Original film | I ♡ Arlo
- Actor-Shared Background:
- Arlo has an African accent and loves singing, just like his African American voice actor Michael J. Woodard.
- Hailey Tju, who is Asian American, voices the tigress Alia; tigers are mostly native to Asia.
- Filipino American singer and dancer Vincent Rodriguez III as Arlo's birth father Ansel, who also appears to be Filipino, and has a similar music background like his son.
- Furlecia is shown to have an interest in hairdressing; Jonathan Van Ness is a hairdresser himself, as shown on his other production.
- Adored by the Network: The movie became one of the most popular movies of 2021 on Netflix, along with The Mitchells vs. the Machines and Wish Dragon. It also has a motivating and uplifting message for viewers, and became a success among the public.
- Billing Displacement: In the end credits, Brett Gelman is listed third, despite Marcellus being the last of Arlo's gang to be introduced. Meanwhile, Tony Hale, who voices the third friend introduced, Teeny Tiny Tony, is billed fifth. The standard credit crawl, on the other hand, lists the cast and who they voiced in the order of when they first appeared, leaving a big chunk of minor voices in between the main roles. Averted for Arlo himself, who was thankfully up first both times.
- The Cast Showoff: Obviously shown with Arlo, as he is voiced by Michael J. Woodard, a contestant on Season 16 of American Idol who got eliminated in the semifinals. Bertie's voice actor, Mary Lambert, is also a professional singer. Same goes with Vincent Rodriguez III, who is not just a professional singer, but also a dancer.
- Creator Cameo: Director Ryan Crego makes a few minor voice appearances as, in order: one of the guys noticing baby Arlo, the mailman in Willow Button whom Arlo scares away, the businessman Tony yells at before entering the phone booth, and the lackey Tony contacts over the phone to get Ansel's location. He also sings the prologue song "New York, My Home" in the Cold Open.
- Cross-Dressing Voices: Female puffball Furlecia, voiced by the non-binary Queer Eye (2018) star Jonathan Van Ness.
- The Danza: Teeny Tiny Tony shares his first name with his VA, Tony Hale.
- Dawson Casting: Michael J. Woodard, who is in his early 20s, is cast as the 15-year-old Arlo.
- Deleted Scene: This animation reel
by Nick Smith features a brief scene between Arlo and Bertie just before Furlecia's introduction that did not appear in the final product (around 0:50 in the video). - Non-Singing Voice: Averted in English where the whole cast does their own singing, but Arlo has a singing double in the French, German, Korean, Mandarin and Latin American dubs. Similarly, Bertie, Ansel and Alia have singing doubles in the last two, Marcellus has one in the fifth, and Edmée has one in the fourth.
- Real-Life Relative: One of the minor characters is a baby voiced by Gweneth Crego. She's the daughter of Ryan Crego, the co-writer and director for the movie.
- Star-Making Role: The first voice acting and acting role overall for Michael J. Woodard and Mary Lambert, and the most recognizable of the former.
- What Could Have Been:
- In the earlier drafts of the film, Alia was meant to live in a sewer with a psychic pumpkin headed boy named Gordy. While this character was cut, he would make a cameo appearance by the end of the film, unnerving Marcellus. It is possible that he will have a role of some capacity in the series.
- There were apparently thirty songs written during production, but only a select few were chosen.
