Lasseter’s Return to Animation is a Charmer for Apple but for Critics?

Pete Hammond’s review for Luck illustrates why Lasseter was such a strong force at Pixar and irreplaceable:

After being ousted by Disney/Pixar, John Lasseter, the man many credited with that studio’s resurgence as an animation powerhouse, is back in luck with the appropriately titled Luck, his first venture into feature film animation as head of Skydance’s ‘toon division. He is a producer on the new film, which starts streaming Friday as an Apple Original Film on Apple TV+.

Filled with the familiar Lasseter tropes of strikingly good animation, strong characters, and a blend of comedy, emotion and heart, this movie could be a lucky charm for both Apple and Skydance. It checks all the boxes except a theatrical run, where it might have done well if released outside of the current summer glut of family fare. Nevertheless, it ought to find a receptive audience at home.

Strangely enough, Rotten Tomatoes earlier showed a negative score for the film but no reviews visible. It has been since updated, so we’ll see. This is one of those instances where it will be interesting to see where the critics go with it. Will they muddy their natural responses because they don’t want to praise Lasseter’s obvious talent? I guess we’ll have to wait and see on that.

Luck will have a qualifying run for the Oscar, but the Academy and Hollywood are still in the midst of the new “Red Scare” – the name for the climate of fear as yet to be determined. That means they will not prioritize how good a film is over Twitter hysteria, but I guess we’ll see. The movie is either so bad it warrants that low of a score, or else they’re trying to sink it.