Arco is about the titular character who lives in a future world where time travel is possible. However, he is not allowed to time travel until he is 12 and feels a bit isolated as a result. So, one night, he grabs the necessary gear and ends up in the past – 2075. But Arco becomes stuck there and, only with the friendship of another girl he meets, might be able to get back to his time and reunited with his family.
Arco features fun animation and a unique style that feels reminiscent of both Ghibli and other older cartoons. The colours were always really enjoyable, as rainbows and primary colours populate the world of 2075. I enjoyed the simple but futuristic settings and the unique spaces that is set up.
However, the screenplay is severely underwritten. The film sets up the characters very quickly but then also doesn’t do a lot of with them. As a result, Arco proceeds to create emotional moments and weird choices that simply didn’t make sense or carry me along.
Even so, there are a couple of humorous moments. There’s some irony in recreation of this world, but the film overall is not that great. The music was nice at points, but the main character, in particular, is just not very compelling. (Frankly, I don’t understand why we would ever root for him or his goal necessarily.) And it also has an ending that doesn’t make a lot of sense. Unfortunately, I don’t think the dialogue was nearly as intriguing in this English dub. Perhaps it’s better with subtitles, but the animation is creative and unique.
This is a nice friendship film where two people who certainly wouldn’t be friends normally come together to overcome a severe problem but it needs you to buy into their relationship. But, unfortunately, I wasn’t able to do so. (Though, I still have spoken to lots of other people who enjoyed the story.)
Arco is playing at TIFF ’25. For more information, click here.
