Eva Noblezada, Simon Pegg, Jane Fonda, Whoopi Goldberg, Flula Borg, Colin O'Donoghue, Lil Rel Howery, John Ratzenberger, Grey DeLisle and Suzy Nakamura
The first feature produced by former Pixar heavyweight John Lasseter arrives from Skydance Animation that looks behind the notion of good and bad luck for this fantasical adventure...
We join the unluckiest girl in the world, Sam (Noblezada) who follows black cat Bob (Pegg) into a magical universe to the Land Of Luck, full of talking leprechauns and insane amounts of, well, luck, overseen by a CEO Dragon (Fonda) and Lucky Captain (Goldberg).
Sam needs to help Bob retrieve his lost lucky penny to avoid being banished, and also restore the balance of good and bad luck that threatens to spill into Earth when Sam bumbles her way through the Land Of Luck causing mishap after mishap.
Sam needs all the luck she can muster to help Bob get back his penny and navigate a series of dangerous and often unlucky worlds to prevent Earth becoming the unluckiest place in the entire galaxy...
There are echoes of John Lasseter’s previous affiliation with Pixar and Walt Disney ring through in this Skydance Animation production, the first feature film from the Skydance subsidiary. From the posters advertising this from the “creative visionary” behind Toy Story, to the inclusion of A113 and Pixar residents voice-over artist John Ratzenberger. Even the modelling seems to take inspiration from Pixar’s semi human/cartoon creations.
But this is a totally original adventure that feels cut from the same cloth but lacks a bigger sense of fantastical adventure or engaging story. It’s a very lacklustre one unfortunately, which is overly complicated and under cooked to retain interest. This may come from a lack of real character development or heavy exposition that is thrown in conversation after conversation. Not to mention cheap song and dance numbers that feel like time filler.
Along with the numerous unlucky and repetitive pratfalls Sam has, it’s a little empty for the older generation, but bright, colourful and zany enough for the kiddies.
Yet this is a film the kids at the end of the day, and there’s plenty of cute, comical creatures to keep them entertained. A decent cast flesh out our fantastical characters, including Jane Fonda as a magical dragon and Whoopi Goldberg as a Leprechaun Captain. Throw harmless Noblezada into the mix as doe-eyed Sam, who sadly looks and acts like most animated young girls recently in animations, and Pegg as Scottish cat Bob. Pegg used to be funny, once, and was on the cusp of great comic stardom. Yet without his Mission: Impossible break, he just feels a mediocre voice-over artist for animation now such as this and Ice Age. Bob is animated in a typically amusing way, but Pegg doesn’t bring much to his character.
A surreal world of leprechauns and bunnies make up the world of dispensing luck, both good and back, to people all over the world and it’s only unlucky Sam who puts everything in jeopardy that soon forms the basis of the story – take risks, find the good luck in the bad, and believe in yourself. The usual tropes.
Luck feels like it should be a series of animated shorts, or a much shorter feature rather than a full length film because the ideas feel worn out way under an hour in, and only manages to knock out a few amusing set pieces trying too hard to replicate that of Pixar that came before.
Take the bright vibrancy and often sweet charm of Pixar, but mix with a lacklustre, boring story, uninspired script and less-than-mediocre voice talent, and 'Luck' doesn't feel so lucky for viewers having to watch it.
'Luck' is a co-production between Apple Original Films and Skydance Animation
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