movie review luck

The ironically titled "Luck" marks the inauspicious return of John Lasseter , the former Pixar Animation chief who was ousted in 2017 from the company he co-founded over allegations of inappropriate workplace behavior. Now he's back at Skydance Animation, serving as head of animation and a producer on "Luck," which is streaming on Apple TV+.

But you don't need to know any of that to realize this movie is a mess, and one of the worst of the year. It'll be obvious from the start to anyone who isn't a very small child. The character design is rubbery and off-putting, the dialogue is inane, the antics are forced, and the mythology is mind-bogglingly convoluted. Worst of all, there's little magic in director Peggy Holmes ' tale of a trip to a magical land. Sure, there's a cool contraption or clever mode of transportation here or there. But the characters who populate both this place and the real world are so woefully devoid of personality, it's impossible to care about whether they ever achieve their needlessly elaborate goals.

The young woman at the film's center is the blandest of all. Her name is Sam, and she's voiced with steadfast perkiness by Eva Noblezada . Sam has bounced between various foster homes and orphanages her whole life in hopes of finding her forever family; now, at 18, she has aged out of the system and must live alone in a tiny apartment in her generically quaint town. Not that the script from Kiel Murray , Jonathan Aibel , and Glenn Berger is even the slightest bit interested in this young woman's interior life, but how does Sam feel about this prospect? How does she feel about never having been adopted? It's hard to be interested in how the story will shape her if we have no clue who she is at the start.

Life on her own is an even more of a daunting task for Sam than it would be for the average person, though, because she's plagued by perpetual bad luck. This is her signature trait. We know this because her plucky young pal at the orphanage, Hazel ( Adelynn Spoon ), announces: "You sure have bad luck, Sam Greenfield," when Sam turns their makeshift music video shoot (to Madonna's "Lucky Star," of course) into a fiasco. She's clumsy, she drops stuff, she gets trapped in the bathroom, she can't make the toaster work. A job at the neighborhood crafts store (where Lil Rel Howery provides the voice of her boss) provides further opportunities for chaos, but now they involve glitter, ribbons, and cacti. It's all depressingly predictable.

But no matter the challenge or setback, Sam is sunny and upbeat. This is also depressingly predictable. Watching her stumble and bumble cheerfully through life makes you wish she'd let loose with an actual emotion from time to time. The film's young viewers certainly could relate to such volatility.

Things start to look up, though, when a snarky black cat with a shiny penny accidentally leads her through a portal to the Land of Luck. Similar to the factory in "Monsters, Inc."—the rare glimmer of Lasseter's influence here—this is the secret place where leprechauns manufacture nuggets of good luck for random delivery worldwide: everything from finding good parking to falling in love. Characters stand around explaining the mechanics of this place to each other in scene after scene; you'll still need a flow chart to understand it all.

But because she's so freaking nice all the time, Sam doesn't want good luck for herself. She wants to procure a lucky penny for Hazel, who's on the brink of adoption. This leads to an overly complicated series of events in which Sam and her cat friend, Bob ( Simon Pegg , doing a Scottish accent), sneak through various corridors and into labs, with Sam insisting that she's Latvian, and that's why she's so tall compared to everyone else. It's a joke that gets hammered ad infinitum, but it isn't even remotely funny the first time. (This plot point did inspire a particularly clunky piece of dialogue—"I'm not a Latvian leprechaun, Gerry. I'm a human!"—which my son and I have been saying to each other around the house for days.)

With its whimsical creatures and colorful palette—as well as supporting characters like Jane Fonda 's fuchsia dragon and Flula Borg as a flamboyant German unicorn—"Luck" truly is best suited for small children with low standards. Older kids will be bored. Adults will find it especially dreary, even though there's actually a relevant message in here about the merits of failure and the perils of lawnmower parenting, buried somewhere beneath all the sparkles and desperation.

On Apple TV+ today and available in theaters.

Christy Lemire

Christy Lemire is a longtime film critic who has written for RogerEbert.com since 2013. Before that, she was the film critic for The Associated Press for nearly 15 years and co-hosted the public television series "Ebert Presents At the Movies" opposite Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, with Roger Ebert serving as managing editor. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

• Eva Noblezada as Sam Greenfield (voice)
• Simon Pegg as Bob (voice)
• Jane Fonda as The Dragon (voice)
• Whoopi Goldberg as The Captain (voice)
• Colin O'Donoghue as Jerry (voice)
• Lil Rel Howery as Marvin (voice)
• Flula Borg as Jeff the Unicorn (voice)
• John Ratzenberger as Rootie (voice)
• Adelynn Spoon as Hazel (voice)
• Glenn Berger
• Jonathan Aibel
• Kiel Murray
• John Debney
• Peggy Holmes
• William J. Caparella

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Parents' guide to.

