Given how there’s no shortage of terrible news these days, it begs the question of what time travelers would do if they came to our era. Perhaps they’d have some commentary on humanity’s current mistakes and how best to correct them. Or in the animated Arco’s case, one might just stumble into the past and see both the good and the tragic cracks that will affect life further down the road.

Really, all young Arco (voiced by Juliano Krue Valdi in the English-language version) wants to do is see dinosaurs. He hails from the very far off future of 2932, where humanity has taken residence on giant metal platforms high up in the clouds, the result of a massive flooding that covered the Earth centuries ago. His family lives in biodomes and sleeps upright in stasis fields, but most notably, they can time travel via special rainbow-colored suits, bending light in order to jump into the past. Arco wishes to join his mom (America Ferrera), dad (Roeg Sutherland), and older sister on these trips but, per the law of the future, he can’t participate until he’s 12 years old. So, being a curious youth, Arco steals one of his sister’s rainbow cloaks and time warps anyway, a maneuver that requires flying through rain and sunlight to obtain the perfect refraction power level.

Missing the mark, he lands in 2075, a world full of technology and environments similar to our own, but with additional components unfamiliar to Arco’s timeline. There are suburbs and schools, but also futuristic-looking cars and robots who function as teachers, construction workers, and police officers. Bubble-like shields protect homes from dangerous weather patterns, but some human troubles remain the same. For adolescent Iris (Romy Fay), it’s dealing with parents (Natalie Portman and Mark Ruffalo) who, however loving, are away from home too long and only see her through hologram projections. She has her baby brother, her schoolmate Clifford, and robot-nanny Mikki (a combination of Ruffalo and Portman’s voices), but she yearns for life to be different.

Arco literally falling into Iris’s world kicks off an ’80s E.T.-inspired adventure, with the duo working to get him back home while gradually bonding the longer he stays in her era. There are even some quirky supporting characters in three brothers (Will Ferrell, Flea, and Andy Samberg) trying to uncover Arco’s origins that are equal parts bumbling and endearing. A world beyond these characters exists, but director Ugo Bienvenu—making his feature-length debut after writing the graphic novel System Preference—deliberately leaves its tech and tribulations up to interpretation. If there is a status quo, Arco subtly teases its instability, with references to a devastating fire that, by the end, physically looms over Iris’s neighborhood. These shots evoke the wildfires that hit Los Angeles not so long ago, hinting at climate change-related disasters and the impact they will leave on mankind in the near future.

If Arco borrows from nostalgic tales, its animation feels more distinct. This is a 2D production shot almost as a cross between American, European, and Japanese animation styles, featuring bold color palettes and rotoscope-inspired character models. The late 21st-century world has a Miyazaki-like feel to it as well, demonstrating a cautious balance between technology and nature where the latter side seems to be getting more and more unstable. Its most intriguing shots are also the most infrequent: When time-traveling, Arco’s body melts into light, becoming almost fluid as his suit’s rainbow trail shoots across the sky. The rest of Arco’s setting blends the familiar with the futuristic quite well.

Like Miyazaki, Bienvenu’s film centers around childhood stories but is ultimately accessible to viewers of all ages. There are some gripes to be had: Arco’s future in 2932 isn’t explored that much, only getting a few minutes of attention before he travels to Iris’s time period. Nor do we ever learn why robots were phased out by the time the 30th century, despite being extremely commonplace for Iris and her neighborhood. Really, it’s their friendship that grounds the movie, which adds some extra weight when Arco drops two bittersweet endings to cap off each child’s tale.

This year has certainly been full of animated surprises, from Ne Zha 2’s global box office dominance to KPop Demon Hunters becoming an undisputed summer phenomenon. Arco may not match either of those highs, but it’s still well-made with eye-catching graphics and a hopeful message. Like a rainbow, there’s something beautiful within its dark themes—out of reach, but wondrous all the same.