ARTHUR AND THE INVISIBLES
Director: Luc Besson Stars: Freddie Highmore, Mia Farrow, Ronald Crawford, voices of Madonna, David Bowie, Robert De Niro, Snoop Dogg, Harvey Keitel, Anthony Anderson, Chazz Palminteri, Emilio Estevez, Jason bateman, Erik Per Sullivan, Rob and Nate Corddry
Reviewed by GREG KING
A deft mix of CGI animation and live action Arthur And The Invisibles is clearly in the tradition of films like The NeverEnding Story, The Flight Of The Navigator, etc, in creating as fanciful new world and encouraging young audiences to use their imagination.
Based on a popular French comic book series created by Patrice Garcia and directed by Luc Besson (The Professional, The Fifth Element, etc), Arthur And The Invisibles takes us into an imaginary world just beneath the surface of ours. Here a young boy is magically transported into another world where he becomes a hero by saving that world from destruction at the hands of a tyrant, and also gets to fall in love with a beautiful princess. There are also some Arthurian references here, especially with the sword in the stone bit.
The film is set in small town America in the ‘60’s. Arthur (played by Freddie Highmore, from A Good Year and Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, etc) lives on a rural property with his grandmother (Mia Farrow). His parents are away working, and his grandfather has gone missing in Africa. The family property is about to be bought up by greedy developers unless Arthur’s grandfather returns to sign some important legal documents. With just 48 hours left before the deadline, Arthur sets out to find the rumoured fortune in rubies his grandfather has hidden somewhere on the property.
This involves Arthur following some elusive clues left by his grandfather to uncover the entrance to the land of the Minimoys, a secret world of elves hidden underground. With the help of a couple of mysterious African tribesmen Arthur is magically shrunken and allowed to enter into this secret subterranean world. But Arthur finds that this world is also under threat from a ruthless power hungry tyrant Maltazard (David Bowie). Thus begins a race against time, in two dimensions. The film deftly cuts between the two parallel stories, as Arthur tries to save both the world of the Minimoys from destruction and his farm from being sold.
Arthur And The Invisibles is something of a labour of love for Besson who has been fascinated with bringing the world of the Minimoys to the screen since 1999. Although he has used CGI effects in many of his previous films, this is the first time Besson has dabbled in the world of animation, and the results are certainly visually quite stunning. It has also been beautifully filmed by Thierry Arbogast, Besson’s regular cinematographer and collaborator.
The computer generated animation sequences that create the world of the elf-like Minimoys are visually quite imaginative. But the animated sequences lack genuine excitement, and a key action sequence – an attack by mosquitoes – somehow seems unimpressive and muddled. Admittedly, the whole thing is directed with a verve, energy and originality that was missing from the recent fantasy adaptation Eragon, which openly wore its Star Wars/Lord Of the Rings influences.
Besson has assembled a strong vocal cast to flesh out the animated Minimoy creatures, including the likes of Robert Dr Niro, Madonna, Harvey Keitel, Chazz Palminteri, but most seem to be distant and distracted, and their readings perfunctory. Rapper Snoop Dogg brings some energy to his role as the motor-mouthed Max, while David Bowie is excellent, and clearly relishes his role as the malevolent Maltazard. In the live action sequences Highmore again proves himself one of the best young actors around with an energetic and cheeky performance. Farrow is wonderful and brings a subtle humour to her role as his grandmother.
Arthur And The Invisibles is a wonderful animated fantasy that will certainly appeal to younger audiences, but it may not quite so easily spark the imagination of adult audiences.
**1/2
Reviewed by THOMAS CALDWELL
Ever since Toy Story in 1995 the most popular family films have been computer-animated stories that have simultaneously appealed to both children and their parents. Pixar and Dreamworks have skilfully dominated this market with great success by continuing to make films that contain enough cultural references and cross-generational humour to keep all age groups entertained. Despite the pleasures that such films create it does seem a pity that there are a lack of films these days that are unashamedly made for children (and the inner child within many adults). The 1980s saw the release of many magical films that were aimed solely at children of all ages and it seems that with Arthur And The Invisibles Luc Besson has attempted to recreate the mood of these films.
In terms of production design, narrative and atmosphere Arthur And The Invisibles certainly evokes classics such as The Dark Crystal, The NeverEnding Story and Labyrinth. The blend of live action with computer animation even recalls Lionel Jeffries’ The Water Babies from 1978 where live action was combined with traditional animation to indicate the passage from the real world of adult authority to a fantasy world. Unfortunately the comparisons with all of these films do not work in Besson’s favour.
The increasing annoying Freddie Highmore (Finding Neverland and Charlie And The Chocolate Factory) plays 10-year-old Arthur who travels to the tiny land of the Minimoys. Arthur must find a hidden treasure so that his grandmother can make the necessary payments to prevent her farm being repossessed by a greedy developer. The live action scenes at the beginnings of Arthur And The Invisibles are actually the best part of the film partly because Mia Farrow is wonderful as Arthur’s Grandmother and because Besson takes his time to set-up the scenario and the characters. Once Arthur enters Minimoy all attempts to establish characters and motivation are quickly dispensed with as the audience is thrown into a bunch of inexplicable sequences that follow a logic that is never adequately shared with the audience.
Arthur is very quickly teamed up with Princess Selenia (unremarkably voiced by Madonna) but not before Besson establishes that despite being heir to the throne and apparent all round tough girl, Selenia is fairly useless. On the other hand Arthur masters the miniature world of the Minimoy’s remarkably quickly to become the real hero who is adored by all. Needless to say the gender politics are awful and more blatantly so than usual for this type of film.
Although the world of Arthur And The Invisibles is rendered beautifully the troll-doll-like Minimoys are incredibly ugly to look at. This combined with the serious lack of characterisation makes it very hard to give a damn about what happens to them. The voice actors do not help either and Robert De Niro in particular as the King of Minimoy sounds incredibly bored. Snoop Dogg provides some brief amusement as smooth talking Max, an unmistakable parody of African American culture that would not be out of place in a Chappelle's Show sketch. However it is arguable that racially stereotyped caricatures may not be suitable in a film aimed at 10 year olds. The only real delight is David Bowie who obviously has a lot of fun being outrageously wicked as the voice of the evil Maltazard.
With The Fifth Element Besson was arguably successful in making a film that appealed to adolescent males but his attempt in making a family film is a failure. There is very little that adults will find enjoyable in Arthur And The Invisibles and frankly kids deserve better too.
1½ out of 5
Reviewed by PETER MALONE
Luc Besson is better known for his science-fantasy films of the past like Subway, The Last Battle or The Fifth Element and for his recent producing role in a collection of violent actioners like the Taxi series, Unleashed and The 13th District. To find him making a children’s film, a blend of live action and animation comes as something of a surprise.
It begins with Arthur, Freddy Highmore (Finding Neverland, Charley And The Chocolate Factory), a confident and genial young actor, and his grandmother, Mia Farrow, are trying to save their house from being reclaimed. Grandfather has disappeared on expeditions in Africa. With the possibility of finding gems that would solve all the problems, Arthur is reduced in size and finds himself in the land of the Minimoys under the ground.
This is the longer animated section which moves at a fairly rattling pace as the Minimoys are trying to defend themselves against the tyrant, Maltazard. The adventures involve a princess and some characters who get themselves into tangles – only for Arthur to reappear just in time to save the day and Grandpa turning up again.
This is one for the younger audiences, though adults listening to the voices in the English version may be distracted with Madonna as the princess, David Bowie as Maltazard and an assorted supporting cast including Robert de Niro, Harvey Keitel and Emilio Estevez.