Arco (dir. Ugo Bienvenu)

by Jack Martin | Mar 22, 2026

Certificate: PG

Running Time: 89 mins

UK Distributor: Picturehouse Entertainment

UK Release Date: 20 March 2026

WHO’S IN ARCO (ENGLISH VERSION)?

Juliano Krue Valdi, Romy Fay, Mark Ruffalo, Natalie Portman, Will Ferrell, Andy Samberg, Flea, Roeg Sutherland, America Ferrera, Zoya Bogomolova

WHO’S IN ARCO (FRENCH VERSION)?

Oscar Tresanini, Margot Ringard Oldra, Swann Arlaud, Alma Jodorowsky, Vincent Macaigne, Louis Garrel, William Lebghil, Oxmo Puccino, Sophie Mas, Ugo Bienvenu, Joséphine Mancini

WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?

Ugo Bienvenu (director, writer, producer), Félix de Givry (writer, producer), Sophie Mas and Natalie Portman (producers), Arnaud Toulon (composer), Nathan Jacquard (editor)

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

A young boy (Valdi/Tresanini) from the far future unexpectedly travels back in time…

WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON ARCO?

There is, in our existence, a recently-released European animated movie that is both visually beautiful and emotionally powerful, not to mention one that gears its nuanced and subtle environmental themes towards audiences of all ages – and there’s also Arco.

While French illustrator-turned-filmmaker Ugo Bienvenu’s feature debut is certainly a striking piece of hand-drawn wonder, it’s hard to not think about the impact left by last year’s Flow, an animated film which masterfully conveyed everything it needed to without even uttering a single line of dialogue. Arco, by contrast, is a lot more direct in its messaging – least of all because it actually features regular dialogue – and thus may be seen as less universal in its overall reach. However, Bienvenu’s film still manages to stand very well on its own as a futuristic odyssey that, while not quite as profound and certainly a lot more familiar, will charm most viewers with its imagination and wonder.

We begin in the far future, the year 2932 to be exact, where ten-year-old Arco (voiced by Juliano Krue Valdi in the English dub, and by Oscar Tresanini in the French original) lives with his family among a housing complex built high up in the clouds, due to the uninhabitable surface thousands of feet below them. Time travel is also an everyday luxury, though since the rules stipulate that nobody under the age of twelve can put on a rainbow cloak and gemstone headpiece and literally fly through time, Arco can only watch with envy as his parents (America Ferrera/Sophie Mas and Roeg Sutherland/Oxmo Puccino) and older sister Ada (Zoya Bogomolova/Joséphine Mancini) take regular trips to eras long past such as that of the dinosaurs. So, like any ten-year-old boy desperate to see dinosaurs, he steals his sister’s cloak and sets off on his own, hurtling through the sky and across the rainbow portal through time and space.

This leads us to our second distant future of 2075, where young Iris (Romy Fay/Margo Ringard Oldra) lives in a world where robot workers have filled menial jobs from teachers to cops to binmen, and environmental disasters are so commonplace that houses are protected with indestructible domes. One day at school, Iris comes across Arco after he falls from the sky into the nearby woods, and takes him home where she and her baby brother are cared for, in the absence of their ever-working parents (Natalie Portman/Alma Jodorowsky and Mark Ruffalo/Swann Arlaud) by robot nanny Mikki (Bienvenu himself in French, and interestingly by Portman and Ruffalo simultaneously in English). But Arco’s mission to get back to his own timeline is disrupted by three conspiracy theorist brothers – Dougie (Will Ferrell/Vincent Macaigne), Stewie (Andy Samberg/Louis Garrel) and Frankie (Flea/William Lebghill) – who have taken the boy’s all-important gemstone in their search for answers about the future.

It is certainly a fish-out-of-water story in the same way that sci-fi classics like E.T. and Back to the Future are, but the intriguing thing about Arco is that in both of these futures, it is not just the title character but also the viewer who is discovering most of it for the first time. By placing the nearer timeline in 2075 rather than fifty years earlier (i.e. our present), it allows for greater creativity when it comes to showing a world not heavily removed from our own but at the same time very different to what we currently have. Seeing the ways in which nature and science have completely overtaken everyone’s lives, to where entire classrooms are practically their own immersive IMAX screens while barely anyone bats an eyelid to the thunderous storms or forest fires happening outside, is both wondrous but also concerning as Bienvenu paints both aspects as potential destinations in accordance with the current path we are on in both fields. It’s dystopian without ever calling attention to the dystopia, and that is rather clever on Bienvenu’s part.

What isn’t so clever, and is honestly where Arco starts to wobble, is how it all comes together. While the animation is truly quite beautiful, especially in how it brings out the colours in certain clothing and surrounding environments, it’s set to a story that is relatively predictable, with beats that you can pretty much pick up on as soon as the film starts leading you down particular paths. It feels like there are numerous opportunities to further explore both of these fascinating futures which aren’t entirely taken up on, while the relationships between some characters are ever so slightly rushed, to where you’re not quite as emotionally invested when some rather traumatic things happen to some of them. There’s also the matter of these three brothers, who collectively look like an 80s-era Monkees tribute act, and who mostly serve as some over-exaggerated comic relief which quickly becomes irritating, especially as they more often than not grind the film to a halt whenever they show up and disrupt the gentler, more observant tone that Bienvenu seems to be aiming for.

But luckily, there is enough about Arco for one to recommend seeing it. Its stunning visuals, clear sense of heart and predominant focus on numerous compelling environmental themes are all profound and, in some cases, rather emotional, and while it may pale ever so slightly against something like Flow, Bienvenu’s film admirably still avoids dumbing itself down too much for younger viewers who, like their older counterparts, can take away some valuable lessons for their own future.

SO, TO SUM UP…

Arco is a visually striking piece of animated sci-fi that introduces a creative and thought-provoking pair of futures without overstating its subtle environmental themes, though a familiar narrative structure and the occasional misplaced comic relief keep it from truly soaring.