Arthur and the Invisibles
Encyclopedia
Arthur and the Invisibles (Arthur and the Minimoys in non-English
-speaking territories — Arthur et les Minimoys in French-speaking countries) is a French/American part-animated, part-live action
feature film
adaptation of the 2002 children's book Arthur et les minimoys / Arthur and the Minimoys, and the 2003 sequel Arthur et la cité interdite / Arthur and the Forbidden City, written by filmmaker Luc Besson
, who also directed the film. It premiered in limited release
in France
on November 29, 2006, and received wide releases in a number of countries in the following weeks. In the United States
, it opened on December 29, 2006, for one week in Los Angeles, California
, with a wider release on January 12, 2007 and it was released in the United Kingdom
on February 2, 2007. The film was MGM
's first theatrically released animated film since 1996's All Dogs Go to Heaven 2
. MGM's rights were dissolved when the movie hit theaters in December 29, 2006.
With a budget of €
65,000,000, Arthur and the Invisibles was briefly the most expensive French film production until surpassed by Astérix at the Olympic Games
.
. One of these stories is about the friendship of the tall, Maasai-like tribe called the Bogo Matassalai with the Minimoys – tooth-sized, elf
in beings they believe to be their counterparts. After Archibald had helped the Bogo Matassalai, says the story, they and the Minimoys had given him a large amount of rubies in a show of thanks for helping them. After returning home, Archibald brought the Minimoys with him and lent them his garden as their home. According to the story, he gave the Minimoys the rubies to look after them until he needed them. Arthur has become enamoured of a picture of Selenia, the princess of the Minimoys.
It's shown that Arthur's grandmother has been given a two-day deadline to pay a large sum of money to a building developer named Davido, who has bought her mortgage from the bank and plans to evict the two. Arthur therefore decides to find the rubies in order to pay off the debt. After stumbling across various clues written by his grandfather, Arthur finds the key to the Minimoys' world. He accidentally puts his grandmother into a deep sleep by dropping sleeping drops into her water and as she begins to snore, he continues. He is met in the garden by the Bogo Matassala, who show Arthur how to get into the Minimoys' world by shrinking down to their size and becoming a Minimoy himself. The Transformation alters his body giving him a big head with pointy ears, longer legs and arms, and spiky white hair. This is done by means of a telescope
and the power of a shining full moon
. When Arthur is underground with the Minimoys, he learns of a danger to the little people's future, posed by the plans of Maltazard, the leader of an army
of mosquito
-riding rebels named 'Seides' living in nearby "Necropolis", who plan to conquer the Minimoys by flooding their city. Maltazard is said to have been a Minimoy war hero corrupted by a seductive weevil
, by whom he has a son called Darkos. After his corruption, Malthazar became a warlord
known as the "Evil M", keeping Archibald as his prisoner and the rubies as his throne
.
Arthur, reflecting his legendary British namesake, draws a sacred sword
from its recess, which he then uses to protect his new friends from Malthazar's soldiers. The king gives permission for Arthur to travel to Necropolis, sending with him the princess Selenia and her younger brother. Armed with Arthur's new sword – the use of which they share – the trio embark. En route to Necropolis they are put in danger by Maltazard's soldiers numerous times. Arthur is dismayed to discover that the irrigation
system of drinking straw
s he had made to water radishes for his grandmother is being cut apart by the soldiers, who are making plans to use them as water pipes for the coming flood
. It is revealed that a flood would be especially devastating to the Minimoys due to the fact that the species cannot swim. During their travel Selenia reveals that at her age of 1000 (counted in the blossoming seasons of the royal flower, which corresponds to Arthur's), she must find a husband within two days. Over the course of the journey, Arthur comes to fall in love with Selenia, a fact she sees and uses to her advantage.
Eventually, the questors arrive in Necropolis, where the stubbornly independent Selenia takes the sword and leaves the others. Before doing so, she kisses Arthur, marking him as her husband and the future king. Selenia then confronts Maltazard alone. Maltazard wishes the first kiss of the princess to restore his original beauty; after learning she has already kissed Arthur and she can no longer give him her powers, he decides to kill her. She is captured and incarcerated in a cell where she finds her companions, who have also been seized.
In the back of the cell, they find Arthur's grandfather, who like Arthur has become a Minimoy altering his body the same way as Arthurs. He has been teaching his knowledge to Maltazard in exchange for food. Selenia feels defeated, but Arthur comforts her.
Maltazard allows them to escape 3 minutes ahead of the flood, which they do by using a clockwork car that Arthur possessed, in his human form, until Davido kicked it down the drain.
