In 2075, a young girl named Iris witnesses a boy in a rainbow suit fall from the sky. His name is Arco, and he is a time traveller from the future now stranded in a time that is not his own. Can Iris help Arco find his way home?

Arco is an intriguing feature. Its main plotline is similar in a way to E.T. Instead of an alien finding themselves stranded on Earth looking for a way home, it is a boy from nine hundred years in the future. His world is so different from the one that he lands in that he may as well be an alien. His friendship with Iris and her baby brother Peter reflects the childlike innocence and curiosity that E.T. evokes so well.

Where the film is at its most interesting though is in its portrayals of both 2075 and 2932 and its message of hope that the children of the world will grow into adults who can find solutions to all of the environmental woes that our species could one day face. 

2075 sees a world plagued by storms and wildfires controlled by houses that have bubble shields to protect them from the elements. Whilst robots reside in every home as servants in a world where parents “parent from work” rather than “work from home”. Iris and Peter are home alone with their robot Mikki, who rather struggles with the fact that Arco is not registered in any record that it can find. 

2932 sees humans living in homes situated on giant stalks that emerge from the ocean that now covers most of the Earth, and time travel is a functional aid to allow them to find crops they can grow and subsist from. 

These stories also have slapstick “Three Stooges” characters running alongside them to give our heroes something to run from and a comedy element. These characters have witnessed mysterious rainbow travellers in the sky before and are very keen to capture whatever landed at the end of this rainbow. 

The French animation has an intriguing look and a star-studded Hollywood-dubbed cast. Mark Ruffalo and Natalie Portman feature as Iris’s parents and robot, whilst Will Ferrell, Andy Samberg, and Red Hot Chili Peppers’ bassist Flea appear as the slapstick trio chasing Arco. 

The outcome is charming if rather slight, with the characters feeling rather insubstantial in the intriguing future worlds they live in.