Luck Parent Guide

Having aged out of the Summerland Home for Girls, Samantha (known as Sam and voiced by Eva Noblezada) is starting a new job and living in her own apartment. Cursed with a phenomenal amount of bad luck and general klutziness, Sam is thrilled when she stumbles across a lucky penny. Left behind by a black cat named Bob (Simon Pegg), the coin makes everything in Sam’s life go smoothly. The kindhearted young woman decides to share the penny (and the associated good luck) with a fellow orphan, so she’s devastated to lose it. When she comes across the black cat again, Sam follows him in search of more luck.

Much to Sam’s astonishment, she winds up in the Land of Luck, a bright, colorful place that operates like a giant Rube Goldberg machine. She persuades Bob to help her find another penny and he dresses her up as a leprechaun before they embark on a madcap adventure that has them meet a a dragon CEO, computer-using bunnies, magical swine, and lots and lots of leprechauns (with abundant Irish stereotypes). Not surprisingly, their scheme encounters numerous roadblocks and moments of peril before they confront their own mistaken beliefs and then save the world.

Luck is exactly the kind of film parents hope to find for their kids. Not that it’s anything special from a technical point of view. The voice cast is good but the animation is uninspired, with unconvincing cat’s fur and herky-jerky movements. What really makes this movie stand out is its messaging. While adults might not like the encouragement of rule-breaking, the movie promotes teamwork and cooperation and features a remarkably unselfish heroine. Sam isn’t trying to break her own streak of bad luck; her efforts are entirely dedicated to the happiness of Hazel, a young fellow orphan. Sam is willing to go to enormous trouble and great risk simply to help someone else. In a media world that often promotes selfishness and personal gratification, Sam’s selflessness provides an excellent example for young audiences.

Surprisingly, Luck doesn’t stop there. A message about sacrificing for other people is great, but this script delves deeper and examines the value we place on good luck and success, questioning our desire to always be blessed with both. As Sam tries to rig the system to ensure good luck for everyone, she eventually comes to understand that bad luck can be a good thing. She realizes that her bad luck has made her resilient, adaptable, and empathetic and that a life filled only with good luck would have erased critical formative experiences and relationships. For a kids’ movie, this is an unusually sophisticated message. It fosters attitudes of gratitude, resilience, and courage and discourages entitlement and self-pity.

Fortunately, these wonderful themes aren’t offset by negative content. There are a few moments of peril and some brief scenes that might scare sensitive kids, but this film is less scary than almost every Disney movie I can think of, so it should be safe for most families. That’s not good luck – it’s good planning on the part of the studio and I hope we see more of it. Families need more films that provide entertainment and emotional education in equal measure.