Written and directed by Toby Cochran, following an active and upbeat robot named LUKi who enjoys hanging with friends. One day after work while playing soccer, LUki’s arm begins to malfunction. After a trip to the doctor, LUKi is diagnosed with ALS.
The animation style of LUKi & the Lights is undeniably adorable, it’s immediately very sweet and family friendly. The way that it moves has a videogame type style to it, especially when it’s added to the depth of colour and that it has a sci-fi influence by using robots instead of humans. The design as a whole is really well done, there’s a great deal of detail to its aesthetic. Perhaps the only element that lets it down is the overly generic score, it doesn’t feel original or specific to the film, more like an already created track they dropped over the top.
Once the story starts to develop, it quickly gains the feel of a short that’s attempting to be educational, as if it was created to teach kids about ALS and that’s because it was. However, that means it has a fair amount of limitations, the intentions are wonderful but it’s putting itself in a specific box that doesn’t leave a lot of room for development. The story has a set track and because it doesn’t use dialogue, there’s little to no wiggle room to create something with more personality.
That’s not to say it has none at all, it’s certainly endearing, but everything is done in a way that’s overtly accessible rather than giving it specific traits. It’s all about compassion and caring for others, as well as accepting your own illness, which has lots of lovely lessons to teach children but it doesn’t offer a great deal for a wider audience. As an educational video, it’s a superb idea and should work really well but as purely a short film, it can feel a little commercial.
LUKi & the Lights had a wonderful concept to help explain ALS to children, it’s a very tricky topic and Toby Cochran really found a way to communicate it with care and sensitivity. However, when that is its entire purpose, it leaves little room to create something for a larger audience, it stays very specifically within those intentions. Although, it’s well designed and the animation work is excellent. It just feels too formulated to work purely as a short film.
FilmCarnage.com 