Arthur and the Invisibles

Arthur and the Invisibles or Arthur and the Minimoys (French: Arthur et les Minimoys) is a 2006 English-language French fantasy animated/live-action film directed and co-written by French filmmaker Luc Besson. It is based on the first two books of the Arthur children's books series, Arthur and the Minimoys and Arthur and the Forbidden City, by Besson.

Arthur and the Invisibles
Arthur and the Minimoys
American theatrical release poster
FrenchArthur et les Minimoys
Directed byLuc Besson
Written by
  • Luc Besson
  • Céline Garcia
Story byLuc Besson
Based onArthur and the Minimoys and Arthur and the Forbidden City
by Luc Besson
Produced by
  • Luc Besson
  • Emmanuel Prévost
  • Harvey Weinstein (English version)
Starring
CinematographyThierry Arbogast
Edited by
  • Karim Benhammouda
  • Yann Hervé
  • Vincent Tabaillon
Music byÉric Serra
Production
companies
  • EuropaCorp
  • Avalanche Productions
  • Apipoulaï Prod
  • Canal+
Distributed byEuropaCorp
Release date
  • 29 November 2006 (2006-11-29)
Running time
91 minutes[1]
CountryFrance
LanguageEnglish
Budget€60 million
($85 million)[2]
Box office$107.9 million[2]

Arthur and the Invisibles was released theatrically in France on 29 November 2006 by EuropaCorp, followed by wide releases in a number of countries. It was re-released in France on 4 April 2007 with nineteen minutes of bonus footage. With a budget of €60 million, it was briefly the most expensive French film production,[3] until it was surpassed by Astérix at the Olympic Games (2008).

It received positive reviews from critics in France but was received negatively in the United States, with criticism aimed at the animation and script, but praises for the voice performances and visual aspects. The film was also a box-office success in France but under-performed in the United States.[4] The film's success in France spawned a media franchise with two sequels, Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard (2009) and Arthur 3: The War of the Two Worlds (2010), and a spin-off, Arthur, malédiction (2022). It also spawned multiples video games, an animated television series and theme park attractions at Futuroscope and Europa-Park.

It received the Imagina Award in the category Prix du Long-Métrage. Its soundtrack album was released on 9 January 2007.

Plot

In 1960, protagonist 10-year-old Arthur lives with his grandmother Daisy in a quiet farm house on a dirt road, in a small rural community in Northeastern Connecticut (based on Sterling). His grandfather Archibald has recently gone missing and he sees little of his parents (who are away looking for work). Daisy entertains Arthur with stories of his grandfather's adventures in Africa, featuring the tall Bogo Matassalai and the minuscule Minimoys, of whom the latter now live in Archibald's garden, protecting a collection of rubies. Arthur becomes enamoured of a picture of Selenia, the princess of the Minimoys. When Daisy receives a two-day deadline to pay a large sum of money to a building developer named Ernest Davido, who plans to evict the two, Arthur looks for the rubies to pay off the debt and discovers various clues left by his grandfather. He is met in the garden by the Bogo Matassalai, who reduce Arthur to Minimoy size. From the Minimoys, Arthur learns that they are in danger from Maltazard, a Minimoy war hero who now rules the nearby 'Necropolis', after corruption by a weevil, by whom he has a son named Darkos.

Arthur, reflecting his legendary British namesake, draws a sacred sword from its recess and uses it to protect the Minimoys from Maltazard's soldiers; whereupon Sifrat, the ruler of the Minimoys, sends Arthur to Necropolis, with the princess Selenia and her brother Betameche. En route, they are attacked on two occasions by Maltazard's soldiers. In Necropolis, Selenia kisses Arthur, marking him as her husband and potential successor, and confronts Maltazard alone. When Maltazard learns that she has already kissed Arthur and thus can no longer give him her powers and cure his corruption, he imprisons all three, who discover a Minimoy form of Archibald. Thereafter Arthur and his grandfather escape and return to human form, with little time to spare before Maltazard's flood reaches the Minimoys. With the help of Mino, a royal advisor's long-lost son, Arthur redirects the flood to Necropolis; whereupon Maltazard abandons Necropolis and his son, and the water ejects the rubies above ground. Archibald pays Davido with one ruby; and when he tries to take them all, the Bogo Matassalai capture him and give him to the authorities (scene deleted in the U.S. edition). Arthur asks Selenia to wait for his return, and her agreement to do so while the film ends.

