Review: "Luck"

Skydance Media is a film company officially founded on April 4th, 2006, by David Ellison, who continues  as the company’s CEO. Since its founding, Skydance has co-financed and co-produced films with Paramount Pictures, beginning with Flyboys (2006) starring James Franco, and the remake of True Grit (2010) which starred Jeff Bridges and garnered 10 Oscar nominations. Their most recent work Paramount was this summer’s blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick (2022). In March 2017, they teamed with Illion Animation Studios (based in Madrid, Spain) and Apple Original Films to begin producing CGI Animated movies. Their very first animated film, distributed by Apple TV+, is Luck. This is my review: 

Sam is the world’s clumsiest 18-year-old. She grew up in an orphanage, but is now too old to live there and has begun to live independently as a working adult. Her best friend is a five-year-old orphan named Hazel, who is desperate to be adopted. Sam wants to help her find a family. One day, Sam finds a penny in the street that she believes will bring good luck to both her and Hazel. She has difficulty keeping the penny on her person and magical adventures ensue, including a new friend: a loony, but soft-hearted cat named Bob.

The inspiring message of this movie is that no one is born with only good luck or bad luck. Life is all about enduring bad fortune whenever it happens, and one has to balance those two. It seems that bad times make you love the good times even more and it’s the bad times that help you tell when the good times are.

The film’s voice cast includes Tony-Nominee Eva Noblezada as Sam and Simon Pegg as Bob. Supporting voice cast Members include Oscar-Winners Whoopi Goldberg and Jane Fonda as well as veteran voice-over artists Grey DeLisle and John Ratzenberger. The film’s producing credits were shared by four people: David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, David Eisenmann, and John Lasseter. This is Lasseter’s first return to animation since his departure from being the Chief Creative Officer of Disney and Pixar Animation Studios. The film was directed by Peggy Holmes, who directed Disney’s Secret of the Wings (2012) and The Pirate Fairy (2014). It was written by Kiel Murray who wrote the screenplays for Disney/Pixar’s Cars (2006) and Cars 3 (2017). 

All in all, 2022 has proven to be a great year for animated movies from Turning Red to The Bad Guys to Minions: The Rise of Gru. Luck is part of what has been a really good run. Each film has been uniquely entertaining and told an inspiring message, but “Luck,” may be the best. Balancing bad luck, and knowing that good luck can still surprise us when we least expect it is a great message for kids and adults alike.