Modern Vespa

Pixar's new film 'Luca' has two sea monster kids creating some makeshift Vespas because they love the look of the real ones but can't afford them. Nothing new there!

No surprise there, several of the senior Pixar guys are notorious motorheads.
Watching their stuff with my kids when they were young, I was always spotting cool vintage car references in their work.

It was only a matter of time until a Vespa showed up.

I love the Easter eggs Pixar put in their work. Kids don't notice them but for adults it gives us a glimpse into the sometimes deranged minds of the talented people who animate for a living.

I watched two different trailers for Luca, and the usual attention to small details is nothing new for the gang at Pixar, but what they did with the Vespas there was the product of true knowing of the machine. Can't wait to catch it (in a real theater, of course...finally went to see In the Heights on the big screen last week, highly recommended).

There was also a Vespa in Ratatouille. The same one is later visible among the junk piles in WALL-E. It's a bit more stylized than the one in Luca, though.

I'm always looking for the A113 reference, as far as Easter eggs go.

This.

Funny, we've been in a motel room for a couple of nights, as usual the kid is watching the Cartoon Channel (unavailable at home) and the ad popped up a few times, each time my wife and kid exclaim, "Hey Dad, a Vespa!" and I look up and it's gone. So the trailer here is the first.

Yeah, somebody actually did their research....

The Vespa was how Pixar tied WALL-E into the Pixar universe. Most people didn't find that Easter egg. No surprise a MV member would!

The Pizza Planet truck is in just about every one of their films, too, along with the ball from Luxo Jr., and several other things. Part of it is in fun, and I suspect part of it is also, "Hey, that's one less object we have to spend time constructing to fill in this shot." I've always been obsessed with animation, so I usually notice that stuff.

Those CAL ARTS people are everywhere.

If you haven't seen it I highly recommend you watch "Kiwi" on Youtube. It's a student short so while the animation competently demonstrates the twelve basic principles it doesn't have the slick end result offered by software like Renderman (I think it was animated and rendered with Blender). It's also relatively old but to this day is the most emotional bit of animation I have ever seen, right up there with Mufasa, Bambi's mom and the inferno of Toy Story 3, and this with a mere 3:00 minutes of no dialog and only one character.

So, if my first impression is correct, this is the first Disney/Pixar movie to have both an authentic Vespa and a bodge?

This may be the first movie period to have both an authentic Vespa and a bodge

Well, got to see it....we don't have Disney Plus, but my Mexican SIL does! So yeah, good flick if you're into animation. Won't spoil it, but there were a few painful moments for Vespa lovers.

Interesting Queer narrative as pointed out by our kid....

And yeah, bodges eventually show their worth.

Absolutely based in an alternate reality then.

Missing a sarcasm font here. Just when you thought MV was astonishingly functional.....

I have just watched the first half of Luca. OMG, it is an homage to Vespa.

It wouldn't be MV if there wasn't a minimum of opposition and ... Yes, there is parallelism, it couldn't be otherwise.

Watched this last night with the kids. They made me take them for a ride on the Vespa immediately after 🤣

Queer?😳💥Gotta see it!

I just watched it, and WOW. Amazing animation, as to be expected from Pixar... cute story and characters... and of course Vespas!!

Pixar even listed Piaggio under "Special Thanks" in the credits.

Not in-your-face obvious, at least until pointed out. But yeah, think you'd enjoy it.

Feels like paid product placement, which makes sense given Vepsa's 75th anniversary. And, it's not a bad thing in today's Hollywood. Cute story and nice bump for Vespa.

One has to wonder about a predictable uptick in sea monsters showing up at dealerships....

You could be right but the writers would have had the Vespa worship in their story long before they ever thought about product placement. Writing around a pitch is simply not something Pixar does.

Agreed. I don't think this was product placement. I think this was the creators really digging Vespa.

It was consensual This kinda how product placement works (I've had to deal with this in a previous job). Andrea Warren is a producer - quote attached.

Again - product placement is not a bad thing. The producers had a vision and companies license their product to help them make it work.

https://www.vespa.com/it_IT/

Open now.