In a sentenceThe children and the robot can stay; the comic adults might consider another century
In 2075, Iris (Margot Ringard Oldra) meets Arco (Oscar Tresanini), a boy who has arrived from the far future. His visit brings time travel into a childhood already shaped by climate catastrophe and technology, with an AI-powered nanny robot providing care. Mikki (voiced by Alma Jodorowsky and Swann Arlaud) is also part of the children’s world. As Iris and Arco get to know each other, their friendship connects two different futures. Rainbows may be people travelling through time, but the children have the immediate problems of a damaged world to contend with.
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Arco is a warm, colourful family adventure that makes hope feel reasonable. Ugo Bienvenu gives its children enough curiosity to carry us through, though the time-travel rules and comic adults need more work.
Arco is worth an evening for anyone drawn to gentle family science fiction. Ugo Bienvenu builds an adventure around the idea that rainbows might be travellers from the future, then gives the children more to worry about than the workings of time travel. The environmental danger matters, but it does not make every encounter a lesson in despair. We liked the film most when it let curiosity and affection take their time; the more familiar business of comic adults and pursuit is less rewarding.
The hand-drawn animation gives us good reasons to keep looking. The backgrounds are densely worked, and the contrasting worlds feel worth exploring before anyone explains what has happened to them. The attention to natural environments makes the environmental concern persuasive: there is something here we would regret losing. Some of the character animation feels stiff beside those surroundings, particularly when comedy requires a quickness that the figures do not always have.
Arco (Oscar Tresanini) and Iris (Margot Ringard Oldra) give the film its strongest reason to continue. Their interest in one another is engaging without having to be made precocious, and the film allows their growing connection to matter. We were moved by their attachment to the AI-powered nanny robot. The children depend on its care, and their affection makes that dependence easy to understand. There is room here for a machine to be comforting without making the world around it safe.
The screenplay, by Ugo Bienvenu and Félix de Givry, is less sure when it has to explain how this adventure works. The time-travel rules remain vague, so we spend too much effort wondering what is possible when we should be following the children. A family film need not supply a technical manual, but we should understand enough to know why an obstacle is difficult to overcome. Too often, the warmth has to carry passages that would benefit from clearer writing.
Nathan Jacquard and Ugo Bienvenu edit with enough patience for the friendship, although the film sometimes stalls when it should be gathering speed. At 89 minutes, it has little need to hurry, but the comic adult trio still take up more space than their jokes earn. The chase material is similarly ordinary, particularly beside the invention of the backgrounds. Arnaud Toulon’s score is most persuasive alongside the children’s affection, where its warmth has something specific to support.
The larger disappointment is how readily the story settles into familiar family-adventure patterns. A premise this strange invites us to expect more surprises than the script delivers, and the troublesome adults offer little resistance worth thinking about. Still, Ugo Bienvenu takes children’s concerns seriously enough to let the environmental trouble remain troubling. Even in the sweeter passages, the children inhabit a world affected by climate catastrophe and dependent on technology.
We would choose Arco for a family evening with children who enjoy exploring an unfamiliar place as much as following a plot. Leave some time afterwards for their questions about the future; the film gives them reasonable cause for both worry and hope. Anyone expecting tightly worked science fiction should lower that expectation before settling in.
Most critics find Arco a charming, hopeful animated adventure, with praise clustering around its colourful visuals and the warmth of its young leads’ relationship. The detailed backgrounds and imaginative environments draw particular approval, while several reviews find its environmental concerns urgent without making its view of the future despairing. The children’s curiosity and affection give the science-fiction premise an emotional pull, even for critics who find the storytelling familiar.
Reservations centre on a predictable plot, conspicuous influences and underdeveloped time-travel rules. The responses range from enthusiastic to mixed, with none wholly negative, though critics differ over how much the sweetness compensates for thin plotting. The Los Angeles Times questions the character animation and comic adult trio, departing from the broader visual praise. Eye for Film offers the sharpest reservation: its review argues that conservative values and dated visions of the future undermine the film’s hopeful outlook.
The review finds Arco a charming, optimistic film with an urgent environmental message. It especially praises the colourful hand-drawn animation and the warmth of its characters.
Read the full review →The review finds the film charming, sincere, and infectious in its hope for the future. It particularly praises the vibrant visual design and the film’s imaginative, environmentally conscious worldbuilding.
Read the full review →Aguilar finds the film wondrous and ultimately hopeful despite its climate-catastrophe premise. He praises its gorgeous, detailed backgrounds and Miyazaki-inspired natural environments.
Read the full review →Gyarkye finds the film hopeful and sweet, praising its expressive animation and the bond between its young leads. She notes that the time-travel rules and a thread about cultural preservation feel underdeveloped.
Read the full review →Clark finds the film’s hopeful message convincing despite its portrait of a world in crisis. He praises its hand-painted animation and the childlike wonder and connection at its heart.
Read the full review →Blauvelt finds the film imaginative, soulful, and emotionally stirring, though its predictable plot and conspicuous influences hold it back. He praises its vivid animation and hopeful vision of the future.
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The Iron GiantAnother friendship with a machine, with humour and an uneasy adult world.
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time · not reviewed yetA young time traveller discovers that ordinary friendships can complicate extraordinary freedom.
Boy and the World · not reviewed yetA child’s view of environmental damage, told through adventurous colour and movement.
Petite MamanA quieter fantasy that takes children’s friendships seriously without explaining away their mystery.
Fantastic PlanetFor older viewers, an animated future with stranger creatures and less reassuring possibilities.
