Review of Arthur And The Invisibles

Introduction

When someone like Luc Besson announces that he will retire from directing movies, it`s something that people pay attention to. The talent that brought us Subway, Nikita and Leon is one to be appreciated. In a world of identikit Hollywood, there`s something to be said for mainstream movies that don`t obey the usual rules. Luc Besson also directed my comfort movie of choice, The Fifth Element, so naturally I would be interested in what would appear to be his final movie, for now at any rate. Then it becomes clear that Arthur and the Invisibles is a children`s film. That isn`t necessarily a drawback, but then it transpires that among the cast are Madonna, David Bowie and Snoop Dogg. On the other hand there`s Mia Farrow, Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel. With such an eclectic cast and acclaimed director, there`s no way that this could be another routine Hollywood CGI dirge of cliché, could it?

Arthur is a young boy who lives with his grandmother in the country, while his parents are in the city trying to find work. She raises him on the fantastic adventures that his grandfather had when he was in Africa, although he has been missing these past three years. There`s trouble ahead, as the farm is in debt, and a heartless land developer is about to foreclose their mortgage and evict them. With only three days to go, Arthur decides to find the ruby treasure that his grandfather brought back from Africa, and which is supposed to be hidden in the back yard. But there is more truth than fantasy to his grandfather`s stories, as he learns when he finds a gateway to the world of the Minimoys, a tiny tribe brought back from Africa now living in the undergrowth behind the house. Shrunk down, Arthur finds that the Minimoys have trouble of their own, and he joins forces with Princess Selenia to fight the evil Maltazard and find the rubies. But Selenia doesn`t exactly welcome his help.

Video

Being only a year old, Arthur and the Invisibles gets a pristine 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer. The colours are strong, the image is sharp and naturally there is no print damage or significant grain. The transfer does the film justice, as the live action sequences have a lovely period feel to them, a quaintness that echoes the sixties Connecticut rural setting. The CG sequences are of the quality that you would expect from modern animation, with detailed sets and excellent character designs. The animation is fluid and vibrant, and never once are you reminded of the process. With the film on one layer, and the extras on the other, the layer change isn`t an issue with this disc.

Audio

A rather splendid DD 5.1 English track sets things off on the right foot, with the immediate booming tones of David Suchet narrating the film. Eric Serra`s soundtrack is suitably ethereal, magical or pacy as the situation requires, if not altogether memorable, and the surrounds are put to work conveying said music and action in the film`s livelier scenes. Subtitles are of the English HOH type.

Features

The disc autoplays with trailers for Hoodwinked and Miss Potter, although these are skippable. There are a smattering of extras on this disc, with two music videos, Quest For Love by Jewel and Beautiful Day by Elijah. There is also a behind the scenes featurette that lasts two minutes and which takes us into Jewel`s recording studio.

Of most interest is The Voices of Arthur and the Invisibles featurette. This lasts 7 minutes and some of the actors chat about the process of voicing a character. It`s all standard EPK stuff, which adds little new.

The whole thing is polished off with the film`s trailer, and none of the extras are subtitled.

Conclusion

There are two versions of Arthur and the Invisibles out there. There is the one that Luc Besson made, and there is the one that the US audience got. Either the MPAA collectively wet themselves at the slightly risqué content of the film, and then gutted it to "Protect The Children!", or the Weinstein company, unhappy with the box office, gutted the film to market the DVD at toddlers instead of tweens. Guess which version we got…

From what I have read, Arthur and the Invisibles is supposed to be a romantic adventure. Arthur gets transported into a magical world where he takes on the form of a Minimoy (sort of one of those trolls that you used to get to stick on the end of pencils), and he joins the Minimoys to fight against an evil figure intent on destroying them. Through sheer chance, he pulls the sword from the stone a la King Arthur, the same sword that the next Minimoy Queen was supposed to pull. Hence Princess Selenia and the new hero Arthur are cast together to venture forth so that Arthur can save his grandmother`s farm, and Selenia can save her people. On the way, and despite their initial antipathy, the two fall for each other.

But not in this version of the film. The adventure is still there, but the romance is gone. The trouble is that the two threads were so intertwined that the resulting film is replete with continuity errors, plot holes and story gaps, even though it is only 12 minutes shorter. The dialogue makes little sense when the events referred to aren`t shown on screen. The characters talk about kissing, about magical powers, but we see none of this. The heart has been ripped out of the film, and what are left are just pieces, poorly edited pieces at that. Given Janet Jackson and Nipplegate, it`s probable that conservative America collectively fainted at the thought of a child voicing a character who falls for a character of the same age, voiced by an older woman.

It`s a shame as the pieces that are left are those that most resemble a typical Hollywood CG animation. The wacky characters, the hip cameos, the endless movie references (Pulp Fiction, Staying Alive, Star Wars, LOTR and more) are all present and correct, as per the standard animation blueprint. Some bits are funny, some less so, and without a decent narrative to hold them together, all that`s left is to point and go `Ooh` and `Aah` at the eye candy. The acting and voice acting is pretty good too. Freddie Highmore is excellent as Arthur, giving a genuine and warm performance, and this may be Madonna`s best film in years, with Selenia being a quirky and appealing character. The only downside is a rather bland performance from David Bowie as the villain Maltazard, but it`s fun spotting all the other celebs and stars.

I have to admit that even if we were given the whole film, Arthur and the Invisibles is nothing special. The story is a little too familiar, with heroes shrunk down and having adventures in their own back yard a surprisingly common motif. With CG films like A Bugs Life and Antz set in the undergrowth of digital worlds, the miniaturised Minimoy setting offers nothing really original to the medium, no matter how pretty the graphics on screen are.

With the spirit cut out of the film, what`s left is thin, clichéd and just doesn`t stay with you after the end credits. We get a film, which while it looks good, and has plenty of nice set pieces, still feels like it`s left the best bits on the cutting room floor. Only get this version if you`re buying for a target audience that is enchanted by pretty colours and is yet to understand the concept of `story`. Otherwise I`d look into importing, although not from the US. Maybe the French release will have an English soundtrack.