There’s a mature sense of urgency to Arco that I really admire, and it’s something animated movies rarely attempt outside of the best work from studios and filmmakers who treat animation as a serious storytelling medium. For every thoughtful Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli film, and for every Pixar or Laika swing that actually trusts kids to sit with complicated feelings, there are a dozen franchise sequels and spinoffs built strictly to keep attention spans occupied for 90 minutes. Arco can still deliver the breezy, accessible adventure beats, but first-time feature director Ugo Bienvenu is clearly aiming for something heavier underneath.
That weight comes through even though the story takes place decades, and in some ways centuries, ahead of us. Arco is a ten-year-old kid living in a future shaped by ecological collapse, where rising water levels have pushed people into towers that climb into the sky. Technology has kept humanity moving forward, including these rainbow-colored capes powered by a mystical crystal, but the world still feels like it’s living with the consequences of generations of human damage. Arco is restless and curious, and in a very kid way he takes what he shouldn’t, nabs one of the capes, and accidentally launches himself back in time to the year 2075.
The time travel hook is simple and it works. Dropped into a past that feels closer to our own, Arco panics and scrambles for a way home. He meets Iris, a girl his age who tries to help him, and their friendship becomes the story’s emotional engine. They’re also trailed by a trio of conspiracy theorists who clock that something is off about this kid and start sniffing around the truth. The movie has enough light hijinks and forward momentum to keep it moving, and the kid-to-kid bond lands more often than not.
Where I’m more mixed is the overall aesthetic. Bienvenu’s 2D animation is pleasant, and the influences are obvious in both the best and most limiting ways. There’s a lot of Studio Ghibli energy in the tone and the environmental melancholy, and the character design and motion language borrows heavily from modern anime. None of that is inherently a problem, but it does leave Arco feeling a bit like off-brand Studio Ghibli, especially when the movie is at its most whimsical. I kept waiting for a more distinct visual identity to assert itself, something that feels specifically like Ugo Bienvenu rather than a collage of reference points.
What does feel more singular is the thematic anxiety that bleeds through. Arco isn’t subtle about its eco-terror, and honestly, I don’t think it wants to be. It imagines a future split between two nightmares, a world submerged by water and a world burned down to bone, both portrayed as the end result of human interference and complacency. That dread is paired with something more generational, the feeling of kids inheriting a planet that older systems already chewed up, and being asked to rebuild it while also pretending everything is normal. That’s the stuff that stuck with me more than the chase beats or the conspiracy comic relief.
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I wish Bienvenu had pushed harder for a more unique visual voice, but it’s also his first feature, and there’s plenty here that suggests he has something to say. Arco is a solid, sometimes moving animated debut with a modern anxiety baked into its core, even if the execution feels a little slight and a little too familiar. If he gets another shot with more confidence and more room to experiment, he could really have something.
Score: 6/10
Arco (2026)
- English Voice Cast: Romy Fay, Juliano Krue Valdi, Mark Ruffalo, Natalie Portman, Will Ferrell, Andy Samberg, Flea, Roeg Sutherland, America Ferrera
- Director: Ugo Bienvenu
- Genre: Adventure, Animation, Science Fiction
- Runtime: 89 minutes
- Rated: PG
- Release Date: January 23, 2026
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