During the adventure, Arthur's crush on Selenia has been supplemented by comradeship, as well as by her own affection for him. When Arthur learns of a Minimoy custom stating that newlyweds should not kiss for the second time until after ten moons, Selenia decides she does not wish to wait and gives Arthur a long, passionate kiss before he returns to his human form. He now has an hour wherein to save the Minimoys from the flood. Archibald returns with him to the human world, and to human form, and is reunited with Arthur's grandmother.
With the help of a royal advisor's long-lost son, Milo, Arthur is able to find the pipe on the surface that goes straight down into Necropolis, when Milo signals him by directing sunlight into the ruby and out to the surface. Arthur redirects the flood to Necropolis by dropping a tennis ball
down the pipe, which smashes the drinking straw pipes being used to direct the water and blocks the tunnel it was heading through. The Minimoys are saved from the flood; Necropolis is flooded instead. Maltazard abandons the plan, his army, and his son, and flees. The force of the water ejects the rubies and Miro.
Arthur and Archibald pay Davido with one ruby; he tries to take all, but the Bogo Matassalai capture him and give him to the authorities (scene deleted in the U.S. edition).
The story closes with the vows spoken by Arthur in his human form to Selenia, who sits high up on a branch
in a tree
, to wait patiently until the time is right for them to be together.
The ending credits then proceed, alongside scenes of every significant character (as well as the director, Luc Besson) appearing in Minimoy form to bow. Nena was in it to.
, 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.
Arthur and the Invisibles received mixed to generally unfavourable reviews.
In the United States
, the movie's Los Angeles run garnered 21% positive reviews at the critics-aggregate site RottenTomatoes.com
. Los Angeles Times
reviewer Alex Chun wrote that, "Director Luc Besson admits he knew nothing about animation before he started this project, and it shows". Variety
s Robert Koehler called it "alienating and dislikable" and specifically noted that, "Having African-American thesp
s Snoop Dogg
and Anthony Anderson
voice creatures that are basically humanoid monkeys shows poor taste". 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
, which itself was based on a children's book written three years before Besson's. "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". 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".
Besson, in a May 2007 interview, blamed American distributor The Weinstein Company
for the film's poor critical reception 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".
Award in the category Prix du Long-Métrage.
On October 1, 2007, Mylène Farmer
was awarded the NRJ Ciné Award for her dubbing of Sélénia's voice in Arthur and the Minimoys.
The entire storyline involving the parents and their greed for money was also deleted, cut short by a small cutscene and a 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.
Nestle Chocopic cereal box with the help of Dassault Systemes
technology 3DVIA Virtools.
based on the final book in the series. The two films were edited together and released in the UK and Ireland as a single film titled Arthur and the Great Adventure.
All three sequels received mixed to poor reviews.
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
-speaking territories — Arthur et les Minimoys in French-speaking countries) is a French/American part-animated, part-live action
Live action
In filmmaking, video production, and other media, the term live action refers to cinematography, videography not produced using animation...
feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
adaptation of the 2002 children's book Arthur et les minimoys / Arthur and the Minimoys, and the 2003 sequel Arthur et la cité interdite / Arthur and the Forbidden City, written by filmmaker Luc Besson
Luc Besson
Luc Besson is a French film director, writer, and producer. He is the creator of EuropaCorp film company. He has been involved with over 50 films, spanning 26 years, as writer, director, and/or producer.-Early life:...
, who also directed the film. It premiered in limited release
Limited release
Limited release is a term in the American motion picture industry for a motion picture that is playing in a select few theaters across the country ....
in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
on November 29, 2006, and received wide releases in a number of countries in the following weeks. In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, it opened on December 29, 2006, for one week in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, with a wider release on January 12, 2007 and it was released in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
on February 2, 2007. The film was MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
's first theatrically released animated film since 1996's All Dogs Go to Heaven 2
All Dogs Go to Heaven 2
All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 is a 1996 American animated family film, and a sequel to United Artists' 1989 animated film All Dogs Go to Heaven. It is directed by Larry Leker and Paul Sabella...
. MGM's rights were dissolved when the movie hit theaters in December 29, 2006.
With a budget of €
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
65,000,000, Arthur and the Invisibles was briefly the most expensive French film production until surpassed by Astérix at the Olympic Games
Astérix at the Olympic Games (film)
Asterix at the Olympic Games is a French film, adapted from René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo's Astérix comic series. It was filmed essentially in Spain in the course of the year 2006. Its €78 million budget makes it one of the most expensive European movies ever...
.
