Pixar's Grave of the Fireflies. Luca uses Pixar's signature three-dimensional CGI animation instead of Ghibli's more traditional style and hand-drawn look, but Studio Ghibli clearly inspired Disney through Luca's setting, visuals, and treatment of female characters.
Luca follows a young sea monster who longs to walk on the surface, where he can transform into a human boy. After emerging onto land, he befriends fellow sea monster Alberto and the pair venture to the town Portorosso, where they must keep their identities secret as the Portorosso's townspeople hate sea monsters like them. Pixar's most obvious Studio Ghibli connection in Luca is the town's name, reminiscent of Ghibli's 1992 movie Porco Rosso, which is both also set in Italy and features a not-quite-human protagonist. Additionally, Luca's town of Portorosso, like the settings of many Ghibli movies, highlights rural living and the natural environment.
Studio Ghibli Inspired Luca's Aesthetic
Luca's aesthetic is a clear Studio Ghibli-Pixar connection — and Pixar isn't coy about itting it. Luca director Enrico Casarosa has said (via TechRadar) that the movie's look was directly inspired by Ghibli films. While still using Pixar's signature computer graphics, Pixar established a connection to Studio Ghibli in Luca by covering everything in warm tones, and using textures to create the feel of watercolors and hand-drawn animation. Casarosa said, "A lot of Studio Ghibli's dreamlike sequences certainly influenced us, so we tried to bring that warmth and imperfection to the computer animation."
Studio Ghibli is also known for its strong female characters and feminist messages. While Luca is primarily the story of a relationship between two boys, it does include an array of women and girls with strong personalities, diverse ages, and varying body types, akin to the all-female mechanic crew in Porco Rosso. Luca's mother Daniela, voiced by Maya Rudolph, is a forceful character who has a fun dynamic with her own, more permissive mother Paguro. Giulia is also a classic Ghibli-esque heroine, in that she is both fiery and curious about the wider world.
The anime films of Studio Ghibli weren't the only reference point for Luca. Casarosa has also cited the 1979 coming-of-age drama Breaking Away and directors from the Golden Age of Italian cinema like Federico Fellini and Luchino Visconti as influences. But it is the Ghibli inspiration, Porco Rosso, that really stands out, and has been touched upon by many critics. Luca combines the faster-paced and more goal-oriented plotting of American animated movies with the imagery, locations, and spirit of Miyazaki and Takahata to create an intriguing animation hybrid.
Studio Ghibli & Disney Have A Complicated History
Two animation companies at the top of the field, Disney and Studio Ghibli have had connections to one another for years, from Disney having the distribution rights of English dubs of Ghibli's movies, to Spirited Away's first US screening taking place at Pixar (via Polygon). The two studios take drastically different approaches to making animated films though, with the Disney machine usually releasing multiple movies a year, whereas Ghibli's releases usually come years apart. While many see the animation powerhouses as rivals, their roots run much deeper than mutual inspiration and projects like the Studio Ghibli Star Wars short.
Studio Ghibli and Pixar are also linked by their Academy Awards success, though this has been received by the studios' respective creators very differently. While the Oscars are often considered the pinnacle of success for movies in the US, and Pixar has taken home the Best Animated Feature accolade many times, Ghibli's Miyazaki did not attend the ceremony when Spirited Away won the award in 2003, implied to be because of his views on the Iraq War (via The Japan Times). In 2014, though, Miyazaki accepted an Honorary Award from the Academy which was presented to him by Pixar's then-CEO, further highlighting Studio Ghibli and Pixar's connections beyond Luca.