Cast
Live-action cast
  • Freddie Highmore as Arthur Montgomery, a newly ten-year-old boy who journeys through the invisible world of the minimoys to find the treasure his long-lost grandfather had hidden. Highmore also voiced Arthur in animation. In the French version, Arthur is voiced by actress Barbara Kelsch who also provided the motion capture performance for the character.
  • Mia Farrow as Daisy Suchot, Arthur's grandmother and Archibald's wife.
  • Ron Crawford as Archibald Suchot, Arthur's grandfather and Daisy's husband. Crawford also voices Archibald in animation. The character is voiced by actor Michel Duchaussoy in the French version.
  • Adam LeFevre as Ernest Davido, the Real Estate Agent. The character is voiced by actor José Garcia in the French version.
  • Penny Balfour as Rose Montgomery, Arthur's mother and Daisy and Archibald's daughter. The character is voiced by actress Valérie Lemercier in the French version.
  • Douglas Rand as Armand Montgomery, Arthur's Dad. The character is voiced by actor Jean-Paul Rouve in the French version.
  • Jean Betote Njamba as the chief of the Matassalai. The character is voiced by rapper Doudou Masta in the French version.
Voice cast
  • Madonna as Princess Selenia, the daughter of Emperor Sifrat. The character is voiced by singer Mylène Farmer in the French version.
  • Douglas Rand (Original version)/Jimmy Fallon (The Weinstein Company version) as Prince Simono Matradoy de Betameche, or simply Betameche "Beta", Selenia's younger brother. The character is voiced by radio host Cartman in the French version.
  • Robert De Niro as Emperor Sifrat XVI, Betameche and Selenia's father.
  • Snoop Dogg as Max, the leader of the Koolamassai, a race of beings similar to the Minimoys. The character is voiced by rapper Rohff in the French version.
  • Allen Hoist (Original version)/Anthony Anderson (The Weinstein Company version) as DJ Easy Low, a Koolamassai. The character is voiced by DJ Cut Killer in the French version.
  • Christian Erickson (Original version)/Jason Bateman (The Weinstein Company version) as Prince Darkos, Maltazard's vicious but dim-witted son. The character is voiced by actor Marc Lavoine in the French version.
  • David Bowie as Emperor Maltazard (also known as the Evil M, Maltazard the Evil, or Malthazar the Cursed). The character is voiced by singer Alain Bashung in the French version.
  • Douglas Rand (Original version)/Harvey Keitel (The Weinstein Company version) as Miro, the royal advisor.
  • Barbara Weber Scaff (Original version)/Erik Per Sullivan (The Weinstein Company version) as Mino, Miro's long lost son.
  • Tonio Descanvelle (Original version)/Emilio Estevez (The Weinstein Company version) as the Ferryman. The character is voiced by singer Dick Rivers in the French version.
  • Chazz Palminteri as the Travel Agent
  • Rob Corddry and Nate Corddry (The Weinstein Company version) as Seldes
  • Erik Per Sullivan (The Weinsten Company version) as the baby bug
  • David Suchet (The Weinstein Company version) as the narrator

Production

The animation was produced by the French company BUF Compagnie, which hired approximately 100 animators, most of them from French animation schools and without any previous experience. Besson wanted a photorealistic environment, and BUF initially used microlenses to film physical environments, but eventually instead used photogrammetry, where a digitized photograph of a real object is manipulated with a computer. Sets were built to 1:3 scale, which allowed the animators to use natural elements, such as plants and grass. While the film did not use motion capture, real actors were used as reference, and recorded with 13 to 14 video cameras, but without the markers used in motion capture. Besson directed their performances. In terms of lip sync with actors' dialog, the French animators could not cope with the English phonemes. For Madonna and David Bowie, a camera was used to record their lips to help the animators. The animation was done with proprietary software.[5]

