Arco, 2025.
Directed by Ugo Bienvenu.
Featuring the voice talents of Juliano Krue Valdi, Romy Fay, Natalie Portman, Mark Ruffalo, Will Ferrell, Andy Samberg, Flea, Roeg Sutherland, America Ferrera, Zoya Bogomolova, and Wyatt Danieluk.
SYNOPSIS:
In 2075, a girl witnesses a mysterious boy in a rainbow suit fall from the sky. He comes from an idyllic far future where time travel is possible. She shelters him and will do whatever it takes to help him return to his time.
With a prologue set far in the future, co-writer/director Ugo Bienvenu (unmistakably inspired by the striking works of Hayao Miyazaki and penning the screenplay with Félix de Givry) depicts the world of Arco as a riff on the earliest civilizations. Climate change has ravaged Earth, where the old ways are new again; there appears to be no more traditional technology or much of anything beyond living within one’s natural environment. However, humanity has learned that homes should be built as circular structures on platforms in the sky, to relieve the surface of various environmental pressures and allow it to heal continuously.
The other twist is that this new civilization has apparently developed or acquired time travel technology, traveling into the past to learn what went wrong and how not to repeat it, and to prevent the planet from spiraling into another devastating crisis. That is the job of the titular Arco’s (voiced in the English-language version by Juliano Krue Valdi) family (with parents voiced by Roeg Sutherland and America Ferrera in the English-language version), as the 10-year-old boy is considered too young to join them on these time-traveling expeditions to amass knowledge that has been depleted or lost.
Naturally, this leaves Arco feeling frustrated and distant from his family, even though they are generally around quite a bit to provide for him. Arco doesn’t have the patience to wait until he comes of time-traveling age, though, stealing his sister’s flying cloak (they are brightly colored, resembling rainbows), soaring his way unintentionally until the year 2075, when climate change is seemingly at its most dangerous and when robots have taken over the majority of the workforce.
While on the run from a trio of comedic relief twins looking to capture him or the diamond that gives the cloak the ability to time travel (play by the amusing trifecta of Will Ferrell, Flea, and Andy Samberg in the English-language version, with their blending together and sounding alike as they bumble their way through their objective), Arco befriends the similarly aged Iris (voiced in the English-language version by Romy Fay) who is, unsurprisingly, fascinated by his eccentric attire but also curious about him and why he is asking what year it is.
Considering that Iris’ parents (voice in the English-language version by Mark Ruffalo and producer Natalie Portman) are often working in what’s left of the city, and only around via holographic projections through the technology of robot caretaker Mikki (also voiced by a combination of Mark Ruffalo and Natalie Portman), it’s tantalizing to be around another human. Even at school, there are no teachers; robots give lectures through a virtual reality component. And although one student appears to be interested in her, Iris generally comes across as isolated and lonely in a world where outdoor play is minimal, given the nonstop storms and wildfires terrorizing the planet.
Not only is Iris determined to help Arco find the diamond and the methods to fly back to his time correctly, but she also seems to want to join him to get away from this depressing state of near-future life and constant damage being done to the Earth. A future with almost nothing in the way of modern technology sounds like a reprieve. Perhaps that’s part of what the filmmakers are saying: in a world where AI threatens to take over everything and do more harm than good with no foreseeable way of, at the very least, reducing the damages wrought by climate change, maybe society has to circle back around to a somewhat ancient civilization lifestyle. In a more common juxtaposition, she also seems jealous that he gets to be in his parents’ presence as much as he does, whereas he is mostly frustrated that they believe he isn’t ready to time-travel with them.
Although there is much to ponder about Arco‘s timely and imaginative messaging, which perhaps most importantly chooses optimism and hope, this is also a visually resplendent, colorful, humorous tale of bonding and trial and error. The presence of Will Ferrell alone should be enough to tell parents this is not all doom and gloom, even if the mature themes are welcome and should have children curious about current critical events.
Even at 88 minutes, it slightly drags in the back half until reaching an emotional wallop of an ending that would have been more effective if the rest of the film were more interested in the sci-fi dynamics than solely these two kids hanging out and avoiding a trio of comic relief dopes. Arco is still moving and lightweight fun, though, even if it doesn’t capitalize on all its wondrously creative ideas.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder
