It has been said — of some poor souls — that if they didn’t have bad luck, they’d have no luck at all.
Sam Greenfield (voiced by Eva Noblezada) falls into that category. Toasters malfunction, door knobs fall apart, bicycle tires go flat and pump handles break. Sadly, she also has spent her entire life at the Summerland Home for Girls, as an orphan never lucky enough to find new parents who would offer her a “forever home.”
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| Although Bob the cat regards the Land of Luck's workings as "just another day at the office," Sam — a human in a realm where she doesn't belong — is amazed by all of its wonders. |
Director Peggy Holmes’ Luck is the newest release from Skydance Animation, and the first to emerge since former Pixar guru John Lasseter came on board in early 2019. Although Lasseter is credited solely as co-producer, this film definitely has familiar, Pixar-esque elements that suggest he had a guiding hand in shaping the script: not least of which is the aforementioned first act, as the characters of Sam and her adolescent best friend Hazel (Adelynn Spoon) are established.
You’ll detect the mildly retro, heart-tugging pathos that was so important to films such as Toy Story, Up and Inside Out.
Hazel, poised to meet an adoptive couple who might become her “forever family,” has stacked the deck as only a child could: with a cigar box filled with good-luck tokens. She needs only a “lucky penny” to complete what she believes will be her can’t-miss shot at happiness.
Sam, although desperate to oblige, has enough trouble coping with her own newly acquired adult responsibilities … starting with a darling studio apartment that conspires to make her late for her first day as a clerk at an arts and crafts big box store. This emporium is run by the cheerful Marvin (Lil Rel Howery), who — upon seeing how Sam makes utter hash of even simple assignments — wisely sends her outside on “cart patrol.”
At the end of this long, accident-prone day, a dejected Sam sits on the curb and impulsively shares her panini with a stoic black cat. After it departs, she spots — could it be? — a lucky penny.
Sam’s subsequent investigation of this coin’s power is a riot, particularly with respect to its control over the jelly-side-down principle. But this applies only when the penny is in her possession; she guards it carefully, intending to pass it along to Hazel.
Alas, not carefully enough.
When Sam bemoans the loss of her penny, next time she sees the black cat, she’s astonished when it suddenly berates her (in Simon Pegg’s best Scottish burr). Realizing its error, the feline flees; this prompts a cleverly choreographed chase sequence throughout the city streets, culminating when Sam sees the cat activate a glowing green portal to somewhere … and impulsively follows it through.
At which point we enter the Land of Luck, where this film’s script begins to lose its way.
Although the basic premise is solid — that this mystical realm, equal parts good luck and bad luck, is essential to how our Earthian lives are shaped — the execution becomes random, clumsy and needlessly overstuffed. Seven (!) writers are credited, likely with more behind the scenes, and they clearly didn’t gel; one gets the impression that they made stuff up as they went along, with no logical blueprint by way of guidance.
The cat, now identified as Bob, serves as a reluctant guide only because he’d get into even more trouble for having allowed a human to enter this realm. Sam meets Bob’s personal leprechaun, Gerry (Colin O’Donoghue), and is advised to avoid the laser-eyed scrutiny of The Captain (Whoopi Goldberg), the realm’s head of security.
The notion that Sam could pass as one of the Good Luck realm’s leprechauns is an eyebrow lift; her glaring height aside, she lacks pointy ears. Insisting that she’s a “tall Latvian leprechaun,” as Bob proposes, doesn’t pass the smell test.
Sam’s determination to acquire another lucky penny subsequently involves chaos at the Penny Depot; the unleashing of a special penny-seeking drone; a visit to the “In-Between,” the space between Good and Bad Luck Lands; bad luck “specks”; the massive Bad Luck Apparat and companion Randomizer; and Bad Luck Land, with its assorted “monsters.”
Everything but the kitchen sink.
The creatures involved, along the way, are an odd bunch. An ancient dragon named Babe (Jane Fonda) is a logical choice as the CEO of Good Luck Land, and it’s reasonable that her leprechauns are surrounded by business suit-attired pigs (porkers being associated with good luck since the Middle Ages).
But what are we to make of the goats and giant roots that inhabit Bad Luck Land? Or the fact that one of the latter — dubbed Rootie (Lasseter good luck charm John Ratzenberger), this underland’s mayor — inexplicably runs a tiki bar?
And wouldn’t it make more sense for Jeff (Flula Borg) — the effusive and robust Scandinavian unicorn that runs the Bad Luck Apparat — to reside in the Good Luck realm, rather than being banished to the In-Between? After all, unicorns have been associated with good luck for millennia.
(All this said, I laughed out loud each time The Captain’s security detail — scores of bunnies in haz-mat bunny suits — was summoned to deal with a fresh problem.)
Holmes’ decision to open her film with an amateur music video — Sam and Hazel rocking out to Madonna’s “Lucky Star” — is an odd choice that sets entirely the wrong tone. The song’s reprise as a distraction tactic, midway through the film, also doesn’t work.
On the other hand, John Debney’s energetic orchestral score gives a considerable boost to the film’s often fitful momentum.
I’ve no doubt very young viewers will adore this film, focusing on the Sam/Bob dynamic, the colorful animation and wacky, pell-mell adventures (however illogical). But little will appeal to older viewers, who likely will respond with a shrug.
Lasseter apparently failed to impart the wisdom of catering to all ages, to his new Skydance colleagues.
More’s the pity.
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