Reception

Box office

The film was budgeted at $86 million.[2] In its first two weeks in cinemas in France Arthur earned over US$20 million.[2]

Critical response

Arthur and the Invisibles received negative reviews from film critics. In the United States, the film's Los Angeles run received an approval rating of 22% at Rotten Tomatoes based on reviews from 92 critics, with an average rating of 4.4/10. The site's census reads, "Arthur wastes its big-name voice talent on a predictable script and substandard CG animation."[6] On Metacritic the film has a score of 39 out of 100 based on reviews from 22 critics.[7]

Los Angeles Times reviewer Alex Chun wrote, "Director Luc Besson admits he knew nothing about animation before he started this project, and it shows".[8] Variety's Robert Koehler called it "alienating and dislikable" and specifically noted that, "Having African-American thesps Snoop Dogg and Anthony Anderson voice creatures that are basically humanoid monkeys shows poor taste."[9]

Many found it derivative of sources ranging from King Arthur's sword-in-the-stone to the films The Dark Crystal and The Ant Bully, "It all simply looks as if [conceptual artist Patrice] Garcia and Besson couldn't decide on any one thing to copy," said Frank Lovece of Film Journal International, "so they copied them all."[10] Lovece also noted that, "the whole thing gets seriously creepy when [the animated versions of] the grown-up, pinup-beauty princess and the 10-year-old boy fall for each other. Mary Kay Letourneau comes uncomfortably to mind." Common Sense Media disliked the film, giving it 2 stars out of 5 and saying, "Uneven animation-live action combo may bore kids."[11] Josh Tyler of Cinema Blend greatly disliked the film, giving it 1.5 stars out of 5 and saying, "Sure it has sometimes loved French director Luc Besson's name on it, but the character designs look like they were stolen from those wispy haired troll dolls that were popular for about five minutes fifteen years ago, and the plot sounded like it was written by a ten-year-old kid underneath a heavy bedspread with a big chief tablet and a pencil the size of a horse's leg."[12] Besson, in a May 2007 interview, blamed American distributor The Weinstein Company for the film's failure in the U.S., saying "Why the critics didn't like Arthur was because [Weinstein] changed so much of the film and tried to pretend the film was American. [...] America and the UK were the only countries where the films were changed. The rest of the world has the same film as France."[13]

Awards

On 1 February 2007, the film received the Imagina Award in the category Prix du Long-Métrage.[14] On 1 October 2007, Mylène Farmer was awarded the NRJ Ciné Award for her dubbing of Sélénia's voice in Arthur and the Minimoys.[15]

Differences between release versions

After a screening test in the United States, The Weinstein Company re-edited the film.[16] Approximately nine minutes were cut. Most of the edits pertained to the love story between Arthur and Selenia (due to age differences). The Scenes were:

  • Arthur's arrival at the Minimoy world in the middle of a Ceremony centering on Selenia's coming of age;
  • Arthur falling in love with Selenia at first sight;
  • Arthur removing a string from Selenia's corset to use as a climbing-rope, and Selenia taking the string back;
  • Max referring to their drinks as 'Jack Fire' instead of Genie Soda. Also, when Arthur escapes the bar during the blackout, Max smokes something that resembles a blunt.
  • Selenia kissing Arthur before confronting Maltazard, and Betameche congratulating them;
  • Selenia kissing Arthur before he returns to his own world;
  • Arthur learning of the custom that a princess must wait ten lunar months before kissing her chosen husband for the second time;
  • Davido attempting to steal the treasure from Archibald, before being captured by the Bogo Matassalai;
  • Arthur's grandmother in the antique dealership prior to them arriving at her home;
  • Max telling Selenia about his 7 wives while they are dancing;
  • Malthazar confronting Selenia about her engagement to Arthur.
  • Selenia teasing Arthur while crawling into the toy car, causing Arthur to gasp at the distracting display.

