Pixar’s affection for Studio Ghibli is well-established at this point, from former studio head John Lasseter serving as producer on Spirited Away and current chief creative officer Pete Docter directing English dialogue on Howl’s Moving Castle to myriad references dropped in Pixar movies. Hayao Miyazaki’s warmth, inventiveness and empathy permeate the studio’s creative ethos. Until now, however, they haven’t yet produced a movie that not only bears the influence of Miyazaki, but embraces his approach to storytelling whole-cloth.

Enrico Casarosa’s Luca is essentially a Totoro-sized Ghibli love letter, delivering on the lyrical promise of his 2011 short, La Luna. Casarosa combines elements of Ponyo’s interspecies friendship, the episodic small-town dynamics of Kiki’s Delivery Service and the sun-drenched derring-do of Porco Rosso into a sweet, gentle tale about identity, authenticity, and finding your people.

Luca (Jacob Tremblay), our hero, is a young sea monster who lives off the coast of the Italian Riviera, and lives in fear and fascination of human beings. While collecting some items that fell off a fishing boat, Luca meets Alberto (Jack Dylan Grazer), a fellow sea monster who spends his time hanging out on the surface. When Luca and Alberto are on land, they look like normal human boys. Get them even a little wet, and their scales show. 

While running from Luca’s overprotective parents (Maya Rudolph and Jim Gaffigan), the boys end up in a seaside town, where they team up with tomboy Giulia (Emma Berman) to win a local triathlon in hopes of using the prize money to buy their very own Vespa. The catch: everyone in the town of Portorosso hates sea monsters, and being found out could spell death for Luca and Alberto.

Much like Kiki’s Delivery Service, Luca contains subtle themes about self-confidence and learning how to proudly be yourself around others. Like Kiki, it’s also primarily interested in exploring those ideas through the joy and low-stakes adventures of childhood. Luca, Alberto, and Giulia are a plucky trio who, more than anything else, are just excited to have found other people that share their interests. Luca and Alberto fantasize about building a rocket-powered Vespa to explore the countryside, and spend their nights staring up at the stars. They try wild bike stunts with Giulia and gorge themselves on pasta the only way children with no sense of danger or concern for carbo-loading can.

The kids’ story is set against a bright, summery Italian backdrop filled with loving visual details and creative worldbuilding both on land and underwater. It’s accompanied by a lovely score from Dan Romer that contains elements of Joe Hisaishi, Amelie and Romer’s own music for Beasts of the Southern Wild.

It could be argued that the conflicts which arise in Luca are resolved a little too easily, and the movie’s resolution seems improbably neat. This is, however, a movie that’s more about creating a comforting experience than a dynamic story, so it’s hard to fault it on that score. It contains some valuable lessons and points of growth that younger viewers can latch onto, and for adults evokes the rambunctious fun of childhood summers in an idyllic setting. As far as warm-weather comfort movies go, it’s hard to get one more satisfying than this.

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“Luca” streams Friday on Disney+.