It’s hard to be an animation fan and not kick up your heels at the thought of The Triplets of Belleville1, or be devastated by Persepolis2, or wrapped in a warm blanket by Ernest & Celestine. 3The best of French animation doesn’t only speak to us because it’s gorgeously individual, but because it arrives, clearing its throat, because it has something to say.
ARCO is a child of that family, with a Japanese auntie affectionately known as Ghibli (I’m talking about the studio, not Miyazaki himself). Draped in the softly psychedelic colorways of a far future, contrasted by the muted earth tones of a climate-plagued 2075, this hand-drawn film sends a 10-year-old boy, Arco, back through time to accidentally save the future. When he crash-lands, he meets Iris, a girl who spends most of her time with the robot nanny because her parents work far from home.
Whether you’re watching in the original French or the dub starring Natalie Portman, Mark Ruffalo, and America Ferrera as parents, with the trio of Will Ferrell, Andy Samberg, and Flea as our new Triplets of 2075, ARCO is a gentle but sobering fable. Climate catastrophes and what it takes to fix them are the underlying themes, alongside what it means to be absent parents versus parenting from a distance. Is away the same as gone? Perhaps not, but the effects can be similar. The friendship between Arco and Iris not only changes the future—it’s the reason you’re rooting for them to find a way home: Arco’s literal one and Iris’ figurative sense of home.
There are so many comparisons to Studio Ghibli, and you feel and see them in the storytelling and design. But ARCO also feels like the kid-led family adventures of the 80s. The kinds that inspired Stranger Things. Movies like E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial4 and Batteries Not Included, where the recognition of why life matters—across the globe, the universe, or even across time—is up to the kids to teach everyone else. Arco, Iris, and a robot au pair named Mikki (cleverly voiced by Iris’ parents), who proves parenting takes as many forms as care and sacrifice. Mikki is iconic, hilariously matter-of-fact, and well-versed in the art of being there. Even getting a graphic novel, System Preference (Préférence Système) from Titan Comics.
Written and directed by animator Ugo Bienvenu with co-writer Félix de Givry, ARCO has an animation style that is grounded and fantastical, futuristic and naturalistic, meaty and angular, dystopian and hopeful. It’s all these things at once, with gentle round faces, and technicolor dream coats, and advanced yet familiar technology all swirled together into a bittersweet treat. You’re all at once reminded of Princess Mononoke5 and The Triplets and E.T., without forgetting this is a story completely its own, with something it desperately needs you to know.
Friends, it’s time to hop onto this time-traveling adventure and cautionary fable, where friendship gives life meaning and families risk it all, while begging us to reconsider our relationships with the planet and each other, without ever missing an entertaining or harrowing beat.
Neon’s ARCO is nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Oscars
- “This animated film follows elderly Frenchwoman Madame Souza as she becomes involved in international intrigue when her grandson, Champion, a professional cyclist, is kidnapped and taken abroad. Joined by her faithful dog, Bruno, Souza embarks on a journey to find Champion, and stumbles across unlikely allies in the form of three sisters who are veterans of the vaudeville stage. Tracking down Champion’s criminal captors, the quartet of old women use their wits to try and win the day.”
from Rotten Tomatoes ↩︎ - “One of everyone’s most favourite animated films in the past decade, Persepolis is the French-Iranian adaptation of Marjane Satrapi’s graphic autobiography, depicting the life of an Iranian bourgeois family surrounded by revolutionary social changes and their daughter’s coming-of-age and emigration.”
from Animation Hub ↩︎ - “Deep below snowy, cobblestone streets, tucked away in networks of winding subterranean tunnels, lives a civilization of hardworking mice, terrified of the bears who live above ground. Unlike her fellow mice, Celestine is an artist and a dreamer – and when she nearly ends up as breakfast for ursine troubadour Ernest, the two form an unlikely bond. But it isn’t long before their friendship is put on trial by their respective bear-fearing and mice-eating communities.”
from Metacritic ↩︎ - ↩︎
- “From the legendary Studio Ghibli, creators of Spirited Away, and Academy Award®-winning director Hayao Miyazaki, comes an epic masterpiece that has dazzled audiences worldwide with its breathtaking imagination, exhilarating battles, and deep humanity. Inflicted with a deadly curse, the young warrior Ashitaka heads west in search of a cure. There, he stumbles into a bitter conflict between Lady Eboshi, the proud people of Iron Town, and the enigmatic Princess Mononoke, a young girl raised by wolves, who will stop at nothing to prevent the humans from destroying her home and the forest spirits and animal gods who live there. Featuring the voice talents of Gillian Anderson, Billy Crudup, Claire Danes, Minnie Driver, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Billy Bob Thornton.”
from GKIDS ↩︎
