New Cartoon Hit: Review of Captivating Film for All Ages

Arco comes from an habitat where humans understand bird speech, Iris lives in a space that is looked after by somewhat imperfect robots. But director Bienvenu never sets the two worlds in stark contrast. Mikki, the robot that takes care of the household, is a nice companion and eventually plays a rather vital role in the story.

Similar to Hayao Miyazaki, this French film cannot simply distinguish between good and evil. A strong enough, but at the same time, non-violent appeal is enough for us to perceive our environment and take care of it.

However, the ecological line remains rather in the background. Above all, Arco tells a worldwide story about friendship and also about the fact that every decision has a clear, frequently enough irreversible impact.

The film, wich premiered out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival, showed that the world’s most famous film festival is opening up more to animation. So far, it has mostly shown either Hollywood animated pieces or, on the contrary, more experimental works for an adult audience. Perhaps everything was broken by the success of the year before last year’s wordless Latvian film Kočičí odyssey, which connected a sharp “art” aesthetic with a spectacle for everyone and preempted a vision of the world that eventually charmed even the Oscar academics.

Arco is not such a specific act. But it’s smart, catchy and approachable enough to become this season’s animated hit.