Apple TV+ Original Animated Film Already Being Forgotten
Sometimes it feels as though so many streaming originals are releasing all at once that you’d have to spend 24 hours a day sitting in front of your television just to keep up with them all. Inevitably, this means that some films will be entirely overlooked and forgotten, regardless of their quality. One such film, Luck, was released on Apple TV+ back in 2022 and has seemingly already been forgotten to time.
The Long Development
Long before Luck premiered on Apple TV+, the film underwent some serious development issues, delaying its release by a number of years. This could explain why Luck had such a limited marketing budget, preventing the film from raising awareness of its premiere back in August of 2022. The project was first announced as early as 2017 and was meant to serve as a flagship outing for the newly formed Skydance Animations, which serves as the go-to studio for Apple TV+ animated ventures.
Unrecognizable From The Original Concept
By the time Luck was released, the Apple TV+ original had swapped out writers, directors, and cast members so many times that the final outcome was unrecognizable from its original outline. Ultimately, the film came to be helmed by Peggy Holmes and Javier Abad, with a script from Kiel Murray, Jonathan Aibel, and Glenn Berger. Most of the film’s cast weren’t officially locked in until January 2022, and nearly every vocal performance was sent in from remote home studios due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The Land Of Luck
The narrative of Luck on Apple TV+ centers on a young woman named Sam Greenfield (Eva Noblezada), who is plagued with a constant string of misfortune due to her status as the unluckiest person on Earth.
After being forced out of her foster home, she crosses paths with a talking black cat, voiced by Simon Pegg, who transports her to the Land of Luck, where mystical creatures such as leprechauns dictate the fate of humans all over the world. As she attempts to traverse this bizarre place, Sam comes to learn that the nature of her bad luck can be tied to a sub-world of the Land of Luck, offering her a chance to change the tide of her misfortunes.
The Cast Does Their Best
Simon Pegg and Eva Noblezada are joined in the cast by such megastars as Jane Fonda, Whoopi Goldberg, Lil Rel Howery, John Ratzenberger, and The Suicide Squad‘s Flula Borg. With all these actors and more lending their voices to the film, Luck may be the most star-studded animated feature on the entire Apple TV+ platform. Unfortunately, the talented cast is bound by the middling material of the script, which has received mixed reviews from critics, resulting in Luck taking home a 48 percent critic score on Rotten Tomatoes.
An Original Apple TV Animated Feature
REVIEW SCORE
Luck‘s biggest problem is its clear attempt at emulating the Pixar formula, in a misguided attempt to provide Apple TV+ with its own knockoff Inside Out or Monster’s Inc. Unfortunately, the movie ultimately lives in the shadows of similar Pixar ventures, and wound up being fairly forgettable. If you’re interested in seeing Luck today, you can still stream the film on Apple TV+.
