In a world full of more uncertainties than ever, why would we look forward to the future? Perhaps it’s better not to know. But if it’s anything like the two worlds created by Ugo Bienvenu in his feature debut, Arco, maybe there’s cause for hope after all – even if the title character tells newfound friend Iris that “no-one should know the future.”
Ten-year-old Arco (the voice of Juliano Krue Valdi, due on screen later this year as the young Michael Jackson in Michael) comes from a time in the future without a date, and which nobody can imagine, a world where humans have recovered from an ecological catastrophe and created homes above the clouds where the air is clear. They live in harmony with nature, but they’re also protected from the more dangerous aspects of life on Earth. Of more interest to the boy is the ability to fly and, knowing full well that he can’t take to the air until he’s 12, he breaks the rules and finds himself travelling to what is the past for him and the near future for the audience. He crash-lands in 2075, where people are at odds with the environment, which comes as a shock to the boy. He’s rescued by Iris (the voice of Romy Fay), a young girl who is looked after by her robot, Mikki (voiced by Mark Ruffalo), while her parents are miles away at work and can only drop in to see her as holograms in the evening. Together, the two youngsters have to find a way of making sure Arco can return home.
Bienvenu is an illustrator, and it shows. His sense of the visual is powerful and eloquent, creating stunning images that provide an almost lyrical contrast to the dangers of the 2075 world. Yet they have a beauty of their own, with raging fires glowing from the screen in vibrant reds and oranges. There’s an elegance in his style, with Arco and his parents wearing capes of many colours, to coin a phrase, and there’s a spontaneous joy that goes with seeing their respective rainbows swooping across the screen before they come in to land.
For all that, there’s little in his delightful animation that shows us anything new or breaks boundaries, even if it does remind us how effective simplicity can be, especially when it comes to emotions. Genre fans will welcome the clear influence of Japanese animation, but that’s down to its familiarity, not because the film is doing anything adventurous with it.
Of the two worlds in Arco, 2075 is by far and away the most dangerous. On top of savage changes in the climate, which mean that communities have to be surrounded by retractable domes, Arco himself is in personal danger once the authorities are alerted to his presence. The police are after him, as are a trio of oddball science geeks who seem to have a strange interest in the boy. They’re the film’s sore thumb, an attempt at slapstick comedy which contributes little to the main narrative and ends up being more of an irritant. However, the boy is also followed by teacher robots from the local school, and the film’s look at the relationship between humans and their computerised servants is where it scores emotionally. It’s familiar territory, and Mikki, the parent substitute, has more than a little of Baymax about him when tending the children in his care. But our response to what is essentially a metal object is overwhelming when he’s damaged and behaves in a way reminiscent of a human with dementia. Tissues are mandatory.
As Arco draws to its poignant, bittersweet close, there’s more than a touch of hope. You wish the world he came from could be the future for all of us, but we can never know how far away it is, so hope is all we have. His journey in time isn’t especially original, but the comforting echoes of Superman and ET and the enchanting animation make it captivating and truly beautiful to watch.
★★★ 1/2
In cinemas from March 20th / The voices of Natalie Portman, Juliano Krue Valdi, Will Ferrell, Mark Ruffalo, Andy Samberg, Romy Fay, America Ferrera, Flea / Dir: Ugo Bienvenu / Picturehouse Entertainment / PG
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