"We can go anywhere, do anything. We just gotta stick together!"
Luca Paguro is the main character of the film Luca. He is a sea monster boy who can assume human form while on land. He explores the town of Portorosso with his new friend Alberto Scorfano while experiencing a life-changing summer. He lives off the coast of the Italian city who mostly spends his days taking care of a school of fish.
Why He Rocks[]
- He is, quite literally, a fish out of water-type character. He starts off as a sea monster who is only able to live in water, but it turns out that he can survive out of water. He could be a symbol of curiosity much like Curious George albeit differently. You see, he just wants to learn more about the human world and meet some new faces despite how "dangerous" it sounds.
- The friendship between Luca, Alberto, and Giulia sounds so real that the movie does a good job of portraying friendship. Luca and Alberto are best buddies who became close to each other after Luca learns about the human world. Giulia befriends Luca and Alberto and even gone to the point that Luca and Giulia are gotten close to each other as Luca got interested in going to school in Genova. Even the scene that shows both Luca and Alberto rekindling their friendship due to Alberto's jealously.
- Speaking of which, Luca even attempted to sacrifice himself to save Alberto after the latter turns into a sea monster in front of everyone else.
- And let's not forget the emotional scene where Alberto waves goodbye to Luca after the latter goes to school with Giulia
- He and Alberto even helped Giulia win the cup due to her vomiting during the competition as it appears that more people are better than one to win the race.
- He alongside Giulia and Alberto, were the ones who made the townspeople of Portorosso accept sea monsters once again as Luca and Alberto don't even intend to be vicious sea monsters disguised as humans. So that goes to show you that friends come in many varieties and we should respect friends for who they are.
- His character design is cute, so what else?
- During the Portorosso Cup Race, Luca attempted to do all the swimming, pasta eating, and biking all by himself. Sure, he did felt bad about Alberto, but he just wanted to do the race separately so that he can win the Vespa.
- He had plenty of clever and funny moments like when he kicks a ball only for Ercole's scooter to get knocked down afterward or when Machiavelli (a cat) keeps messing with Luca due to his sea monster origins.
- He's mostly a young nice guy so there's barely a mean side to him. Sure, he did express anger before yet that is just about it.
- Thanks to Alberto, Luca was taught to learn about the "Silencio Bruno" every time he needs some encouragement like having to ride on a downhill area.
- Luca's exposure as a sea monster really does bring up some great drama and tension. If he did turn into a sea monster in front of everyone else, he would be in big trouble even to the point where audiences even feel bad for him. Lucky enough, sea monsters were not a big treat anymore.
- Even though his parents warned him about the surface, Luca didn't judge a book by its cover as he did know that not all humans have to be bloodthirsty or hate sea monsters. You can thank Alberto for doing so.
Bad Qualities[]
- Luca did disobey his parents about the surface. But things change.
- The scene where Luca and Alberto get upset over each other due to Alberto being jealous of Guilia
- Can be naive at times like calling two women "stupido" which got him in trouble.
Trivia[]
- His surname was initially Portorosso, but then it changed to Paguro.
- His former last name, Portorosso, was a reference to the Studio Ghibli film Porco Rosso.
- His current last name, Paguro means "hermit crab" in Italian.
- Out of all the characters in the film, Luca has the largest eyes (proportional to his head) since he is so curious and eager to "take everything in."
- He is inspired by Enrico Casarosa who is the director of the film and was even born in Italy as well as he used the film as a core of friendship.
- Before the film released, there have been some theories involving Luca and Alberto being gay mainly because the film was compared to a film called "Call Me By Your Name". Enrico denied this theory as he wanted the film to be mainly about friendship and not romance.