Massimo Marcovaldo is a supporting character in Pixar's 24th animated feature film, Luca, and the deuteragonist of its spin off short film, Ciao Alberto.
He is a fisherman in the small town of Portorosso, who dreams of capturing the famed sea monsters who supposedly roam the shore around the place. Unknowingly to him, his daughter would bring two of them, assumed to be humans thanks to their shape shifting properties, right to his house, to help her beat the yearly Portorosso Cup. Despite his ambition supposedly contrasting the nature of his daughter's new friends, he is in fact a really kind man, who wanted to hunt sea monsters out of a belief they're dangerous, and is quick to see the error of his ways when they're revealed to be just as complex as humans. He is the father of Giulia Marcovaldo and the adoptive father of Alberto Scorfano.
He was voiced by Marco Barricelli in the American and Italian versions.
What Makes Him Pure Good?[]
- He always tries to act as a good father to Giulia, despite only seeing her in the summers and having a very blunt personality, he is loving and supportive of her and it is clear she loves him.
- Accepted Luca and Alberto to live in his house for a while.
- He bonds with the lonely Alberto Scorfano and, though unknowingly to him at the time, helps him get over some of his abandonment issues.
- When Luca and Giulia come home without Alberto, he goes out to the night looking for him, despite Luca's warnings that Alberto may not want to be found, because according to him, "you never know".
- Supports Giulia in the Portorosso Cup with a sign, which grants a smile on Giulia's face.
- Rushes to Giulia's aid when she falls off her bike and Luca and Alberto go after her, believing the (now exposed) boys to be attempting to harm his daughter.
- Once it's been clear Luca and Alberto are exactly the same boys he knew despite their appearances, he steps up amongst the crowd, who has been successfully convinced by Ercole to fear them, and declares them Luca and Alberto, the "winners [of the race]".
- This small act is enough for most of the crowd, who knows Massimo for a long time, to calm down and thinks things through. They come to terms with the fact that Luca and Alberto are just children, and when other people come out in the rain, revealing their sea monster identities, they are no longer aggressive.
- When some fishermen kept harboring harpoons and had aggressive intentions against the boys, and likely the other sea monsters present, he has them all back down with a glare, ensuring they, even if forcedly, don't harm anyone.
- Adopted Alberto at the end of the movie, heavily implied to be because he realized how lonely the boy was.
- Despite being a bit cold and distant from Alberto, this is simply out of his lack of social and/or parental skills, as, having Giulia only living with him in the summer, he isn't used to taking care and interacting with a child all the time.
- When Alberto accidentally sets his boat on fire in an attempt to impress him, Massimo can only grunt in anger, which leads to Alberto quickly wrapping up his stuff and attempted to leave with his usual abandonment issues tendencies. Massimo stops him, telling a story about how he and his father had a discussion so heated his father blew a hole in the wall; that he and his father fixed together. Thus, he and Alberto fix the burned boat together, laughing and exchanging stories, showing how he grew out of his shortcomings as a parent.
- It can also be assumed that by the end of the short, Massimo successfully healed, or at least started a path to heal, Alberto's deep insecurities and self-loathing personality problems.
- Stands out in the relatively low standards of the film for helping redeem sea monsters in the eyes of Portorosso's public, and preventing still aggressive men from harming any of the sea folk in any way.
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