Have you ever had “one of those days” when everything went wrong and it seemed like the world was against you? Not a great feeling, right? Well, that’s how Sam Greenfield (voice of Eva Noblezada) felt almost every day in the new animated film from Skydance Animation, “Luck.”
Releasing on Apple TV+ on August 5th, this new film follows Sam, a foster kid who is “aging out” of the system. She’s eighteen years old now and the Summerland Home for Girls has arranged for an apartment, job, and school for Sam. But she also seems to be plagued by bad luck. She’s never been adopted and she’s beset by every bad luck cliché that could possibly happen from gum stuck on her shoe to the keys getting dropped down the sewer to the toast always landing jam side down.
Yet, somehow, Sam never loses her sense of joy. Her young friend, Hazel (voice of Adelynn Spoon), another girl at the foster home, hopes for a weekend visit with a potential family and Sam wants to get some good luck for Hazel, luck Sam never had.
Sam’s first forays into independent life are characterized by her bad luck. Sitting on the sidewalk one evening, she pours out her woes to a cat named Bob (voice of Simon Pegg), as she later finds out, who comes by wanting to share her dinner. She shares her meager victuals and when she gets up, notices a coin on the ground. And it’s not just any coin, it’s a lucky penny!
Enjoying the unaccustomed good luck the penny brings her, she nevertheless wants to gift the penny to Hazel so her friend can find a forever family. Par for the course, however, the penny meets with a mishap and she loses it before getting it to Hazel. When Sam spots the same cat near where she found the penny, she gets suspicious and follows the cat through a mysterious portal that brings her to the Land of Luck, hoping to get another lucky penny for Hazel.
In the Land of Luck, Sam learns that there are magical creatures who create luck, good and bad, which gets sent out to the human world through a “randomizer.” Because the Land of Luck has no humans, Sam and Bob go through some pretty funny antics to keep Sam hidden in their quest for another penny.
“Luck” garnered a G rating from the Motion Picture Association which is a rare thing these days and the film is family friendly with plenty of laughs for everyone. The voice actors really hit the target in the movie, especially Simon Pegg as Bob the Cat but Whoopi Goldberg voicing the Captain, boss in the Land of Luck, and Jane Fonda voicing the Dragon who makes the luck crystals, also bring heart to their adorable characters.
The emotional center of the story, however, is Sam and her ability to take the challenges life throws at her and still remain optimistic, cheerful, and focused on the good of others rather than herself. Her quality of selflessness will be a great example to anyone who sees this film, but especially young kids.
And be on the lookout for the inhabitants of the Land of Bad Luck. It’s amazing how well they support each other through all the mishaps and catastrophes they constantly endure. What a wonderful attitude to adopt for our own lives, especially taking joy in the small pleasures of life when they come.
It’s said that believers don’t really believe in luck but rather that God’s providence plays itself out in our lives. When “good luck” things happen to us, we see God’s loving kindness bringing joy our way. Sometimes, what might be considered “bad luck” is just God challenging us to better ourselves, to acknowledge that we are not the ones in control, but that God is the loving master of our lives, always desiring us to be thankful for all the gifts we’ve been given.
