LUCK

Despite all the pedigree involved Luck is one of the least inventive animated movies released in recent times, with a wholesome message that induces yawns instead of emotion.

About twenty minutes into animated movie Luck there is a wonderful chase scene that has all the charms and whimsy or a wordless Jacques Tati adventure and the same visual delights you might find in a Studio Ghibli film. Unfortunately the sequence is a single highlight in a film that is frustratingly bland and formulaic.

The protagonist of the aforementioned chase are down-on-her-luck teenager Sam and lucky Scottish black cat Bob, who had wanted to help out Sam by lending her his lucky coin. Before you know it both are in serious trouble in the Land of Luck though, as they set into motion events that could spread bad luck all over the world.

Even just typing that paragraph out feels safe and predictable, so you can imagine how little invention is found in Luck, despite having former Pixar honcho John Lasseter as a producer and a talented animation team and voice cast to boot. This is a movie clearly made by committee that has no discernable voice of its own.

The Land of Luck is just a poor carbon copy of a similar environment in Monsters Inc., while the characters try (and fail) to straddle the thin line between knowingly referential and annoyingly stale, like Shrek did. The overall lack of genuine emotion is exagerated even more through the often strangly wooden and campy animation.

To cut a long story short: Luck is a fair bunch of four-leaved clovers short of a funny, heart-tugging or interesting animated picture.

release: 2022

director: Peggy Holmes, Javier Abbad

starring: Eva Noblezada, Simon Pegg, Jane Fonda, Whoopi Goldberg