• Common Sense Says
• Parents Say 41 Reviews
• Kids Say 18 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

Colorful, charming animated tale has positive messages.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Luck is an animated film about Sam (voiced by Eva Noblezada), the unluckiest person in the world. She accidentally travels to the Land of Luck and learns positive lessons about overcoming challenges and managing disappointments. Characters face dangers and scary-looking monsters, but…

Why Age 5+?

Characters do a lot of falling down and getting bonked by things; they appear to

A unicorn and a dragon fondly remember the time they fell in love.

"Poop," "screw it up," "blabbermouth."

Drinks called Tangerine Tornados and Lucky Dragons are served in a juice bar/res

Any Positive Content?

Sam demonstrates gratitude for what she has in life, which is less than a lot of

Family is who you make it. Learning to roll with the punches when they come in l

Animated characters, including humans and leprechauns, represent different races

Kids can reflect on the value of family and the reality that sometimes bad thing

Parents need to know that Luck is an animated film about Sam (voiced by Eva Noblezada ), the unluckiest person in the world. She accidentally travels to the Land of Luck and learns positive lessons about overcoming challenges and managing disappointments. Characters face dangers and scary-looking monsters, but they always emerge unscathed. They demonstrate empathy and perseverance and discover that family is who you make it. There are some emotional scenes involving young children who are hoping to be adopted and end up disappointed. Characters use very mild taunts ("blabbermouth"), there's a "poop" research center, and a few scenes take place in a (juice) bar.

To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Violence & Scariness

Characters do a lot of falling down and getting bonked by things; they appear to be in regular danger of getting hurt, but they always rebound unscathed. Sam has to enter a scary and unknown place by herself. Chase scenes and scary-looking monsters. Children hope and wait to be adopted but are frequently let down.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Drinks called Tangerine Tornados and Lucky Dragons are served in a juice bar/restaurant; they don't appear to be alcoholic, but they look very much like tiki bar drinks.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Positive Role Models

Sam demonstrates gratitude for what she has in life, which is less than a lot of others her age. She maintains a positive, can-do attitude despite regular setbacks. She shows perseverance and empathy in tirelessly pursuing her goal to help her young friend Hazel, even if it puts her in danger. Bob tries not to form attachments, but he helps Sam despite possible risks to himself. He eventually learns to love her like family. Other characters help Sam and Bob, and even those who seem to be working against them ultimately come around and do the right thing.

Positive Messages

Family is who you make it. Learning to roll with the punches when they come in life will make you more resilient. Be kind and compassionate to others, and don't judge a book by its cover. Everything that happens to you in life, good or bad, forms part of who you are.

Diverse Representations

Animated characters, including humans and leprechauns, represent different races and nationalities. Strong female leaders in the Land of Luck.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update .

Educational Value

Kids can reflect on the value of family and the reality that sometimes bad things happen, an opportunity for learning and growth.

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Parent and Kid Reviews

• Parents say (41)
• Kids say (18)

Based on 41 parent reviews

Great to have another rated G movie for my daughter to enjoy

Fully watchable, what's the story.

The star of LUCK, Sam Greenfield (voiced by Eva Noblezada ), has always had bad luck. She is about to age out of the latest in a long string of foster homes, none of which ever found her a "forever family." This means that she has to say goodbye to bunkmate Hazel (Adelynn Spoon), a little girl also waiting to be adopted, and move into an apartment on her own. One day Sam finds a lucky penny left behind by a black cat. She plans to give Hazel the penny for luck in finding a family, but, bad luck being what it is, she accidentally flushes the penny down the toilet. When she again spots the black cat -- who can speak and is named Bob ( Simon Pegg ) -- she chases him and unwittingly follows him through a portal that leads to the Land of Luck. There, Sam's real adventure begins, as she enlists Bob's help in getting a lucky penny for Hazel, poses as a Latvian Leprechaun, and has to elude characters like the Captain ( Whoopi Goldberg ) and the Dragon ( Jane Fonda ).

