Luck (2022)

Directed by: Peggy Holmes

Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains spoilers for this film!

Synopsis: Sam (voiced by Eva Noblezada) is a notoriously unlucky young woman, but that changes when a chance meeting with a polydactyl black cat named Bob (voiced by Simon Pegg) leads her to the Land of Luck.

Cartoon Cats: Because they are good luck charms, there are several times when Maneki-neko, or beckoning cats, appear in the film.

Luck - numerous beckoning cats Maneki-neko

Sam first runs into Bob when she is sitting on a curb to eat a panini. Bob appears and sits near her, then is surprised when she offers him part of her sandwich (or as Bob later calls it, “Tasty Meat Bread”).

Luck - cartoon black cat Bob sniffing at panini

After Bob leaves, Sam finds a penny which brings her incredible luck. But before she can give the penny to her young friend Hazel, Sam’s bad luck rears its ugly head and she flushes it down a toilet. When she runs into Bob outside the panini place again she tells him what happened. Bob suddenly shouts at her and Sam is shocked that he can talk, and with a Scottish accent!

Luck - cartoon black cat Bob with Sam outside panini shop

Bob leads Sam on a chase across the city.

Luck - cartoon black cat Bob on back of bus

She catches up with him in an alley where he is using a virtual keyboard to open a portal. She follows him through and ends up in the Land of Luck.

Luck - cartoon black cat Bob using virtual keyboard

Bob is reluctant to help her but Sam refuses to go until she can get another lucky penny. Realizing that he will get in trouble for bringing her there and also for not turning in his lost penny, Bob agrees to help. But he has to hide her from his bosses and the other line cats, leprechauns and lucky creatures who inhabit the place.

Luck - cartoon black cat Bob striking pose with Siamese cat

Using a button in place of the lost penny, Bob checks in and manages to get past the Captain (voiced by Whoopi Goldberg) who doesn’t like him. Other cats are also checking in.

Luck - cartoon Siamese cat going out on assignment

Bob and Sam sneak into the leprechaun locker room to borrow some clothes to try to pass Sam off as a very tall elf from Latvia.

Luck - cartoon black cat Bob with Sam looking into leprechaun locker

At the penny cleaning station, Sam counts on the luck of the pennies to ensure nothing goes wrong. But of course Sam ends up getting the button and everything falls apart in the station.

Luck - cartoon black cat Bob looking shocked through window

They confide in Bob’s assistant Gerry (voiced by Colin O’Donoghue) for help.

Luck - cartoon black cat Bob with Sam and leprechaun Gerry

Bob explains the way that luck is created in their world with the Bad Luck world being inverse directly below.

An attempt to use a bunny drone to retrieve the lost penny from the real world fails when the drone is flushed out with the real world garbage.

Luck - cartoon black cat Bob using joystick

They find out one of the line cats was hit by a car in the human world because they had been given the button. The captain suspects one of three possible line cats, but mostly Bob.

Luck - The Captain with gray injured line cat

Sam and Bob decide to take an elevator to the In Between to try to retrieve the penny from the flushed drone. But Sam hits the wrong button which takes them to the Bad Luck world. There Sam gets trapped outside the elevator.

Luck - cartoon black cat Bob with Sam in elevator

Luck - cartoon black cat Bob with Sam outside elevator

Eventually Sam is able to meet Bob in the In Between. But it’s there they find out the penny has already been found and put back in circulation.

Through Sam’s persistence, she is able to give Bob a penny to hand in to his Captain, keeping him out of trouble, but in doing so she gives up her hope of giving the penny to Hazel.

Luck - cartoon black cat Bob giving penny to the Captain

Unable to get another lucky penny, Sam and Bob decide to turn off the bad luck going through the randomizer in order to help Hazel. Unfortunately their actions cause a major catastrophe which threatens the entire Lands of Good and Bad Luck.

Luck - cartoon black cat Bob with Sam on scooter

It turns out that Bob has actually lived eight lives in the Bad Luck world before moving above and posing as a lucky cat (and he actually speaks with a British accent!)

Sam is depressed about always causing bad luck but Bob points out her very postive qualities.

With the help of some friends from the Bad Luck World, Sam and Bob help to make things right.

In the end everything works out and Bob chooses to go live with Sam in the human world. Despite the fact that Bob starts out having few friends and is actively disliked by his boss he turns out to be a very nice positive representative for black cats.