Arco

image for Arco

Short takes

Not suitable under 10; parental guidance to 11 (scary scenes, violence)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Arco
  • a review of Arco completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 16 March 2026.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 10 Not suitable due to scary scenes and violence.
Children aged 10–11 Parental guidance recommended due to scary scenes and violence.
Children aged 12 and over Ok for this age group.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: Arco
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Mild science fiction themes
Length: 88 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Arco Dorell (voice of Juliano Krue Valdi) is a ten-year-old boy living in the far future of 2932. Humans now live in sophisticated tree houses in the clouds as the Earth is covered in water. Humans have also learnt how to time travel, which Arco’s parents and sister regularly do but Arco has to wait until he’s twelve. Arco is jealous of his sister’s ability to see the dinosaurs, and so, one night he steals her rainbow time travel cape and gemstone and sets off on a flight.

Arco crash lands on Earth in 2075, where a young girl called Iris (Romy Fay) finds him. The Earth at this time is used to frequent storms and wildfires, and most structures are in a bubble to protect them. Iris’s parents live in the city during the week, while Iris and her baby brother Peter, are looked after by a likeable robot called Mikki (Mark Ruffalo and Natalie Portman). Iris takes Arco home to look after him but his presence causes a lot of problems as Mikki is constantly trying to find his parents. Arco wants to go home but travelling back to his time and family proves much more difficult than he realises. Arco and Iris are subjected to much danger as they try to find a way home for Arco.

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Science Fiction; Fantasy; Time travel.

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie, including:

  • Arco crash lands onto Earth. He wobbles about and collapses on the ground. Arco has blood on his face.
  • Arco threatens Mikki with a spade.
  • The three brothers who are tracking Arco, threaten each other and hurl mild insults.
  • Arco makes several attempts to launch into flight from Iris’s roof but crashes to the ground each time.
  • The three brothers drive straight into a police blockade and the police chase after them. Their van rolls down a hillside, crashing through trees and the windscreen shatters.
  • One of the brothers knocks out a guard with a broom and throws things at them.
  • Arco and Iris almost vanish into space but their combined weight is too heavy for Arco and they fall back down to Earth.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

  • Mikki the Robot has red eyes and in one scene only his eyes are seen in a black background.
  • Arco’s sister pretends to be a dinosaur and roars at Arco.
  • Baby Peter is scared by Mikki playing peek-a-boo.

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

  • Many scenes are quite foreboding with fierce storms, wildfires and threatening music. A village is seen in darkness, while thunder, lightning and black skies surround it.
  • Arco screams and is obviously terrified when he sets out to fly. As he reaches high speed, his face contorts and he seems to vanish into space.
  • Iris talks to her parents through an electronic device and they appear as holograms. Iris’ mother reads her a bedtime story then disappears into the device.
  • After a storm, cars are seen up in trees while robots clean up.
  • When Arco’s mother finds his discarded clothing, she screams.
  • The wildfire scenes are quite scary – it spreads fast and there are sirens and emergency lights flashing.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:

  • Three large, loony brothers (who appear for comic effect), look threatening and scary at times. They are tracking Arco and seem to have bad intentions in mind.
  • Mikki can’t compute who Arco is and his system crashes in the process. He drops to the ground and looks dead.
  • Iris cries because her parents don’t believe her that Arco is from the future. She says that they’re never there for her.
  • Iris and Arko run to her school where they hope Arko might be able to fly from the roof. They are being chased by the brothers and the police robots. They hide in a room which is full of powered-down robots. Arco screeches at the sight of the robots. A guard comes through and shines his torch on them.
  • The robots all power up and start moving and chasing Arco and Iris. They run through rooms displaying dinosaurs and moving sharks.
  • Arco cries when he says goodbye to Iris – he doesn’t like goodbyes. Iris decides to go too and they both fly off into the fiery sky. Their faces contort as they reach high speed.
  • Arco and Iris are seen lying unconscious in a blackened area of the forest which is still on fire. Mikki finds them and takes them to a cave.
  • Iris wakes up to see Mikki drawing all of his memories on to the cave wall but then realises that Mikki is not in a good shape. Wires are drooping from his mouth and his head drops, indicating that he is dead.
  • Arco and Iris leave the cave after travelling on underground trains and boats to find a way out. They see multiple rainbows approaching Earth and Arco knows it’s his family. When he finally meets them, they have aged a lot – his sister is now a grown woman. Arco’s mother tells him they have spent their whole lives looking for him.

Thirteen and overinfo

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

  • Nothing further noted.

Product placement

  • None noted.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • Iris kisses Arco when he finally leaves.

Nudity and sexual activity

  • None noted.

Use of substances

  • None noted.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • Shut up
  • Stupid
  • Shoot.

In a nutshell

Arco is a French, award-winning, animated movie which has great creative content, with an idyllic-looking future of humans living peacefully in the clouds. However, there are some very scary scenes and some violence in the movie, making it unsuitable for children under 10 and best suited to families with older children and teens.

The main messages from this movie are that the best thing you can want for someone you love, is for them to be happy; and that how we as humans look after the Earth affects generations to come.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • Compassion
  • Empathy
  • Team work
  • Selflessness
  • Courage.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

  • Arco disobeyed the rules of his time, which he comes to regret. The consequences of his actions are long-reaching and parents could discuss the reasons why we have rules in the first place.