Note: this post contains movie spoilers.
Luca, the new Pixar Movie
Luca is a sea-monster that lives in the sea, specifically in an Italian Riviera. In the sea bed he starts finding human items, which peaked his interest. You see, the sea monsters can transform into humans if they leave the ocean, but his parents forbid him from every doing 'the change.' And I wouldn't blame his parents, since the humans in the nearby village where sea-monster hunters. Regardless, Luca meets a new friend, Bruno, who takes him to the surface and he teaches him how to do human stuff, like walking.
Hiding an Identity
With the risk of being hunted for who they are, when they visit Portorosso, they attempt to blend in as human kids. This is perhaps one of the strongest synonyms to being queer - most of us have had to act straight, or at least try to not reveal our true colours to avoid any unwanted attention. And perhaps some may think that this is an over exaggeration, however LGBTQIA+ people (particularly trans women) are more likely to victims of violence and murder.
"But Luca and Bruno do not have a relationship!!"
One of the most common counter-arguments that Luca is a queer movie is that the children did not have any sort of romantic relationship. Whilst this may be true, perhaps it's good to remind people that queer kids were kids too, even if they only had platonic relationships with each other as children.
Speaking for myself, due to similar interests like the Eurovision (if you don't know what it is, well, it's like the Olympics for Music with dramatic staging and performances), most of my childhood male friends tended to be more effeminate. I'm not shocked that some of my closest friends from school turned out to also be queer. Hence, I think it is logically obvious that characters do not require same-sex romantic relationships to be queer - although it's high time that media focus on representations with healthy relationships too, and not just toying with queer identities in a palatable form for homophobes.
The Lesbian Couple
When Luca and Bruno first go into Portorosso, two of the town characters are a pair of elder women. There is no direct romantic interaction between the two, but (spoiler alert), after the loved Luca and Bruno are discovered to be sea-monsters and the town accepts them, this couple reveal their true colours and transform into sea-monsters as well. This is very synonymous to a lot of the elder queer generation who have suppressed their identity and relationships for decades, but were able to come out recently and even get married.
Pride
As a viewer, the strongest messages I found in the movie that of Pride. Luca's mother comes around in the end, realising she was strict - yes, the world is dangerous out there, but Luca was able to find people who will not hurt him for being who he is. Moreover, the movie did get released during Pride month, so if you want to believe that Luca is a queer movie, don't let anyone convince you otherwise.
Links
Twitch: PinkGeeRough
Youtube: PinkGeeRough
Twitter: @PinkGeeRough