Luck Review

Plot: From Apple Original Films and Skydance Animation comes the story of Sam Greenfield, the unluckiest person in the world! Suddenly finding herself in the never-before-seen Land of Luck, she must unite with the magical creatures there to turn her luck around.

Review: The first animated film from Skydance Animation since hiring former Pixar head John Lasseter, Luck is saddled with representing the former Disney golden boy’s redemption tour in Hollywood. While previously set for a theatrical release via Paramount, Luck was acquired by Apple in early 2021. The streaming platform may not offer the widest audience for this flick but it will offer a litmus test for whether this is the start of the next big animation powerhouse. Having watched the film, I can say Luck is a mixed bag at best and not the groundbreaking project Lasseter and Skydance really needed it to be.

While Lasseter had direct involvement in all of Pixar’s early hits including directing the first two Toy Story and Cars movies as well as A Bug’s Life, Luck plays like a generic riff on the familiar tropes that made those aforementioned movies so refreshing. Luck follows a similar plot to Monsters, Inc., Inside Out, and Soul which turn fantastical elements of life into physical and anthropomorphized creations. Rather than laughter and screams, emotions, or our souls, Luck personifies the very idea of its title. With both good and bad luck serving as the central theme of this movie, writer Kiel Murray, Jonathan Aibel, and Glenn Berger alongside director Peggy Holmes don’t instill the same feeling of awe or grandeur that we have seen in other animated tales.

Part of the problem comes from the setup of the story. The main character of Luck is Sam Greenfield, voiced by Eva Noblezada. Sam is introduced as an 18-year-old aging out of the foster care system having never found a family after being abandoned by her birth parents. Saddled with truly bad luck that impacts her day-to-day life, Sam comes across a lucky penny left behind by Bob, a talking cat voiced by Simon Pegg. When the coin turns her luck around, Sam follows Bob to the Land of Luck where she must find another coin for her friend Hazel. It is there that a series of misadventures is meant to keep the audience entertained while also teaching a valuable lesson about what luck is really all about. There is nothing inherently wrong with the motivation behind this story, but it doesn’t really engender any chances for the filmmaking team to do anything spectacular or distinct on screen.

The Land of Luck should have been a wondrous visual spectacle but instead feels like leftover designs from a St. Patrick’s Day-themed movie. There are dragons, leprechauns, cats, and pigs, all of whom are in the service of creating positive vibes for the humans on Earth. Among them is Babe the Dragon (Jane Fonda), the CEO of Good Luck, and The Captain (Whoopi Goldberg) who dislikes Bob. On the opposite side is the leader of the bad luck underworld, Rootie (John Ratzenberger). The fantasy characters are all sweet and perfectly built to become plush toys on shelves this holiday season. None of them really drive much in terms of plot as this story really hinges on Sam’s overly complicated forays into luck that go awry in perfectly orchestrated manners that somehow work out in the end for better or worse.

What does work in this movie is the animation quality. Luck looks as good as recent Pixar films and is a good sign for Skydance Animation projects to come. The soundtrack is also very nice with a solid score composed by John Debney. The cast all try their best with the material given but there just isn’t enough for them to work with. I tried very hard to give this movie a chance but was beginning to get bored before I even hit the half-hour mark. After a full hour, Luck ends up feeling tedious. There are some redeeming elements in the final act of the film but by that point, any kids watching will be the only ones still invested in what happens to Sam and Bob.

With a running time just shy of two hours, Luck takes very few risks and doesn’t do much to set itself apart from other animated offerings. With Netflix notorious for releasing mediocre animated movies over and over again, I was expecting more from AppleTV+, Skydance, and John Lasseter. Unfortunately, Luck is nowhere near good enough to warrant anyone over the age of ten to check it out. There is nothing truly bad about this movie but there is also nothing that would deserve your attention over rewatching a quality Pixar production for the fifth or sixth time. Kids will be pleased with Luck but odds are everyone else will spend their time doom scrolling on their phones.

Luck premieres on August 5th on AppleTV+.

Luck

BELOW AVERAGE

5