Is It Any Good?

This charming animated film manages to maintain a sweet innocence without compromising its desire to layer in ideas and characters that can be appreciated by more mature audiences. Luck 's characters, animated with subtlety, are seemingly tailor-made for the high-profile cast. Bob's calm, cool, standoffish demeanor is captured in his cat poses and almond eyes, and Pegg's accent hilariously changes to fit the storyline. Goldberg infuses her wise-cracking Captain with a soft heart, and Fonda oozes seductive power as the confident dragon lady who recognizes that a lot of creatures are intimidated by "ladies of stature" and who just knows that she would "excel" at running the universe.

The Land of Luck is a magical place imbued with soft colors and made to look like the inside of a watch, constantly in motion and with Jetsons -style platforms transporting characters. There's magic in other scenes as well, particularly a dialogue-free sequence where Sam chases Bob through town. The cat is as suave as Fred Astaire as he glides nonchalantly over the tops of opened umbrellas. The entire film is set to an orchestral score that also has classical Hollywood nuances.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the idea that bad luck can bring good things, or at least teach us resilience, as it does for Sam in Luck . Has this been your experience? If so, what happened?

The Captain and the Dragon are both female characters in charge of the Land of Luck. Why is it unusual to see female leaders in animated films? What other examples can you think of?

How do Sam and Bob demonstrate empathy ? Do other characters show this trait as well? Why is this an important character strength ?

How does Sam show perseverance ? At what points might she have given up on her plan to help Hazel? Would it have been understandable if she had given up?

Do you believe in luck? Why, or why not?

Movie Details

• In theaters : August 5, 2022
• On DVD or streaming : August 5, 2022
• Cast : Eva Noblezada , Simon Pegg , Jane Fonda
• Director : Peggy Holmes
• Inclusion Information : Latino actors, Female actors
• Studio : Apple TV+
• Genre : Family and Kids
• Topics : Magic and Fantasy , Cats, Dogs, and Mice , Friendship , Great Girl Role Models
• Character Strengths : Empathy , Gratitude , Perseverance
• Run time : 97 minutes
• MPAA rating : G
• Award : Common Sense Selection
• Last updated : February 17, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

What to watch next.

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Luck Reviews

The super-polished [animation] style actually works for me…and possibly for the first time since Pixar’s early films. In a utopian world demarcated by luck, the polish sells the look. Luckiness should be slick and cool

Full Review | Jul 16, 2024

The absolute star of the show is Jane Fonda, who is charming as ever as a Dragon who manages to be not only absolutely fabulous and stylish, but also incredibly human and beautifully flawed, often at the same time.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jul 25, 2023

In its heart, Luck does have something important to say. The film wants to teach children that bad luck is a learning experience and that they shouldn’t shut down when things go wrong. Challenges and problems are opportunities to adapt.

Full Review | Jul 24, 2023

Luck is imperfect but still charming... [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jan 3, 2023

There is some good in Skydance Animation’s feature, but Luck‘s biggest problem is its lack of passion.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/10 | Dec 15, 2022

A movie where uninspired ideas become the building blocks for more uninspired ideas, until the filmmakers have constructed an elaborate shrine to their own whimsical lore

Full Review | Oct 29, 2022

Luck lacks that kick of wonder and imagination animation can achieve. And because it so closely resembles better films, Luck ends up looking like a bare bones knock off Disney movie.

Full Review | Oct 3, 2022

I ran out of red string and wall space in trying to understand the details.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 21, 2022

Luck is family fun done right, even if it skews towards the lower end of the age spectrum in its appeal.

Full Review | Aug 17, 2022

The enchanting story is bogged down by too many seemingly random shenanigans that become more of a distraction instead of fueling the protagonist’s story forward. LUCK has an endearing quality, but it could’ve been so much better overall.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 15, 2022

The entertaining animated comedy Luck is a G-rated version of Michael Schur’s profound and hilarious The Good Place...

… somewhere between the lovechild of Monsters Inc (2001) and Inside Out (2015) only without the required emotional crescendo.

