The origins of Luca's sea monsters may be a mystery;
however, Pixar's new movie has several curious connections with Monsters Inc, and could even
explain how the Supers from The Incredibles got their powers.
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers, I'm Jan and in this video I'm explaining all the hidden links
between Luca, Monsters Inc, and the Incredibles movies.
To understand where Luca's sea monsters may come from we need to revisit a few key moments
from Pixar's OG creature feature, Monsters Inc.
In that film, monsters travel through doors which act as portals to the human world where
they harvest screams for energy to power their own monster world.
And although the monsters make it their business to be as scary as possible to children, they
themselves are absolutely terrified of human beings.
"The kid almost touched me.
She got this close to me.
I could have died."
In the monster world, humans are considered so incredibly toxic that even a stray item
of clothing on a monster's back has to be destroyed via a controlled explosion.
The affected monster is also forcibly decontaminated by shaving off all their hair and disinfecting
them.
So, when a live human child, Boo, comes through a door and is discovered on the loose in the
monster city, a full-blown panic ensues.
Given all that, could you imagine how the inhabitants of Monstropolis might react to
seeing one of their fellow monsters suddenly transform into a human, like the sea monsters
are able to do in Luca?
There is, in fact, an amusing version of this in Luca itself, when we see Daniella's reaction
to what she calls a "land monster" when she mistakes her husband Lorenzo for a human.
"It's me!"
"Oh!
You scared the scales off of me!"
"Wow, we look horrifying."
In the world of Monsters Inc, we know that the concept of banishment, a form of punishment
that involves sending away monsters to live in the human world permanently, already exists.
"Loch Ness.
Bigfoot.
The Abominable Snowman.
They all got one thing in common pal.
Banishment!"
It was used against Mike and Sulley when they uncovered Mr Waternoose and Randall's plot;
and in Monsters University, it's implied that tampering with the mail at the factory mailroom
was the reason the Abominable Snowman was banished to the Himalayas.
And although we see monsters learning underwater skills at the School of Aquatics in Monsters
University, if one of them suddenly took on a human form
after emerging from the water, we can assume that the other monsters would be extremely
fearful and suspicious of them, perhaps going so far as to banish them.
And what if the Loch Ness Monster, who's been mentioned as existing in the Pixar universe,
was one of these monsters?
Obviously, we're talking about fiction here, but perhaps the reason the existence of Nessie
has never been proven is because it has the ability to come out of the water and disguise
itself as a human.
Could the Loch Ness Monster be a monster-human hybrid species like Luca and Alberto?
Legends of the Loch Ness Monster date back as far as the sixth century, and although
Loch Ness is in Scotland, there would be plenty of time for that monster to use its human
form to mix with the human population, in time for its descendants to end up in the
Italian Riviera near Portorosso.
A Monsters Inc character who has somewhat related powers to Luca's sea monsters is the
villain Randall Boggs, who has the power of camouflage to a much greater degree than real-life
chameleons.
Randall isn't a shapeshifter, but he can change his skin to blend into his surroundings, and
although he initially can't control his ability in Monsters University, by the time of Monsters
Inc he's in full charge of his powers.
Perhaps the sea monsters in Luca then have a related gene to Randall, except they don't
seem to be able to fully control switching it on and off like him.
Which could even imply the skin-changing power evolves between the time of Luca and Monsters
Inc.
An alternate Monsters Inc connection with Luca could be via an origin story that was
first released with the Monsters Inc DVD called "History of the Monster World".
Hat tip to the Carlin Brothers who noticed this in their Luca monster theory video.
The Monsters Inc bonus short film tells the story of "two primitive tribes, the Mans and
the Mons".
Although the Mons wanted to be friends with the Mans, the Mans disliked them for their
appearance and smell and so they drove the Mons away.
Notice how Luca's villain Ercole also comments about Luca and Alberto's odour and bullies
them like the Mans did to the Mons.
"Oof.
