Another little movies series!
Arthur and the Invisibles (aka Arthur et les Minimoys) has been on my to-watch list for a while. Mostly because I really love Freddie Highmore in any age of acting. He’s very impressive all the time and this one is adventure and animation all wrapped up together. It sounds extremely fun! Netflix decided that it was going to expire in about a week the second and the third so I couldn’t watch those without the first one so I spent the weekend checking this out 🙂
Let’s see how it turned out!
Arthur and the Invisibles (2006)
Director: Luc Besson
Cast (live and/or vocal): Freddie Highmore, Mia Farrow, Ron Crawford, Madonna, Snoop Dogg, David Bowie, Jimmy Fallon
Ten-year-old Arthur, in a bid to save his grandfather’s house from being demolished, goes looking for some much-fabled hidden treasure in the land of the Minimoys, a tiny people living in harmony with nature.- IMDB
Arthur and the Invisibles or the Minimoys (as referred to in the movie also) is a fun family adventure animation. I love movies that blend the whole live action and animated sequences and this movie transitioned between the two and used real life world blended into the animated worlds for different tools and names. Its shows a certain level of creativity and imagination that makes it even more enjoyable.
When the movie starts, the narrator takes us into the life of Arthur, who is an intelligent 10 year old that seeks to discover and explore the world and its mysteries. He tries to figure out why his grandfather is missing and also save his grandmother’s home, leading him to his brave adventure to ask for the help of the Minimoys. The vocals here are great. Although, the plot here is a little generic and predictable and why I believe its mild enough for a younger audience and is probably targeted to a younger audience. 8-10 (?) years old might be my best guess. I don’t have kids so I can’t really determine it.
Regardless, the best part of this was actually hearing Freddie Highmore’s actual accent. Since I’ve watched Freddie Highmore, I’ve always thought he was American until a few years back when I realized he’s actually British. Imagine my surprise, right? So its refreshing to hear that voice here, plus these movies work for the younger him. I didn’t expect much from Madonna voice for Selenia but it was pretty good as well. And c’mon, Jimmy Fallon is great in general so I don’t even need to mention that much about it. David Bowie does the voice of Evil M, the villain in this trilogy, although not voiced by him after this one. Evil M is effective as a villain for an animation geared for a younger crowd, meaning I found him more funny than threatening 😉
Arthur and the Minimoys was a pretty enjoyable animation (more for a younger crowd). There were some slower parts but the sum of it was pretty good. It keeps everything with a level of intensity that is well balanced with using natural elements in the human world and implementing into the world of the Minimoys who actually live underground and in the garden. Creativity and imaginative points there as well. I’d say to give it a watch if you get a chance 🙂
Arthur 2: The Revenge of Maltazard (2009)
(or Arthur and the Great Adventure)
Director: Luc Besson
Cast: Freddie Highmore, Mia Farrow, Selena Gomez, Jimmy Fallon, Lou Reed, Fergie, Snoop Dogg
Arthur answers a distress call from Princess Selenia, who is menaced by the nefarious Maltazard. – IMDB
Continuing on from the previous one, Maltazard (aka Evil M) returns with a cunning plan. I’m not going to lie to you. I absolutely believe that Arthur and the Minimoys should have ended with the just the first one. Continuing it was pointless especially when it was pretty hard to finish. The second movie was so empty and boring that I fell asleep somewhere in the middle and woke up near the end and shut off the movie, to resume the next morning with a big cup of tea. The vocal changes comes from Selenia (who doesn’t show up much) with Selena Gomez and Evil M is now voiced by Lou Reed (who I don’t think I’ve heard of before).
The majority of the movie is spent trying to get back to the Minimoys kingdom to answer the distress call. So its a lot of venturing around, finding Betameche and then seeing characters from the last movie that helps them on the way. I have nothing much to say about this one except that whole Evil M suddenly having a revelation that being little didn’t make sense and to take over the human world being his main goal was a little too much for my taste.
The animation is fine, the vocals were fine but the plot of The Revenge of Maltazard wasn’t really eventful or fun. It felt a lot like the first movie replicating into the second. You wouldn’t miss much if you had stopped with the first one in my opinion.
Arthur 3: The War of theTwo Worlds (2010)
Director: Luc Besson
Cast: Freddie Highmore, Selena Gomez, Jimmy Fallon, Mia Farrow, Ron Crawford, Robert Stanton, Penny Balfour, Richard Davis
With Maltazard now 7 feet tall and Arthur still 2 inches small, our hero must find a way to grow back to his normal size ans stop the Evil M once and for all, with the help of Selenia and Betameche. – IMDB
With Maltazard now in the real world, the third movie is a blend of being in the animated Minimoys immersed in the real world with the live characters bringing Arthur’s extremely silly parents and his knowledgeable grandparents into the movie more. That is a good thing because it gives this one a little more dynamic interaction and just a little something more. Arthur, Selenia and Betameche also end up exploring Arthur’s actual life in their house as they find a way to stop the now full human size Evil M.
Although The War of the Two Worlds is a whole lot more fun and entertaining than the second one. Trust me it is. There still is a little something that makes it feel unnecessary. The second one ended with to be continued, which leads to this one, which made the second one feel even less important (more like a bridge). There were some great moments during the whole process in the house and with the parents and M and whatnot. The whole exploration reverse mode of the tiny Arthur trying to grow up again, focusing more on the inappropriate timing of the relationship between Arthur and Selenia. It just felt like a ton of loose ends forcing to be tied up. Plus, the ending was just stretching it quite a bit.
I’m not saying I didn’t have fun with this one. I’m usually not too hard on animations but while this one was more fun, you actually have to get through the very boring second one to watch this one, making this not so necessary. It entertaining and there’s a lot more adventurous moments here. I leave it up to you whether you want to battle this through. I hold true that if you have 8-10 year olds, they might enjoy it.
Overall…
Arthur and the Minimoys was great decent fun. The whole trilogy bit was a bit much though. The second and third was not exactly necessary. It kind of tried to give an extra mission for Maltazard and to cash some extra dollars. The second wasn’t any fun but the third had some adventurous moments. The premise itself is creative and imaginative with the characters and the details. The vocals were pretty great. The plot was the main thing that made or killed the whole movie experience in each of these. By the end of the last one, I just didn’t really feel much for it. It killed the charm that I liked in the first one. The more I think about it, the more I really wish I could undo those last two….haha!
Have you seen Arthur and the Minimoys? How about the whole trilogy? What did you think about it?
Tranquil Dreams 