Full Review | Original Score: 11/20 | Aug 15, 2022

The makers of "Luck" ran out of luck when it came to casting actors voices to provide some spark to this sweet but average animated story.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/10 | Aug 14, 2022

A kids movie version of the kill scenes from the "Final Destination" horror movie franchise.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 13, 2022

While expectations may have been higher considering Lasseter's name is attached to the film, Luck is still a good film that tells a familiar story with its own original voice.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4.0 | Aug 13, 2022

I can tell that there is some great potential and greater talents within [Skydance Animation]. It’s just than John Lasseter and Luck are not among them nor good examples of that.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/10 | Aug 12, 2022

It’s got a good heart, though, and means well, so it’s hard to want to rip it a new one.

Full Review | Aug 11, 2022

The first feature from Skydance Animation whisks viewers to a wonderful world of magical creatures, but it doesn’t know what to do once it gets there.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 10, 2022

It's also engaging enough to keep us entertained and leave us with a smile.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Aug 10, 2022

The film gets bogged down in the details of where the luck flows and who controls it, but its heart and its visuals hit the right spot in a way that some of the recent Pixar films have lacked.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 10, 2022

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‘Luck’ Review: Bad Day at the Fortune Factory

A young woman seeking a lucky penny for a child in foster care finds an entire magical world where luck is manufactured.

• Share full article

By Teo Bugbee

Sam, the plucky protagonist of the affable family film “Luck,” has had a lifetime’s supply of bad breaks. ‌She has spent her childhood in foster care, and when the film begins, she has reached adulthood without ever being adopted. Flat tires and falling shelves don’t phase her anymore. It’s only when younger children, like her friend Hazel, are passed over for adoption from foster care that the unfairness of fortune gets Sam down. Hazel wants a lucky penny to charm her first meeting with a family, and Sam is determined to help her.

Sam (voiced by Eva Noblezada) stumbles upon a shiny penny after locking eyes with a black cat, but she loses the penny before she can give it to Hazel. She rants in frustration to the cat that has lingered at the very spot where she found the penny. To her surprise, the cat voices its own dismay.

Sam chases the talking cat, named Bob (voiced by Simon Pegg), down a portal to another world: the magical Land of Luck. Here, good luck is manufactured and carefully distributed into the human world by teams of leprechauns, unicorns and dragons. To find new pennies, Sam and Bob must traverse this factory of fortune together.

It’s an engaging concept for a film, and the original screenplay by Kiel Murray shuffles familiar tropes for luck into a novel setting. The director Peggy Holmes keeps the film’s three-dimensional animation bright and full of impeccably rendered detail. Hair falls photorealistically out of place, toast looks craggy enough to hold its jam. But the images often fall into visual cliché — there’s an overabundance of lucky greens, and character design often favors cutesy details, like pink scales to soften up a dragon. “Luck” offers fresh ideas; its only misfortune is to present its gifts in recycled wrapping.

Luck Rated G. Running time: 1 hour 45 minutes. Watch on Apple TV+ .

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• Cast & crew

User reviews

First 10min fantastic, the last 5min pretty good, the rest meh...

• namob-43673
• Aug 6, 2022

Great animation, convuluted story later.

• Horror_Flick_Fanatic
• Aug 5, 2022

This is a great animated movie...

• paul_haakonsen
• Aug 8, 2022

"No one can see my screen"

• daisukereds
• Aug 4, 2022

the first from Skydance Animation

Only here for pegg, it didn't make sense....

• breadandhammers
• Aug 23, 2022

Lucky Or Unlucky?!

• Aug 9, 2022

These kind of movies are important.

Luck feels as warm and familiar as a favorite blanket reminding us of some of our favorite pixar movies from 25 years ago..

• Aug 18, 2022

Talk about strong-arming a theme...

If my daughter likes it that's a huge win.

• Aug 20, 2022

A cute film for the kids

• GabrielRSRocha
• Aug 17, 2022

Missing the Pixar magic

Enjoyable movie but with many plotholes (review contains many spoilers).

• willamtatfoxslimshadychadchad

Everything in life is luck

• EdwardtheBlackPrince

It just keeps getting worse

Entertaining, cute, touching animation movie.

• Shadowboy_25cm
• Aug 12, 2022

Cute family movie

• ryanc-49973

Sorte (2022)

• Sep 15, 2024

Completely generic from beginning to end

• Rectangular_businessman
• Aug 15, 2022

Fun, quirky and uplifting

It's hard to say.

• Sep 30, 2022

Not really worth watching

Interesting & fun., more from this title, more to explore, recently viewed.