Plot
In 1960, 10-year-old protagonist Arthur is living with his grandmother in a quiet country house. His grandfather Archibald has recently gone missing and he sees little of his parents. His grandmother entertains him by reading stories to him of his grandfather's adventures in AfricaAfrica
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
. One of these stories is about the friendship of the tall, Maasai-like tribe called the Bogo Matassalai with the Minimoys – tooth-sized, elf
Elf
An elf is a being of Germanic mythology. The elves were originally thought of as a race of divine beings endowed with magical powers, which they use both for the benefit and the injury of mankind...
in beings they believe to be their counterparts. After Archibald had helped the Bogo Matassalai, says the story, they and the Minimoys had given him a large amount of rubies in a show of thanks for helping them. After returning home, Archibald brought the Minimoys with him and lent them his garden as their home. According to the story, he gave the Minimoys the rubies to look after them until he needed them. Arthur has become enamoured of a picture of Selenia, the princess of the Minimoys.
It's shown that Arthur's grandmother has been given a two-day deadline to pay a large sum of money to a building developer named Davido, who has bought her mortgage from the bank and plans to evict the two. Arthur therefore decides to find the rubies in order to pay off the debt. After stumbling across various clues written by his grandfather, Arthur finds the key to the Minimoys' world. He accidentally puts his grandmother into a deep sleep by dropping sleeping drops into her water and as she begins to snore, he continues. He is met in the garden by the Bogo Matassala, who show Arthur how to get into the Minimoys' world by shrinking down to their size and becoming a Minimoy himself. The Transformation alters his body giving him a big head with pointy ears, longer legs and arms, and spiky white hair. This is done by means of a telescope
Telescope
A telescope is an instrument that aids in the observation of remote objects by collecting electromagnetic radiation . The first known practical telescopes were invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 1600s , using glass lenses...
and the power of a shining full moon
Full moon
Full moon lunar phase that occurs when the Moon is on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun. More precisely, a full moon occurs when the geocentric apparent longitudes of the Sun and Moon differ by 180 degrees; the Moon is then in opposition with the Sun.Lunar eclipses can only occur at...
. When Arthur is underground with the Minimoys, he learns of a danger to the little people's future, posed by the plans of Maltazard, the leader of an army
Army
An army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
of mosquito
Mosquito
Mosquitoes are members of a family of nematocerid flies: the Culicidae . The word Mosquito is from the Spanish and Portuguese for little fly...
-riding rebels named 'Seides' living in nearby "Necropolis", who plan to conquer the Minimoys by flooding their city. Maltazard is said to have been a Minimoy war hero corrupted by a seductive weevil
Weevil
A weevil is any beetle from the Curculionoidea superfamily. They are usually small, less than , and herbivorous. There are over 60,000 species in several families, mostly in the family Curculionidae...
, by whom he has a son called Darkos. After his corruption, Malthazar became a warlord
Warlord
A warlord is a person with power who has both military and civil control over a subnational area due to armed forces loyal to the warlord and not to a central authority. The term can also mean one who espouses the ideal that war is necessary, and has the means and authority to engage in war...
known as the "Evil M", keeping Archibald as his prisoner and the rubies as his throne
Throne
A throne is the official chair or seat upon which a monarch is seated on state or ceremonial occasions. "Throne" in an abstract sense can also refer to the monarchy or the Crown itself, an instance of metonymy, and is also used in many expressions such as "the power behind the...
.
Arthur, reflecting his legendary British namesake, draws a sacred sword
Sword
A sword is a bladed weapon used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration...
from its recess, which he then uses to protect his new friends from Malthazar's soldiers. The king gives permission for Arthur to travel to Necropolis, sending with him the princess Selenia and her younger brother. Armed with Arthur's new sword – the use of which they share – the trio embark. En route to Necropolis they are put in danger by Maltazard's soldiers numerous times. Arthur is dismayed to discover that the irrigation
Irrigation
Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...
system of drinking straw
Drinking straw
A drinking straw is a short tube intended for transferring a beverage from its container to the mouth of the drinker by use of suction. A thin tube of plastic or other material, straight or with an accordion-like living hinge, it is employed by being held with one end in the mouth and another end...
s he had made to water radishes for his grandmother is being cut apart by the soldiers, who are making plans to use them as water pipes for the coming flood
Flood
A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. The EU Floods directive defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water...
. It is revealed that a flood would be especially devastating to the Minimoys due to the fact that the species cannot swim. During their travel Selenia reveals that at her age of 1000 (counted in the blossoming seasons of the royal flower, which corresponds to Arthur's), she must find a husband within two days. Over the course of the journey, Arthur comes to fall in love with Selenia, a fact she sees and uses to her advantage.
