Don’t be confused by the title. This new French animated film that debuted at Cannes in May and is also at the French Animated Film Festival in Annecy this week, is not about a gas station.
Instead this debut feature film from illustrator and graphic novel creator Ugo Bienvenu has much on its mind and was quickly snapped up after its Cannes debut for U.S. distribution by busy buyer Neon which no doubt sniffed a similar kind of potential success like their utterly delightful Robot Dreams which landed an Animated Feature Oscar nomination in 2023. Even more to the point they may sense a successor to a sleeper hit that also initially debuted in Cannes last year, the miraculous Latvian ‘toon, Flow which not only was nominated as Best International Film (a first for that country) but actually won Best Animated Feature over heavyweight competition from behemoths Disney/Pixar, Dreamworks, and Netflix. That however is a rare feat indeed.
Bottom line: Arco is no Flow. It also doesn’t measure up to Robot Dreams, both films succeeding beyond expectations without dialogue (or much) to make us fall in love with them. Here Bienvenu and co-writer Felix de Givry employ lots of words in more typical family-oriented kid-friendly style. This is not to say Arco does not have much to offer, it does, especially with a warning about the evils of climate change as we see the results of earth-shattering natural events in the future via time traveling people able to visit past eras and errors of human neglect so they don’t repeat the same.
Plotwise our young 10 year old title star’s time tripping parents and older sister return from their latest visit to the past, while Arco (Oscar Tresanini) could not go as no one under 12 is allowed to take this kind of retro voyage. Instead he has a sort of robot nanny named Mikki (imported from Bienvenu’s hit graphic novel “System Preference” and voiced by Almn Jodorowsky and Swann Arlaud), an Android who stores threatened cultural artifacts in its memory, and can project Arco’s family as holograms to keep up the family idea even as they are off to other time zones.
Arco, like most kids is impatient, unwilling to play by the rules so he swipes his sister’s rainbow colored time traveling robe which enables flight and takes off. Unfortunately he doesn’t know quite how to “drive” and crash lands in the year 2075, where he is rescued in the forest by a young girl named Iris (Margot Ringard Oldra) who takes this visitor from the future under her wing, initially protecting him from a trio of brothers, Frankie, Dougie, and Stewie who have heard about these “rainbow” aliens and set out to prove their existence by stalking Arco’ Iris takes him instead on the run. They bond, Arco learns what happened to the planet in this era, and Iris doesn’t want him to leave, but like E.T. The Extra Terrrestrial he has others on his tail and has to get back home somehow.
All of this skews quite young which makes this well-intentioned tale quite accessible for the little members of the family. Parents may well appreciate the environmental message as well as the dazzling colorful visual style employed by Bienvenu and his talented artisans. The version I saw in Cannes was in its native French language but plans are in the works to release an English Language version, much like the practice of Studio Ghibli with its Japanese masterpieces. Portman will reportedly be among that cast, but it is admirable that she helped to bring this film to the screen as one of its producers.
Title: Arco
Festival: Annecy and Cannes
Distributor: NEON (U.S.)
Director: Ugo Bienvenu
Screenplay: Ugo Bienvenu and Felix de Givry
Cast: Alma Jodorowsky, Margot Ringard Oldra, Oscar Tresanini, Swann Arlaud, Vincent Macaigne, Louis Garrel, William Lebghil, Oxmo Puccino, Nathanael Perrot.
Running Time: 1 hour and 28 minutes
Content shared from deadline.com.