HTF REVIEW: ARTHUR AND THE INVISIBLES

Luc Besson isn’t known as a subtle director whether he’s making science fiction (The Fifth Element) or historical drama (The Messenger). And now he’s bought his bombast to the field of computer animation in the fitfully entertaining fantasy Arthur and the Invisibles. While the film has some intermittent charm and a lovely lead performance from the entertaining child actor Freddie Highmore (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), the animation story is needlessly complicated and contains its own mythology that I found resistible. Some terrific voice casting helps keep things lively through part of the underground adventures, but it’s safe to say that the geniuses at Pixar aren’t losing any sleep over this effort.

Arthur (Highmore) and his grandmother (Mia Farrow) face a cruel eviction from the family home if they can’t pay off a lien on their property that’s coming due three days after Arthur’s birthday. Knowing that his long lost grandfather had a collection of rubies buried somewhere on the property, Arthur uses some instructions left by his grandfather to hunt for the buried treasure using a civilization of tiny creatures that live below the surface of the earth. These are the Invisibles, and once Arthur shrinks himself to join them (a very confusing sequence involving some warrior Indians), he’s off on a mad set of adventures that hopefully will lead him to those much needed rubies.

In the computer animation world of the Invisibles (which will remind you, quite frankly, of last year’s The Ant Bully with its animation and Alice in Wonderland with its story structure), there are the inevitable warring factions. The good guys are led by the King (Robert De Niro) and his two children, Princess Selenia (Madonna) and her pesky younger brother (Jimmy Fallon). In their quest for the rubies, they run into the good, the bad, and the ugly voiced by the likes of Snoop Dogg, Anthony Anderson, Chazz Palminteri, Emilio Estevez, Harvey Keitel, Jason Bateman, and chief villain Maltazard (David Bowie). Any guesses on who ends up victorious? I didn’t think so.

Mia Farrow makes a valiant effort, but she’s dreadfully miscast as the grandmother. The movie takes the easy way out by referencing familiar music for humor like the Bee Gee’s “Stayin’ Alive” and Ricky Nelson’s “Lonesome Town” though pop star Jewel has contributed an okay ballad to the film, “Quest for Love.” Overall, despite a few good jokes and a good heart, the film seems too derivative for adults and overlong for what it has to offer. The children in the family may find the central animated section of the film fast moving enough to hold their attention, but in the end, this isn’t a film that will take its place among the great computer animated films of the last ten years. It was no accident that despite a concerted effort to get the film screened in theaters to get Academy Award attention, the film didn’t garner even a nomination for the Best Animated Feature award.



The film’s 2.35:1 aspect ratio is presented in anamorphic video. The initial live action section of the film has a slight yellow sheen to it despite the fact that the colors are comic book level saturated and vibrant. When the action returns to live action late in the film, the yellow tint is gone. The computer animated segments are superb in their color, depth, and a complete lack of artifacts. The film has been divided into 12 chapters.



The Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track is loud and quite active, especially in the animated adventures below the surface. In fact, there are times when the center channel’s dialog is somewhat drowned out by the overactive sound fields in all of the other channels. A better balance would have been beneficial for the film.



The disc presents a seven minute featurette on some of the voice talents who appear in the animated sections of the film. Though it’s fun watching them work (individually) and hearing them talk about their experiences with the movie, it’s telling that the big names in the voice cast (De Niro, Madonna) don’t appear in this featurette.

Two music videos of songs used in the film are offered as bonus features. Jewel’s “Quest for Love” and Elijah’s rap song “Beautiful Day” are given the standard music video treatment using a mix of studio sessions and clips from the film.

Jewel is also on hand for a two minute feature explaining how she came to write her song for the movie.

The bonus features conclude with two trailers for the film presented in non-anamorphic video. The shorter of the two is a trailer created by a child for a Nickelodeon-sponsored contest. The other is the 2½ minute theatrical trailer.



Director Luc Besson has said that this is the last film that he will direct in his career. What a shame that he may go out with this mediocre film as his last claim to fame. He deserves a much better send-off.


Matt Hough
Charlotte, NC

Re: HTF REVIEW: ARTHUR AND THE INVISIBLES

I was mildly interested in this as a rental; less so now.


Arthur and the Invisibles did not get a Best Animated Feature nomination because of quantity not quality -- the movie was eliminated from the list of eligible films because it fell below the Academy's minimum requirement of at least 75% animated content.

Relevant links:

http://www.cinematical.com/2007/01/0...-out-the-door/

http://www.aceshowbiz.com/news/view/00006664.html

Besson can't make up his mind about retirement; he announced two sequels to Arthur and then announced he would direct the second one and that would be his last directorial effort (unless he changes his mind again).

Relevant link:

http://www.cinematical.com/2007/03/2...r-arthur-sequ/

Re: HTF REVIEW: ARTHUR AND THE INVISIBLES

Thanks for the information.

Re: HTF REVIEW: ARTHUR AND THE INVISIBLES

Enter to win a copy of this on dvd in our latest contest:
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/...d.php?t=256817