You can meet Arlo, a half-human and half-alligator boy journeying to New York City in his Netflix movie debut Arlo The Alligator Boy and the upcoming series I ❤️️ Arlo. He’s joined along the way by a misfit group of friends who become his chosen family. That diverse group of characters provides the foundation for the deeper meaning behind Arlo.
“It’s important to have a platform for people, all of us, who feel in some way or another different or strange,” says creator and director Ryan Crego. “It was really important casting actors who were authentically attached to these characters and allowing them the space to create the characters with me.”
American Idol alum Michael J. Woodard provides the voice for Arlo, a unique character that he infused with his own personal spirit. “Some of the things he says, and some of the things he does, like his weird optimism and bright-eyed, bushy-tailed view on life kind of makes him quirky,” says Woodard. “But me voicing the character makes him even more quirky.”
“I have my own sort of perception and relationship to these characters because being queer and being fat and being bipolar, for so long I didn’t feel like I belonged anywhere,” according to singer Mary Lambert, who voices Bertie, a teenage human giantess. “I think there’s a really strong identification to chosen family towards the end, and a really strong sense of home, and home being wherever you are with the people you love.” Lambert reports that is a through-line we’ll get throughout both the movie and the series.
Woodard thinks that everyone will find a character with whom they can relate in the film and series. “Everyone has this distinctive quality that somebody will be able to identify with, whether it’s Bertie, or whether it’s Arlo or Furlecia or even Teeny Tiny Tony,” he reports. “They all have different things that they deal with, so the diversity is a beautiful thing to see.”
“I think this would be such a beautiful narrative, no matter what story it is,” says Lambert. The fact that it’s animated and targeted towards children, however, makes it even more important to her. “I think that the message of authenticity and the message of being yourself is so, so powerful.”
You can meet all of these quirky friends who become family for yourself in Arlo The Alligator Boy, streaming now on Netflix.
About Arlo The Alligator Boy
Upon learning that he is from New York City, Arlo, a wide-eyed boy who is half human and half alligator, decides to leave his sheltered life in the swamp and search for his long lost father. The animated musical movie, Arlo the Alligator Boy, will launch Arlo’s journey as he meets a group of misfits who quickly become his new family. Once Arlo’s adventure lands him in New York City, the series, I ❤️️Arlo, will kick off as he and his newfound crew set up shop in an abandoned seaside neighborhood and help bring it back to life.