Arco Review: A Child in Time

In animated science fiction oddity Arco, the fate of the Earth is set. It’s the place of one lost boy in it that is very much in question. That place, however, is not a “where” but a “when.”

Balancing the very clear influences of Hideo Miyazaki, Mœbius, and René Laloux (Strange Planet), first-time feature director Ugo Bienvenu presents a borderline apocalyptic near-future and a much more optimistic one at the cusp of the next millennium. That time of peace is the time of young Arco (voiced by Juliano Valdi): 2932, when everyone lives in tree houses, sleeps in zero gravity, and travels through time using rainbow-colored cloaks and high-tech gems on their heads. Back in 2075, Iris (Romy Fay) isn’t exactly living in a blasted hellscape: However, the two-story houses with picketed fence yards of her neighborhood are covered by stormproof domes, and wildfires that eradicate whole communities are regular as clockwork. It’s clear that nature is out of balance, even if much of this eco-failure will be fixed by Arco’s era.

It’s into Iris’ future-past that Arco drops, having stolen one of his family’s time-hopping outfits. He’s too young for such temporal shenanigans, but boyish mischief throws him back eight centuries, where Iris quickly becomes his new friend and they both navigate a world without their parents.

While the story is nominally centered around Arco and Iris trying to get him back to the future and his family, it’s the supporting characters who are most endearing and intriguing. Iris’ parents – voiced by executive producer Natalie Portman and Mark Ruffalo – are constantly absent, appearing only through holograms since they’re always away working. The actual parenting duties are left to their robot nanny, Mikki, in demeanor and design somewhere between Andor’s sardonic K-2SO and the Iron Giant. In an ingenious choice, in the English dub Mikki is voiced by both Portman and Ruffalo in harmony, representing how much of a proxy combined mom-and-dad it is. Within that choral effect, there’s a subtle character beat for the absentee flesh folks, as Portman represents the disciplinarian side of the parenting equation, while Ruffalo’s dad voice is Mikki at his most concerned.

Mikki’s compassionate side is counterbalanced by the comedic trio of Dougie (Will Ferrell), Stewie (Andy Samberg), and Frankie (Flea), three brothers in matching suits and wacky multicolored shades who encountered one of Arco’s fellow time travelers years earlier and have been searching for another ever since.

Throughout all these elements runs a subtle theme about parenting – of how the conspiracy threesome’s own parents didn’t believe them, about Iris’ real parents failing at their tasks and how Mikki fills in for them, and ultimately about what Arco’s parents have been up to while their son is adrift in time. It’s far more intriguingly executed than the disconnected discourse on the environment, which never really seems to add up to much beyond providing peril for Arco and Iris. Moreover, Bienvenu and co-writer Félix de Givry suggest a surprisingly contemporary suburban vision for both futures, making them both immediately recognizable and yet also a little bland. Arco may as well have time hopped from the Seventies to the Fifties, the SF of both decades being a clear influence on Arco.

There are some truly enchanting moments in Arco, moments of flight and friendship, and the comedy between the three brothers is surprisingly light and charming. The underlying issue is exactly who the film, recently nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, is intended for. The result is something that feels like an adult’s idea of a sophisticated kids’ movie, its sense of adventure and imagination overruled and undercut by its tone of mature melancholy.  

This article appears in January 30 • 2026.