Classic 2D animation may not be as prevalent as it once was, but some of the stuff we’re getting over the last few years has been incredible. That includes future classics like Mars Express and Scavengers Reign, and now you can add the Moebius-inspired Arco to the list. After making a splash on the festival circuit last year, the film is finally hitting theaters more widely on January 30th, so you can see it for yourself.
Arco’s story is split across two time periods. In the distant future, humanity lives in cities elevated above the surface due to rising sea levels, but they’ve also developed the ability to time travel in order to scour the past for useful things like extinct seeds. Traveling through time has an almost magical feeling here; you do it while flying, powered by colorful suits and special crystals, and the result looks like a rainbow spreading across the sky. But there are also strict rules in place, as you need to be at least 12 years old to fly. The reason becomes obvious when a restless 10-year-old named Arco (Juliano Krue Valdi) attempts to travel through time using his sister’s gear and promptly ends up trapped in the past.
That past is still our future, the year 2075, and it’s not all that dissimilar to our present day. People work too much, try to isolate themselves from the effects of climate change, and have an almost adversarial relationship with nature. The difference is that new technologies exacerbate many of these issues. Parents use holograms to make appearances at home while they work long hours, relegating most child-rearing duties — including education — to robots. When bad storms ravage the landscape, suburban dwellers stay safe within big clear domes that cover their homes. Things are bad, but most people seem content avoiding that reality. Arco crashes into this time period and meets a young girl named Iris (Romy Fay) who does her best to get him back home.
Arco’s influences are clear from the very first moments of the film. The characters, technology, and architecture all call to mind the works of French comics legend Jean “Moebius” Giraud, particularly his work on the film Time Masters, while the lovingly detailed renditions of nature are reminiscent of Studio Ghibli’s Hayao Miyazaki. But Arco’s relationship with these classics is inspiration rather than imitation.
For one thing, despite all of the complexities inherent in time travel, the story is clear and focused and ends on a note that’s equal parts bittersweet and hopeful, making it accessible as both a family film and an experience for sci-fi diehards. But director Ugo Bienvenu and his team also show an incredible amount of creativity throughout. They don’t just imagine technological advances, but really think through the impact they could have on everyday life. Iris’s parents (Mark Ruffalo and Natalie Portman), for instance, are barely physically present at all, instead making brief appearances at home as holograms. It’s like remote work but for parenting. Along those same lines, almost every adult you see in 2075 is wearing some kind of AR glasses that seem like a natural (and horrifying) progression of phone addiction and also allow them to avoid thinking too hard about the extreme weather events.
Arco uses its futuristic settings to explore all kinds of modern issues — there’s even a trio of goofy conspiracy theorist brothers (Andy Samberg, Will Ferrell, and Flea) convinced Arco is from the future — but without getting preachy or straying far from its core story. Importantly, though, the sci-fi elements frequently look cool as hell, like during a chase sequence through holographic classrooms that look like everything from a dinosaur-filled swamp to the bottom of the ocean. They also create a world that feels plausible, even when it’s outlandish.
While the visuals and sci-fi elements are the obvious hooks, my favorite part of Arco is how the film not only vividly imagines two very different possible futures, but then connects them in a way that brings the whole story full circle. It’s beautiful and heartbreaking — and another modern 2D film with the potential to become a classic.
