With more and more content coming to Apple TV+, it was exciting to see an animated feature barreling down the pipeline.
With the potential to be a magical blockbuster like Inside Out, Luck is a film that would never meet its full potential. Within minutes you’ll feel a certain Pixar vibe that’s undeniable and that’s mostly because a former Pixar executive, John Lasseter, was tasked with the project.
One of the magical things about Pixar is that they can take any subject matter imaginable and turn it into a story. With Monsters Inc, they made an idea to run a city’s energy grid on scares. It was a simple and straightforward concept. Or in Inside Out, there was a great story and a myriad of lessons learned, including why everyone can’t be happy all of the time and how sadness has its rightful place. But in this film, the team tried to go deep on the “magical land of luck” and it fell flat on its face.
Sam Greenfield (Eva Noblezada) just aged out of the foster care system and has to adjust to a new normal away from the other orphans and on her own. She has the worst luck of anyone she’s ever seen, but her fortunes change after crossing the path of a black cat named Bob (Simon Pegg).
The Land of Luck is far too difficult to understand for an adult, so one can only imagine a child’s understanding of it. Even when explained, the characters attempting to teach these concepts make absolutely no sense. There’s a “luck randomizer” that’s poorly explained, a group of pigs that somehow create magic crystals, and there are a gazillion departments in this mythical world, making it feel more like a company than a “land of luck”. To further that point, they have a CEO named Babe (Jane Fonda) who also does a poor job of explaining everything that’s going on around them. The entire thing is just convoluted and poorly done.
The film does a poor job with imagination but handles realism quite well. The fact that Sam is a foster child who aged out of the system is a reality that many have to face. Having the ability to make friends and choose your family is a lesson that many often learn when they’re older. There are a few life lessons sprinkled in between this muddy mess that make it more enjoyable, but overall, they could’ve done way better with this.
Luck gets a 6 out of 10. Thankfully, it’s coming straight to Apple TV+ on Friday, August 5. It’s a decent film to start your weekend but don’t expect any Pixarish magic.
-Jon Jones
Photo: Courtesy of Apple TV+