Luca: Every Story Reveal In The Pixar Movie’s Credits
Pixar's new movie Luca is bursting with character from the beginning to the closing credits, which also contain important plot information. The credits are set alongside two-dimensional drawings depicting the lives of the central characters after the movie has ended. While franchises like the Marvel Cinematic Universe have become famous for using the credits to tease future movies, in Luca this device works to bring resolution to the story, assuring viewers that the movie's displaced sea monsters stay in touch and find the acceptance they were looking for.
Luca tells the story of the eponymous sea monster, who grows up dreaming of life on the surface. He transforms into a human as he exits the water, and runs away from home to explore the nearby village of Portorosso with his newfound friend Alberto. The movie's plot involves a local triathlon, a young girl named Giulia, and a lot of fish, but by the ending of Luca, the sea monsters have been exposed and ultimately accepted by the people of Portorosso. The movie concludes with Luca deciding to go to school in Genoa with Giulia. However, the images over the ending credits reveal that he maintains a connection with Alberto and Portorosso as a whole.
The credit drawings depict Luca's life at school, living with a woman who appears to be Giulia's mother, and also show him writing letters to Alberto. Alberto enthusiastically receives the letters and writes back. They also communicate over the phone. The final image in the sequence shows Luca and Alberto both having fallen asleep with books in their hands, Luca's a schoolbook and Alberto's a Vespa manual, suggesting that the two are separated by their interests but still connected. The close bond between the two boys is a crucial part of the story, with many interpreting Luca as an LGBTQ story. Alberto worries that Luca will leave him behind by going to school with humans, but the end credits show that the two remain close.
Luca's credits also show that the townspeople of Portorosso have overcome their suspicion of the sea monsters, and the two societies have integrated. Alberto has moved in with Giulia's father Massimo and is seemingly being brought up as an apprentice, receiving a wrapped knife. The surface-dwellers are also venturing into the ocean, as seen by an image of Massimo visiting Luca's family in a diving suit. Additionally, Luca is shown revealing his sea monster nature to his classmates, demonstrating that he's no longer ashamed to be himself.
There is also a brief humorous scene after at the end of Luca's credits. It shows the fate that Luca faced if he had stayed in the ocean: a lengthy season with his rambling, eccentric Uncle Ugo. Instead, this fate is visited on a non-verbal fish, who listens to Ugo's bizarre diatribe. This scene was reportedly a way to use some of the improvised dialogue that Sacha Baron Cohen did for the Uncle Ugo character.
Luca ends on a somewhat ambiguous note, with the central duo parting and Luca clearly feeling somewhat conflicted about his choice. However, the drawings over the opening credits reveal the near future of the characters and suggest that ultimately Luca's relationship with Alberto and that between Portorosso and the sea monsters at large will continue to thrive. In this way, the reveals of the closing credits are crucial for Luca's happy ending.