And he smells like behind the pescheria."
The Mons swam away and ended up on an enchanted island where they ate magical fruits and vegetables
that made them bigger and gave them characteristics of other animals that ate those foods on the
island.
And when the Mons discovered the scary appearance they'd taken on, they came up with the idea
to get back at the Mans by sneaking up on them and scaring them, ultimately making it
their mission in life.
Now, what's interesting about this is that in an early version of Luca, the sea monsters
had their own town on a separate island where they lived, as you can see in this concept
art.
The monster town idea was scrapped in the end, however, the island was kept as the location
of Alberto's tower, and there's still a reference to the original idea of monsters living there
in this clip.
"Do we really need to fish near the island?"
"You worry too much."
"I don't know.
What if the old stories are true?"
So, how do we get from Luca's sea monsters with their powers of transformation to the
Supers of The Incredibles?
Well, for starters the period setting of Luca aligns fairly well with that of the Incredibles
movies.
There are various easter eggs in Luca to films from the 1950s like 20,000 Leagues Under The
Sea, Roman Holiday, and La Strada.
The movie's end credits show Luca and Giulia watching the moon landing which took place
in 1969, and Luca's director Enrico Casarosa has said the film is set around the 50s and
60s.
As for The Incredibles, going by the newspaper that Mr Incredible reads in the first movie,
it's implied that film takes place in 1962.
Although in an interview with Bustle, The Incredibles director Brad Bird said his intention
wasn't to specify too precisely the year that the movie takes place.
Instead, it's just supposed to be in an era which feels like the 60s, and Bird even suggested
he would have removed the date on the newspaper if he'd taken it in.
With monster-human hybrids like Luca going out into the world, it shows how the genes
which give him his transformation powers could spread into the human world.
Or alternatively, Luca's keen interest in astronomy could also lead him to come into
contact with NASA where his special abilities would undoubtedly generate interest in him
from other government agencies, who in turn might unlock the key or gene that gives him
his powers.
Both of these possibilities, where Supers either have their powers from birth like Jack-Jack,
or acquire them say through experiments or accidents,
could fit with what Brad Bird has said about the origins of his characters' powers, as
he considers both as potentially where their extraordinary abilities come from.
In an interview with Cinema Blend, Bird said, "If we have a baby with superpowers, that
means they can be born.
Although, I wouldn't say that every superhero in this universe is naturally created.
Maybe there are some toxic spills in there."
Now, it's unlikely that Luca himself is the sea monster directly responsible for any genetic
origins of the Supers, as we know from the first Incredibles movie that Supers were already
operational in the 1940s, but Luca mixing with the human world demonstrates
how genetic mutations could spread if his ancestors before him already left the sea
and mingled with the human population.
After all, we know Luca's grandmother has been regularly going into the human town for
a long time.
"Mom!
What are you doing here?"
"I come to town most weekends."
And the two old ladies have also been living among the humans for years.
On top of that, we know that Alberto's father went missing one day, and perhaps one possibility
is that that he fell in love with a human and went to live on land, in a spin on Guillermo
del Toro's The Shape of Water.
So, I had a lot of fun thinking up and theorising about these curious connections between Luca,
Monsters Inc, and The Incredibles, and if you want to discover all the Pixar
easter eggs I found in the movie to the likes of Inside Out, Finding Nemo, and Up, tap here
to watch my full Things You Missed video.
Or you can watch how Pixar's previous movie Soul confirmed many aspects of the Pixar theory.
There's also links to that in the video description.
Now, do you think Luca, Monsters Inc, and The Incredibles could be connected?
And do you have any other theories about Luca and the Pixar universe?
Let me know in the comments below.
If you enjoyed this, then I really appreciate a thumbs-up and a share.
Next you can tap left to learn about all of the hidden messages and meanings in the ending
of Luca, including what Alberto's secret catchphrase really means.
Or tap right for another Pixar video.
Thanks for watching and see ya next time.
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers!