When his home is at risk of being demolished, he sets off to find rubies that his grandfather had received while in Africa to use as payment and hid in the yard, and thus begins his adventure into the 3D animated world of the Minimoys. In the first half the film takes place in real life, following Arthur who's living with his grandma ( Mia Farrow) while his parents search for jobs in the city. ![]() His latest film, Arthur and the Invisibles, is a forgettable mélange of King Arthur, Neo from The Matrix, all of the Harry Potter books that include Voldemort, and A Bug's Life, all smashed into one big misadventure that pales in comparison to Besson's better-known works.Īrthur and the Invisibles follows young Arthur ( Freddie Highmore) on an adventure to the land of the Minimoys, tiny people living in harmony with nature while also living around the house and in the yard. Luc Besson's short but illustrious career includes directing credits for some memorable greats: La Femme Nikita, The Professional, and The Fifth Element. It all comes to a weirdness climax when Arthur and Selenia break bread with a race of miniature Rastafarians whose super-tight codpieces leave nothing to the imagination, then hop on a turntable and boogie like Uma Thurman and John Travolta in “Pulp Fiction.” As the French say: “Oh, mon Dieu.Arthur and the Invisibles Review: A Near Disaster of a Film There will be “Star Wars”-style dogfights, “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids”-style microscopic mishap and, perhaps a bit too literally, a scene in which Arthur pulls a magical sword out of a rock.Īdapted from a series of children’s books that Besson wrote himself, “Arthur and the Invisibles” has the nonsensical, derivative quality of a movie-marathon fever dream, complete with hoary one-liners. To retrieve the rubies, Arthur will strike out into the wilderness with the shapely Princess Selenia (Madonna) to confront the evil lord Maltazard (David Bowie). Long story short, Arthur finds himself transformed into a purple-haired androgynous sprite and welcomed into a primitive, computer-animated kingdom ruled by a kindly, white-haired gnome (voiced by Robert De Niro). (If this is getting too weird for you, feel free to skip ahead.) Moreover, he will have to shrink himself down to their size, which he does, with the help of four large bushmen and an antique telescope. To fulfill his mission, Arthur will have to make contact with the Minimoys, who live in subterranean bliss in a nearby garden. “As long as I live and breathe, they’re not gonna get this house!” he huffs. Highmore seems overcoached by Besson while heroic, the kid also comes off as something of a Ritalin case. When villainous creditors come to take possession of the farm, Arthur leaps into action, determined to find a fortune in African rubies stashed somewhere on the property. Of particular interest to Arthur is his grandfather’s discovery of the Minimoys, an enchanted race of what appear to be minuscule glam rockers, depicted in the old man’s dusty, hand-drawn journal. Arthur is fascinated by stories of his grandfather, an adventurer who once built aqueducts in Africa but has recently gone missing from the farm. Using a French crew and English-speaking cast, Besson, director of “The Fifth Element,” has created the sort of spastic, convoluted European co-production (think “The NeverEnding Story”) more likely to find devotees in bong-water-stained dorm rooms than movie theaters full of little kids.īritish child actor Freddie Highmore is all mischief and moxie as Arthur, neglected by his parents and sent to live with Granny (Mia Farrow) on the Depression-era American prairie. To be sure, there’s something supremely askew about this live action/animated tale of a plucky lad who endeavors to save the family farm by joining forces with a race of microscopic elves. It was while watching Luc Besson’s tres bizarre “Arthur and the Invisibles” that a certain oxymoronic phrase kept repeating in my head: “French family film.” Just doesn’t seem right, does it? Much like “Italian democracy” or “German daycare.”
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