The beauty of Cinque Terre on the Italian Riviera features as the stunning backdrop to Luca, a new animated movie by Disney and Pixar, released straight to streaming service Disney+ on June 18.
The animation is by the Italian storyboard artist Enrico Casarosa, who dedicates his first feature film as a director to his childhood holidays in Liguria.
Luca is about the coming-of-age of the titular character Luca, a young sea monster exploring the human village of Portorosso in an unforgettable summer filled with gelato, pasta and endless scooter rides”, according to the film’s publicity.
The film is set in the 1950s, in a fictional village that was inspired by the five towns that make up the coastal Cinque Terre region of Italy.
The string of fishing villages is well known for its colourful buildings that sit atop the cliffs along the crystal blue Ligurian Sea.
Born in Genoa in 1970, Casarosa moved to New York in his 20s and was nominated for an Oscar for the animated short film La Luna in 2012.
He is best known for his work on movies such as Cars, Ratatouille, Coco and Up.
Luca is voiced by Jacob Tremblay, who has appeared in the movies Room and Wonder.
His mother, Daniela, is voiced by comedic actress Maya Rudolph, and his father, Lorenzo, is voiced by stand-up comedian Jim Gaffigan.
Alberto is voiced by Shazam! actor Jack Dylan Grazer, and 12-year-old Emma Berman makes her movie debut as Giulia.
