^{Credit: Arco (Neon)}

We’ve seen movies where characters time-travel via phone booth, DeLorean, and even hot tub. Arco may be the first where people travel through time with a rainbow. More specifically, a technicolor dreamcoat, albeit not quite like the one from the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. Director Ugo Bienvenu’s background includes work in short subjects, television, comics, and illustration. With his feature directorial debut, Bienvenu doesn’t just hit the ground running. He soars above the clouds where the titular Arco lives with his family. He’s made a breathtaking first film that stuns from the opening sequence, as we’re immersed in a future where Earth’s land has been left to rest while humanity dwells in skypad homes right out of The Jetsons.

Rainbow suits not only allow inhabitants to fly, but also to go back in time. It’s never explained how these suits are made, if people are allowed to change the past, or if they can go into the future. None of that matters. What does matter is that young Arco wants to see dinosaurs. Despite not being old enough to get a suit of his own, Arco sneaks out with his sister’s one night. He misses the dawn of the dinosaurs by a few millennia. In a more conventional film, Arco would travel to our time. Instead, he goes from the very distant future of 2932 to the distant future of 2075.

Not much has changed in fifty years. People still live in suburban houses, although now they have domes to protect them from ongoing wildfires. The most significant upgrade is that instead of iPads raising children, sentiment robots now fill in. When Arco crash-lands in the forest, a young girl named Iris takes him back to her home, where a robot named Mikki cares for her and her baby brother. He may not be flesh and blood, but like Roz from The Wild Robot, you sense that Mikki genuinely cares about the children in ways that don’t feel simulated. That said, when a robot is a more constant presence in a child’s life than their parents, something is off at home.

While Arco is a charming story of friendship and young love, it’s also about neglect. Not just how parents neglect their children, but how humanity neglects the planet they’ve been gifted. Humans in 2075 have found ways to endure wildfires. They’ve seemingly made few strides in preventing them, however. 2932 seems like a futuristic utopia at first glance. Yet, we never see the world below. Perhaps the land is thriving without humanity’s involvement, although it may be falling into disarray without anyone to care for it. If it’s the latter, humans will need to seek another planet if anything happens to the sky.

It sounds heavy-handed, but Arco is subtle in its environmental message. There are no villains, although there is a trio of brothers who wish to prove that the time-traveling rainbow suit is real. While funny, their subplot can feel a little undercooked, along with a love triangle between Arco, Iris, and another boy. Arco and Iris make for immensely likable leads, though, forming a strong attachment in a short amount of time. Between its young leads, robots, and environmental themes, Arco is reminiscent of Hayao Miyazaki’s Castle in the Sky and other Ghibli films. Bienvenu has a style that’s all his own, however.

Newcomers Romy Fay and Juliano Krue Valdi lend their voices to the English dub, which includes names like Mark Ruffalo, Will Ferrell, and Natalie Portman, the latter of whom serves as a producer. Composer Arnaud Toulon sweeps the audience away with an angelic score that matches the vivid artistry on display. Bienvenu and co-screenwriter Félix de Givry tell a meaningful story that doesn’t talk down to younger viewers. Characters make choices with lasting consequences that can’t be undone. Even if we can’t reverse the mistakes of the past, we can learn from them to work towards a better future. Arco gets this message across with every color of the rainbow.

Nick Spake is the Author of Bright & Shiny: A History of Animation at Award Shows Volumes 1 and 2. Available Now!