In addition to these deleted scenes, The Weinstein Company's version also adds in new narration by David Suchet replacing Ron Crawford's narration as Archibald, along with actors Jimmy Fallon, Emilio Estevez, Harvey Keitel, Rob Corddry, Nate Corddry, Erik Per Sullivan, Anthony Anderson and Jason Bateman replacing various actors from the original version. The entire storyline involving the parents and their greed for money was also deleted, reduced to a short scene and the narrator explaining that worrying over their son was all they needed to reform completely.

The British version of the film, also distributed by the Weinstein Company, similarly lacked these scenes.

The unedited film was made available for free on YouTube by Lionsgate on March 17, 2021.[17]

Technology

The Minimoys featured in the first augmented reality Nestlé Chocopic cereal box with the help of Dassault Systemes technology 3DVIA Virtools.[18]

Franchise

Sequels

Arthur and the Minimoys was followed by a 2009 sequel, Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard, based on the novel of the same name, and another sequel in 2010 titled Arthur 3: The War of the Two Worlds, based on the final book in the series. In the UK and Ireland, both sequels were combined into a single movie, Arthur and the Great Adventure, released in December 2010.

Television series reboot

An animated TV series, Arthur and the Minimoys, was produced by Studio 100, and debuted in 17 July 2018. A 20-episode web series was also being planned.[19]

Spin-off

In April 2022, a horror spin-off, titled Arthur, malédiction, was announced. Written by Besson and directed by Barthélemy Grossmann, the movie is not set in the same universe and follows a group of teenagers who are looking for the house where the original trilogy was filmed only to find that it is in reality haunted. It was release theatrically in France on 29 June 2022. However the film was poorly received by critics and fans of the franchise and is considered to be one of the worst films ever made.[20]

References
  1. "ARTHUR AND THE MINIMOYS (2006)". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  2. "Arthur and the Minimoys". Box Office Mojo.
  3. "French Director Visits China for Film Release". People's Daily. 12 January 2007.
  4. Luc Besson et ses Minimoys plombent EuropaCorp, Libération, 30 juin 2011
  5. Alain Bielik (12 January 2007). "Arthur and the Minimoys: Luc Besson's Animated World". Animation World Magazine.
  6. "Arthur and the Invisibles". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
  7. "Arthur and the Minimoys". Metacritic. Retrieved 2020-07-20.
  8. "Arthur and the Minimoys: A film with no shortage of well-known talent makes an awkward transition from live action to animation". Los Angeles Times. 29 December 2006.
  9. Robert Koehler (21 December 2006). "Arthur and the Minimoys review". Variety.
  10. Frank Lovece (29 December 2006). "Arthur and the Minimoys review". Film Journal International.
  11. "Arthur and the Minimoys". Common Sense Media.
  12. "MOVIE REVIEW: Arthur and the Minimoys". Cinema Blend.
  13. Daniel Robert Epstein (18 May 2007). "Luc Besson and Rie Rasmussen". SuicideGirls. Archived from the original on 21 May 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-27.
  14. DeMott, Rick (7 February 2007). "Gorillaz, X-Men, Over the Hedge, Arthur Take Imagina Awards". Animation World Network. Retrieved 2009-11-08.
  15. "Nrj Ciné Awards 2007".
  16. "Off to the Garden To Save Grandma's House".
  17. Arthur and the Minimoys, retrieved 2021-03-21
  18. "3DS Minimoys". Archived from the original on 2009-11-28. Retrieved 2011-09-26.
  19. Foster, Elizabeth (2016-11-25). "Studio 100 bets big on Arthur and the Minimoys". Kidscreen. Retrieved 2016-11-26.
  20. Henni, Jamal (April 24, 2022). "Luc Besson revient avec un film à petit budget, "Arthur malédiction"". Capital. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
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