Movie Thoughts: Arco (2025)

• Released: May 16th, 2025
• Directed by: Ugo Bienvenu, Gilles Cazaux
• Running time: 1h 28min
• Rating 4/5

Synopsis

A girl named Iris befriends a mysterious boy who falls from the sky, called Arco. Iris now wants to learn about Arco's origins and the duo soon form a close friendship. Arco longs deeply to go home again, and it's now up to him and Iris to figure out how to get him back.

My Thoughts

I went into this blindly, I barely checked out any reviews beforehand and didn't watch any trailers, so everything came as a surprise for me. 

And honestly, yes, this is a solid movie. Not my favorite to come out of 2025, but this is definitely a pretty strong movie. 

First of all, it's visually stunning. While the art style wasn't my absolute favorite, the characters still emote rather well and stuff like the designs of the outfits, robots, vehicles and environments in this futuristic setting is very neat. The animation is very nice as well.

I also liked the characters. Arco and Iris are the emotional core of the movie, and they're just super likable and you absolutely root for them. I'd be lying if I said that these were the most unique characters I ever came across in a movie like this (they do have some pretty generic traits), but the movie makes it work regardless.

The side characters are also pretty decent. I especially like these three dudes who keep chasing after Iris and Arco and at first seem like one-dimensional villains, but then quickly turn into strong allies once they learn that Arco just wants to get home. Mikki the robot is also a pretty solid side-character.

If I do have a criticism, it's that I kinda wish that Arco's relationship with his parents (and to a lesser extent his sister) was more developed. We barely see any of it in the prologue before Arco gets stranded in the past, and therefore his desperate longing to go back home didn't work as much for me. If his connection to this parents and sister had seemed stronger in the first few scenes, it would've made the audience root even more for Arco to get back home. But instead in the early scenes he spends with his family Arco seems a bit annoyed with them, and therefore him wishing to go back home once he's stranded in the past didn't feel as strong. It would've made the tearful reunion at the end come across even better if there had been a clear strong relationship established beforehand.

But overall I still think that this is a good movie you should check out.