa.
What happens next?
The message the team brings to Luca is about dreaming for more and never being ashamed of who you are. That’s essentially what the ending’s about—a timely, astute, and correct one. Luca sees Giulia off, only to be surprised with a ticket to join her for the fall to attend school. As the families see them off, Alberto and Luca embrace, ester filling in their eyes. Luca jumps on the train, hangs out the compartment door, and faces goodbye to Alberto, who got him this far.
As the train enters the tunnel, it comes out, and the sky produces a warm, soft amount of fat raindrops that splash over Luca. He looks up, takes in the scene, and lets the water wash over him. He is now a sea monster on a trip to an endless world of possibilities. But more importantly, he doesn’t try to dry himself off. He is proudly a multi-colored sea monster, unashamed of who he is or where he has come from.
