Arthur and the Invisibles
Rated PG for fantasy action and brief suggestive material.
reviewed by Christopher Lyon
Some movies feel like a collection of interesting ideas that never quite come together. “Arthur & the Invisibles” has a lot going on. A mix of live action and digital animation. A plot about saving the family farm mashed up with a fantasy mythology about saving a whole race of tiny creatures. A Camelot-style sword in a rock. A kind of love story between characters voiced by Madonna and a 10-year-old boy. African tribesmen. In the end, the parts just never quite build into anything more than parts.
The Story
Arthur’s (Freddie Highmore) hero is his missing grandfather Archibald, an inventor of sorts who traveled and worked for years in the heart of Africa. Arthur lives with his Granny (Mia Farrow) on the family farm in Connecticut while his parents try to make a living in the city. On Arthur’s tenth birthday, a businessman shows up and announces he bought their mortgage from the bank and plans to evict them in 48 hours unless Grandpa Archibald appears to sign some papers and pay off the loan.
When Granny tells Arthur that Archibald buried a fortune in rubies -- a gift from grateful African tribesmen – somewhere in their field, Arthur sets to work with newly uncovered instructions from his grandpa to discover the hidden world of the Minimoys. These tiny creatures, brought from Africa by Archibald, live underground. With the help of said African tribesmen, the full moon, and a magic telescope, Arthur gets shrunk down (and animated!) with a mission to find his granddad, the rubies, and save the farm.
But wait! There’s more! Arthur must also save the animated Minimoys from the evil Maltazard (voiced by David Bowie), a warped former Minimoy who kissed a beetle or something and is now bent on wiping out all the other Minimoys . . . for some reason. Anyway, when Arthur is able to remove a sword from a stone and save the tribe from an attack by Maltazard’s soldiers, he is befriended by the king (voice: Robert De Niro) and sent on a mission to find the rubies with his crush the Princess Selenia (voice: Madonna) and her gadget-crazy younger brother (voice: Jimmy Fallon). And if you’re still reading this, you have way more patience than I do.
The Verdict
Even if “Arthur & the Invisibles” was flawlessly executed, it would have an uphill battle. Call it animation fatigue. Call it mythological worlds fatigue. Call it celebrity voices fatigue. Call it building-stories-out-of-parts-of-dozens-of-other-better-stories fatigue. Great animation and sound cannot save this thing from feeling like a retread almost before it starts. My guess is we’ve all seen plenty of this kind of thing in the last few years.
Also, is this supposed to be a kids’ movie? You know how the tykes love the voices of De Niro, Harvey Keitel, Chazz Palminterri, David Bowie, and Madonna. Add in a scene with the voice of Snoop Dogg as a kind of Rastafarian dance club owner character who gets Arthur, the Princess, and the little sidekick buzzed on some kind of fizzy green drink, and you’ve really got to wonder who director Luc Besson was aiming to entertain here. Most parents I know aren’t looking to give the kiddo’s DVDs with unsubtle drug references in them.
On the up side, the unnaturally mature child actor Freddie Highmore always brings his “A” game. It’s impossible not to like this kid (or his voice) or to root for him to save the day. And the animation is fluid, colorful, and nicely rendered. It just feels way too familiar (think “The Ant Bully,” “Toy Story,” “A Bug’s Life,” etc.).
Though rated PG, “Arthur” includes several uses of God’s name for swearing, the above drug reference, and a ten year old expressing romantic feelings for a 1,000 year old princess voiced by Madonna. (Is that a little icky, or is it just me?)
Worldview
Besson, also the writer, includes a whole collection of spiritual references in the film. When trying out a new invention, Freddie declares he’s doing so “by the grace of God.” Later, his grandfather suggests they pray for a miracle to get out of a jam. Said miracle appears; really, it’s more of a coincidence. Granny teaches Freddie about the New Agey Chinese concept of Yin and Yang, in which spiritual balance is achieved through equal and opposing “forces.” The tribal Minimoys worship “gods” and “spirits” and seem to be able to give and take supernatural power from each other (sometimes through kissing?). Of course, the whole adventure gets kicked off with some African magic involving the full moon.
This cafeteria approach to spirituality is bound to confuse kids forming ideas about God and religion (and those of us trying to understand the plot). I’m sure it’s meant to be very tolerant and accepting of all faiths. Of course, Bible believers are convinced that supernatural power comes either from God or from Satan’s camp. Any story that lumps God’s power with the worship of gods (idols?) and dark tribal magic clumsily leads some viewers away from truth and into dangerous spiritual deception. The only power worth accessing is the power God freely gives to those who trust in Him through Jesus. All other “power” can only be destructive in end.
Questions
• Were you looking forward to “Arthur”? Had you read any of the Besson’s books? How did the film live up to your expectations?
• Did you like the animation itself? If so, why or why not?
• Do you think it’s a problem when movies casually reference God’s power and other forms of magic in the same story as if they were interchangeable? Why or why not?
• Do you think it’s weird that a ten year old boy would have a crush on a half-inch high tight-leather-wearing mythical creature he can only visit every ten months voiced by a 40-something pop star famous for taking her clothes off and appearing on a cross in her live stage shows? Or, you know, not?