January 29, 2026
FILM: ARCO
DIRECTED BY: UGO BIENVENU
STARRING: MARGOT RINGARD OLDRA, OSCAR TRESANINI
RATING: 2 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
Arco is one of this year’s Oscar-nominated animated features from France that has been dubbed, thanks to Netflix, for English-speaking countries. The premise is interesting enough for the kid in all of us: A boy named Arco from the year 3000 can travel through time. While more interested in visiting the dinosaurs, he ends up in 2075 and is discovered by young Iris. There are also some chasers who are attempting to capture him on film but most of Arco is spent trying to get the boy back home where he belongs. (Did someone say, E.T?) There are some interesting details about both time periods, but neither is given much development. Instead, we get a lot of flying and a basic surface plot. This one is definitely more for kids seeking excitement than adults wanting something deeper out of an animated film.
When the story begins, we get a glimpse of Arco’s world. He lives with his family on platforms high above the clouds. They’ve just returned from a journey to pre-historic times, but he was deemed too young for such a time travel, so he remained at home. Somehow, in the future, humans have learned to fly through time by wearing a rainbow costume and a diamond. The latter apparently gives them the physical ability to make such journeys. Arco is ready to travel on his own and when he does, he ends up in only 2075. Earth looks fairly similar to what we experience today. However, houses can be fitted with bubbles so that homes and its inhabitants aren’t affected by storms or perhaps other dangerous scenarios. What those might be isn’t really explored. Their modes of transportation are slightly different, appearing to be able to travel slightly above the ground. The biggest “advancement” suggested though is the very commonly used robots to serve as caretakers and street workers. They’re everywhere. There has also been a development in which parents, for instance, can appear in the home like a hologram even though they are geographically far away.
The depictions of these times are fascinating, but we don’t get a sense as to how they came to be. Apparently in the future, the planet is filled with water thus requiring homes to be built on the aforementioned platforms. What happened? Did climate change finally drown the earth? How did we master flying through time using a diamond? Maybe I’m asking for too much…but these details could have been given some explanation.
It’s not hard to imagine a world in our not-too-distant future where robots or A.I. end up doing most of the grunt work in our homes. I get that. Also, the fact that houses become more self-sufficient is nice to hope for but again I’d have liked more elaboration on what caused this progression in our future.
Instead, Arco features a basic cat and mouse chase with the brothers, who do add some light humor here, while attempting to film Arco. (Why does their camera look like something from the 1990s? Did we decide that those camcorders really were a better form of technology than IPhones or any other cameras developed since then??)
The animation is also not quite as sophisticated and adventurous as we’ve seen in recent years. Some have compared the film’s look to that of Japanese anime. A fair comparison for sure but it is only when Arco flies through the air creating rainbows across the sky that the film visually dazzles. (Maybe that is what we are seeing when rainbows appear after a storm!)
Arco is harmless and probably fine for kids. I need more though to recommend it to a wider adult audience.
Arco opens in wide release this weekend, including screenings at the Music Box Theater in Chicago.
FILM: ARCO
DIRECTED BY: UGO BIENVENU
STARRING: MARGOT RINGARD OLDRA, OSCAR TRESANINI
RATING: 2 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
Arco is one of this year’s Oscar-nominated animated features from France that has been dubbed, thanks to Netflix, for English-speaking countries. The premise is interesting enough for the kid in all of us: A boy named Arco from the year 3000 can travel through time. While more interested in visiting the dinosaurs, he ends up in 2075 and is discovered by young Iris. There are also some chasers who are attempting to capture him on film but most of Arco is spent trying to get the boy back home where he belongs. (Did someone say, E.T?) There are some interesting details about both time periods, but neither is given much development. Instead, we get a lot of flying and a basic surface plot. This one is definitely more for kids seeking excitement than adults wanting something deeper out of an animated film.
When the story begins, we get a glimpse of Arco’s world. He lives with his family on platforms high above the clouds. They’ve just returned from a journey to pre-historic times, but he was deemed too young for such a time travel, so he remained at home. Somehow, in the future, humans have learned to fly through time by wearing a rainbow costume and a diamond. The latter apparently gives them the physical ability to make such journeys. Arco is ready to travel on his own and when he does, he ends up in only 2075. Earth looks fairly similar to what we experience today. However, houses can be fitted with bubbles so that homes and its inhabitants aren’t affected by storms or perhaps other dangerous scenarios. What those might be isn’t really explored. Their modes of transportation are slightly different, appearing to be able to travel slightly above the ground. The biggest “advancement” suggested though is the very commonly used robots to serve as caretakers and street workers. They’re everywhere. There has also been a development in which parents, for instance, can appear in the home like a hologram even though they are geographically far away.
The depictions of these times are fascinating, but we don’t get a sense as to how they came to be. Apparently in the future, the planet is filled with water thus requiring homes to be built on the aforementioned platforms. What happened? Did climate change finally drown the earth? How did we master flying through time using a diamond? Maybe I’m asking for too much…but these details could have been given some explanation.
It’s not hard to imagine a world in our not-too-distant future where robots or A.I. end up doing most of the grunt work in our homes. I get that. Also, the fact that houses become more self-sufficient is nice to hope for but again I’d have liked more elaboration on what caused this progression in our future.
Instead, Arco features a basic cat and mouse chase with the brothers, who do add some light humor here, while attempting to film Arco. (Why does their camera look like something from the 1990s? Did we decide that those camcorders really were a better form of technology than IPhones or any other cameras developed since then??)
The animation is also not quite as sophisticated and adventurous as we’ve seen in recent years. Some have compared the film’s look to that of Japanese anime. A fair comparison for sure but it is only when Arco flies through the air creating rainbows across the sky that the film visually dazzles. (Maybe that is what we are seeing when rainbows appear after a storm!)
Arco is harmless and probably fine for kids. I need more though to recommend it to a wider adult audience.
Arco opens in wide release this weekend, including screenings at the Music Box Theater in Chicago.