Arco

Directed by Ugo Bienvenu, Arco follows the futuristic title character (Juliano Krue Valdi) as he time travels hundreds of years into the past and meets (and befriends) a young girl named Iris (Romy Fay). There’s ultimately little doubt that Arco improves considerably as it progresses, as the movie’s been saddled with a context-free (and arms-length) opening stretch that contains few attributes designed to initially capture and sustain the viewer’s interest – with the eventual emphasis on the touching friendship between Arco and Iris slowly-but-surely transforming the picture into a better-than-anticipated piece of work. And while Bienvenu’s lamentable decision to periodically focus on the exploits of three grating, overly goofy conspiracy theorists wreaks havoc on the movie’s momentum, Arco eventually segues into a compelling (and unexpectedly moving) third act that’s capped off with a satisfying, bittersweet finish – which does, in the final analysis, confirm the film’s place as an erratic yet rewarding animated endeavor.

*** out of ****