From the Future

Film: Arco
Format: Streaming video from Hulu on Fire!

As I say frequently, I try to go into everything I watch with a completely open mind. I want to like whatever it is I’m watching, but there are going to be times when, for one reason or another, I’m expecting something to be good or bad, not based on hype or the trailer, but some other reason. It might be the name of the film, or the cast, or a still. In the case of Arco, it was a still. Of all the Oscar films I was slated to watch from 2025, this is one that I really didn’t look forward to: I don’t like the art. For an animated film, that’s going to be hard to overcome.

Because of this, I went into Arco feeling like it had to prove itself to me more than the average movie does. That’s probably unfair, and it’s also pretty clear that I’m in the minority when it comes to the art style. I should also say at this point that, in a rarity for me, I watched the dubbed version of this. Typically, I watch with subtitles, but this bothers me a lot less with animation. Because of this, I’m not going to go through the typical casting—there’s a decent chance that the people I mention here won’t be the voices in the version you might watch.

Arco is a young boy living in the 30th Century, a future where people have built houses on gigantic pillars that extend above the clouds so that the Earth below can heal. It is a future where needs are fully met and careers evidently aren’t necessary. People entertain themselves by traveling back through time using rainbow flight suits which I have seen described (fairly accurately) as gay pride hijabs. Law states that people need to be 12 to travel through time, and Arco, who is about 10, is desperate to see dinosaurs. One night, he steals his sister’s time travel suit and attempts to go to the distant past.

What happens instead is that he arrives in 2075 in a world that is suffering from the obvious consequences of ignoring climate catastrophe. In this world, robots perform most tasks—teaching, policing, child care—and people live inside “bubbles.” These barriers protect towns from the uncontrolled weather events and wildfires that now dominate the planet. Iris, who is also about 10, lives with her infant brother Peter and their robot nanny Mikki while their parents spend the week working in a nearby city.

Naturally, it is Iris who discovers Arco and gets him back home. She also discovers that he is being pursued by a trio of brothers, each of whom wears a different colored outfit and rainbow glasses. The brothers seem to be desperate to find Arco for some reason.

What follows is Arco and Iris learning about both the past and the future—how the world works in 2075 and how it will work 900 years in the future. This happens all while they are being hunted by the three brothers and while they are desperate to keep Arco from being discovered in general. Since he has no legitimate identity in this time, his existence is an anomaly.

On the surface, Arco is a sort of coming-of-age film. Arco realizes that he has made a terrible mistake and may not have a clear way to get back to his own time because of his own inexperience. Iris, desperate to understand the world that he comes from, particularly in light of the climate catastrophe that she lives in, wants to return to the future with him, especially as she feels generally abandoned by her parents, who she sees only as holographic images and on weekends.

The deeper story here, though is one of hope when it comes to the problems of the climate. Arco doesn’t shy away from the reality of climate catastrophe, showing a world where dangerous weather events and raging fires become commonplace. It’s hard not to appreciate this on a day where, for the first time in about a week, I’m not getting air quality alerts due to the Canadian wildfires.

Arco presents a world where, even though there is terrible tragedy and destruction, humanity survives and ultimately appears to thrive despite what is happening now. It gives us a world that seems likely—one where climate issues continue to be ignored until they can’t be ignored, but also shows us a future where we overcome, or start to overcome that threat.

The truth is that I’m never going to like the art. It looks strange to me, and it’s oddly unattractive. That’s my issue with the film, but the story is a good one and the characters are good as well. This is a film worth seeing. I just wish it didn’t make my eyes hurt.

Why to watch Arco: It’s a good story that doesn’t pull punches on climate reality.
Why not to watch: Your mileage may vary on this, but the art is weird.