Screen Rant

Luck review: apple tv+ movie has equal parts heart, humor & visual flair.

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Classic Sci-Fi Movie Being Rebooted By Legendary Comic Book Writer 68 Years After Release

Star wars' new trilogy news means i'm finally giving up on rian johnson's trilogy, vincent d'onofrio's intense scene in oscar-nominated 1987 war movie gets near-perfect score by expert for acknowledging struggles for soldiers.

Following a person into fantastical alternate worlds is a common trope for animated movies, from  Monsters Inc.  and  Coco to  Soul and  Inside Out . Each of these has been received well and, in a way, Skydance Animation pulls from this Disney playbook for  Luck . The first movie in a deal between Skydance and Apple TV+,  Luck  feels familiar, but it still portrays a unique and weirdly charming world for Sam Greenworld, its main character, to explore. While short on laugh-out-loud moments,  Luck is charming and whimsical, with a voice cast that brings their distinct talents to the film.

Luck  follows Sam (Eva Noblezada), a girl who ages out of the foster system and is left to live her unlucky, but comfortable, life. About every possible problem imaginable manages to befall Sam, from getting injured on the job to locking herself in the bathroom with a broomstick. When Sam runs into a mysterious black cat one evening, that all changes. Sam finds a penny that grants her the luck of having a pretty normal life — until she flushes it down the toilet. When Sam finds out the black cat is actually named Bob (Simon Pegg), she follows the cat into the Land of Luck, a mysterious world populated by leprechauns, unicorns, dragons, and other mystical creatures.

Related:  Every Movie Releasing In Summer 2022

The voice cast, which also includes Jane Fonda, Whoopi Goldberg, Flula Borg, and Lil Rel Howery, imbues each of their characters with a distinct personality and, by keeping its cast relatively small, Luck  ensures they each get their moment. Goldberg and Fonda are, of course, natural standouts as The Captain (a leprechaun) and Babe the Dragon (the head of the Land of Luck), respectively. Noblezada, in what is one of her first major roles, also does exceedingly well portraying Sam's wonder at the Land of Luck. She even gets to sing at one point, putting on a dance number to Madonna's "Lucky Star" as a slew of rabbits shimmies next to her.

The Land of Luck (and its hilariously bureaucratic intricacies) is surely a sight to behold and, as new layers are revealed about the fantasy world, it becomes a worthy setting for the majority of the film. One detour into the basement section where bad luck is made provides for a sequence that is equal parts exciting and funny. Still, the movie is otherwise short on laughs, relying heavily on slapstick that is sure to get a giggle out of younger audiences, but may leave older viewers wanting.

With any computer-animated movie bound to draw comparisons to Pixar,  Luck  certainly will. The formula is apparent from the film's opening minutes (and an expectedly heartbreaking flashback), but it doesn't try to hide its indulgence. It's a formula that works and, in a time where nostalgia at the movies is at its peak, it becomes almost a comfort in its familiarity. Conversely,  Luck 's Irish motifs make the film feel like a holiday movie for St. Patrick's day in some ways, providing an idiosyncratic touch that is both charming and endearing. That individuality falls away as the conflict rises and gives way to an inevitable conclusion, tying everything neatly in a bow, but there's really no other way to do it.

Holding it all together is Pegg's sardonic black cat Bob and the relationship between him and Sam is about as charming as any relationship between an anthropomorphic animal and its human friend. The Land of Luck itself is also a sight to behold, combining creatures of mythology, futuristic tech, and plain fun as it sits in the clouds somewhere in the universe.  Luck  may not reinvent the wheel — at this point, what can? — but it does what films like this do best, bringing forth a message about family and perseverance with humor, heart, and a lot of magic.

More: DC League of Super-Pets Review: Johnson & Hart Lose Their Magic

Luck  is begins streaming on Apple TV+ on August 5. The film is 105 minutes long and is rated G.

Luck is a family comedy movie created for Apple TV+ and stars Eva Noblezada as Sam Greenfield- the unluckiest person in the world. From the simple act of adding jelly to toast to trying to shop in a supermarket, nearly every event in her life is a disaster. But in Luck, all that changes when she crosses paths with Bob, a Scottish black cat who deals with luck's balance. When Sam follows Bob through a mystical portal to a world where the luck of all people is managed, she'll discover the means to turn her bad fortune around - while trying not to destroy the balance of all luck in the universe.

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