Arco Review

Arco is an animated film from France that explores themes of family and the environment and serves as Ugo Bienvenu’s feature film.

Arco Dorell (Juliano Krue Valdi) is a 10-year-old boy in the distant future where time travel is possible. He wants to travel back in time and see dinosaurs, but only children older than 12 are allowed to time travel. Arco steals his sister’s flight suit and gemstone so he can travel back in time, but crash-lands in 2075, leading him to meet another 10-year-old, Iris (Romy Fay). Iris sets out to help Arco travel back to his own time, but three brothers are watching them.

Arco has been a hit on the festival circuit. It was nominated for the Camera d’Or at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, won two awards at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, and two more at the César Awards. It was also nominated for Best Animated Film at the Academy Awards. It had Natalie Portman credited as a producer, and her name was used for the marketing. Arco was distributed by Neon in the US and Picturehouse Entertainment in the UK, giving the film extra prestige in those markets. The English dub attached a big-name voice cast, which included Portman, Mark Ruffalo, Will Ferrell, and America Ferrera.

I was interested in Arco because I’ve always liked animation, had an anime-inspired art style, and being a French film offers a different perspective from American and Japanese animation. What was a delivery was a film akin to some of Hayao Miyazaki’s films, especially Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and Princess Mononoke. For a film to be compared to Miyazaki’s work is usually a positive sign.

Arco was a beautiful film. The film was a bright experience: colours were highlighted. Whenever people flew, they created rainbows, which were spectacular to look at. It was a fantastic-looking film with its futuristic buildings and technologies, and sights of nature. The art and animation matched anything Japan can produce. But this brightness did mask a dark and emotional experience.

The two main youngsters gave the film a lot of heart. They formed a touching bond as their friendship grew throughout the film. The friendship has been compared to Elliot and E.T., and after reading that, I can’t unsee it. Iris was Elliott, since she was a young girl with family issues who discovered an otherworldly visitor, whilst, like E.T., Arco wanted to go home and reunite with his family. They were sweet moments between the pair, like when they performed bird calls. There were striking moments of whimsy and wonder because of the visuals and moments like Arco being on a roof with a flock of birds and characters running through rooms that could produce holographic projections, moments that tied to the young characters’ desires.

A lot of emotion also came from Mikki (Ruffalo/Portman), the robot housekeeper who was looking after Iris and her baby brother. The robot was more than just a cook and caretaker; it was devoted to its wards, and Iris had a deep connection to the robot. Mikki’s devotion led to some of the film’s biggest emotional moments.

Arco did go into the dark territory. The third act was made up of emotional gut punches that will survive in my mind for a long time. Arco joins a cavalcade of recent environmentally themed animated films, namely The Wild Robot, Flow, and Hoppers. Like in The Wild Robot and Flow, climate change was impacting the world. Extreme storms and forest fires were common, leading to houses having protective bubbles and robots cleaning up the damage. One of Iris’ first questions to Arco was whether the Ice Cap had melted, and Arco said an event in the future would cause humanity to build its homes in the sky. Arco was more explicit with the environmental message, but it was used more for world-building than lecturing the audience.

Iris’ world did have a dystopian quality. Besides the people trying to survive climate change, the society wasn’t functioning properly. Adults had to work in the city during the week, meaning they only returned to their children at the weekend, if at all. This meant children being raised by robots, both in the home and the classroom. Robots were used to do all jobs, from road clearing to law enforcement.

The characters of Dougie, Stewie, and Frankie (Will Ferrell, Andy Samberg, and Flea) did lighten up the film. They were bumbling fools who were haphazardly trying to prove time travel was real. It was noticeable that the voice actors were all known for comedy, and the characters’ antics were based on bickering and slapstick.

Arco was a wonderful little film that hardly put a foot wrong. It was a dazzling film that had a straightforward story that had a lot of emotional depth and rich world-building.