The Cannes Film Festival has long been a welcome place for prestige animated films. Think the work of Sylvain Chomet (The Triplets of Belleville, The Illusionist, A Magnificent Life) for example. This year was no exception with Ugo Bienvenu’s sci-fi fantasy Arco making a huge splash in the Special Screenings section. NEON quickly snapped up the U.S. rights, and now we have the first trailer featuring the English voice cast.
Will Ferrell, America Ferrera, Flea, Natalie Portman, Mark Ruffalo, and Andy Samberg lend their voices to Arco. The story follows the titular 10-year-old boy from a peaceful future who journeys back to the year 2075 where he finds a world in peril, but also a young girl named Iris and her robot companion.
Portman is also a producer on the film, which is no small thing given that this is Bienvenu’s directorial debut. The script was co-written by Bienvenu and Felix de Givry. Bienvenu’s background is in comic books and animation, and worked on Marvel’s Ant-Man animated series.
SYNOPSIS: A magical and beautifully animated journey through time, Ugo Bienvenu’s Arco is a dazzling adventure about a 10-year-old boy from a peaceful, distant future who accidentally travels back to the year 2075 and discovers a world in peril. As Arco develops a charming and touching friendship with a young girl named Iris, they band together and along with her trusted robot caretaker Mikki, set out on a quest to get Arco home, while the two kids may also be the only ones who can save our planet.
NEON opens Arco in theaters on November 14th, following its English-language premiere at TIFF next month. You can probably pencil this one in as a Best Animated Feature contender right now.
