Our attitude toward them is casual interest, not anxious concern. None of the characters is compelling, despite the star-studded vocal cast behind them, including Madonna, Robert De Niro, Snoop Dogg and Jimmy Fallon. And it's fun to vicariously visit a world in which nutshells become enormous boats and dragonfly eggs are as large as grapefruits.īut this children's epic is slowed considerably by a convoluted, multitiered plot line in which we bounce between the human world and the Minimoy one. David Bowie is deliciously, well, Bowiesque, as the voice of the arrogant, insectlike leader, Maltazard. He's so energized, he practically pulls the movie along with him. Highmore, the extraordinary talent who lighted up Finding Neverland and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, is this movie's most exciting element. He also needs to save his grandpa, a world adventurer last seen among the Minimoys. Arthur, now represented as a CGI creation, must retrieve precious stones that will keep the loan wolves away from his grandparents' farm. In the movie, based on the children's book Arthur and the Minimoys, the precocious and wildly imaginative Arthur (Freddie Highmore) minimizes himself - it takes a full moon, a telescope and other mumbo jumbo - to join the world of the almost microscopic Minimoys. ) has devoted more attention to technology and his visual schemes than to making a propulsive story and cultivating his characters. That's because the French director (who also made But Luc Besson's film isn't quite so easy to love. What should be a breezy thrill-ride turns into a frenzied rush to cram it all in, causing a number of the films seminal moments to become anti-climatic.īottom line: Better off invisible.Is easy to lightly enjoy - especially for its intermixing of live action and computer-generated imagery. There is simply too much exposition and backstory to effectively accommodate the running time. This goes doubly so for Highmore, who does awesome turns in both live action and cartoon form. Better yet, the winning characters responsible for voicing these gems are piped by celebrities who-although overly marketable (Madonna, Snoop Dogg, David Bowie)-perfectly fade into the beautifully-animated elfin landscape. Though not wholly original (think The Secret of Nimh meets TVs The Littles), Bessons Minimoy world is buoyed by the writer/directors laudable infusion of his signature smart-alecky humor. Fantastically inventive, Arthur and the Invisibles certainly demonstrates a richness of these impressive trappings, meaning it has the potential to delight even the brattiest of children but it ultimately proves to be an over-abundance of riches, a wealth that could potentially make the audience a bit bratty.īased on Bessons childrens book ∺rthur et les Minimoys, this PG-rated story follows a ten year boy (Highmore) who, in an effort to secure a treasure that will save his grandmothers (Marrow) house from being demolished, ventures to a world where the inhabitants are a tenth of an inch high. Served well by his inspired lunacy in crafting the deliciously intoxicating sci-fi/fantasy guilty pleasure The Fifth Element, director Luc Besson has smartly honed his obvious gift for designing trippy alien landscapes and their unique backstories on a family franchise. From visionary director, Luc Besson, comes this spectacular family adventure mix of live-action and state-of-the-art CG animation with an all-star voice cast that includes Freddie Highmore, Robert De Niro, Madonna, Snoop Dogg and David Bowie.
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