Eventually, the questors arrive in Necropolis, where the stubbornly independent Selenia takes the sword and leaves the others. Before doing so, she kisses Arthur, marking him as her husband and the future king. Selenia then confronts Maltazard alone. Maltazard wishes the first kiss of the princess to restore his original beauty; after learning she has already kissed Arthur and she can no longer give him her powers, he decides to kill her. She is captured and incarcerated in a cell where she finds her companions, who have also been seized.
In the back of the cell, they find Arthur's grandfather, who like Arthur has become a Minimoy altering his body the same way as Arthurs. He has been teaching his knowledge to Maltazard in exchange for food. Selenia feels defeated, but Arthur comforts her.
Maltazard allows them to escape 3 minutes ahead of the flood, which they do by using a clockwork car that Arthur possessed, in his human form, until Davido kicked it down the drain.
During the adventure, Arthur's crush on Selenia has been supplemented by comradeship, as well as by her own affection for him. When Arthur learns of a Minimoy custom stating that newlyweds should not kiss for the second time until after ten moons, Selenia decides she does not wish to wait and gives Arthur a long, passionate kiss before he returns to his human form. He now has an hour wherein to save the Minimoys from the flood. Archibald returns with him to the human world, and to human form, and is reunited with Arthur's grandmother.
With the help of a royal advisor's long-lost son, Milo, Arthur is able to find the pipe on the surface that goes straight down into Necropolis, when Milo signals him by directing sunlight into the ruby and out to the surface. Arthur redirects the flood to Necropolis by dropping a tennis ball
Tennis ball
A tennis ball is a ball designed for the sport of tennis,approximately 6.7 cm in diameter. Tennis balls are generally bright green, but in recreational play can be virtually any color. Tennis balls are covered in a fibrous fluffy felt which modifies their aerodynamic properties...
down the pipe, which smashes the drinking straw pipes being used to direct the water and blocks the tunnel it was heading through. The Minimoys are saved from the flood; Necropolis is flooded instead. Maltazard abandons the plan, his army, and his son, and flees. The force of the water ejects the rubies and Miro.
Arthur and Archibald pay Davido with one ruby; he tries to take all, but the Bogo Matassalai capture him and give him to the authorities (scene deleted in the U.S. edition).
The story closes with the vows spoken by Arthur in his human form to Selenia, who sits high up on a branch
Branch
A branch or tree branch is a woody structural member connected to but not part of the central trunk of a tree...
in a tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
, to wait patiently until the time is right for them to be together.
The ending credits then proceed, alongside scenes of every significant character (as well as the director, Luc Besson) appearing in Minimoy form to bow. Nena was in it to.
Cast
- Freddie HighmoreFreddie HighmoreAlfred Thomas "Freddie" Highmore is an English actor. He is best known for his roles in the films Finding Neverland, Five Children and It, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Arthur and the Invisibles, August Rush, The Golden Compass, The Spiderwick Chronicles, and Toast.-Early life:Highmore was...
as Arthur, a ten-year-old boy who lives with his grandmother because his parents have little time to spend with him; a fact Arthur resents. - MadonnaMadonna (entertainer)Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
as Princess Selenia, the thousand-year-old daughter of the King of the Minimoys. Despite appearing haughty and arrogant, she is an honorable and caring individual who is determined to protect her people from the evil of Maltazard. The character was dubbed by French singer Mylène FarmerMylène FarmerMylène Farmer, , born Marie-Hélène Jeanne Gautier, , , is a French singer, songwriter, occasional actress and author....
in the French version "Arthur et les Minimoys", German singer NenaNenaGabriele Susanne Kerner , better known by her stage name Nena, is a German singer and actress. She rose to international fame in 1983 with the New German Wave song "99 Luftballons". In 1984, she re-recorded this song in English as "99 Red Balloons". Nena was also the name of the band with whom she...
in the German Version "Arthur und die Minimoys" and Finnish Pop singer Paula VesalaPaula VesalaPaula Julia Vesala is a Finnish singer and the other singger in the pop rock duo PMMP, along with Mira Luoti...
from PMMPPMMPPMMP is a Finnish band fronted by singers Paula Vesala and Mira Luoti and backed by musicians Mikko Virta, Juho Vehmanen and Heikki Kytölä. The name of the band is often said to be an abbreviation of the sentence "Paulan ja Miran Molemmat Puolet", which can be translated in English as "Both Sides...
in the Finnish version. - Jimmy FallonJimmy FallonJames Thomas "Jimmy" Fallon, Jr. is an American actor, comedian, singer, musician and television host. He currently hosts Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, a late-night talk show that airs Monday through Friday on NBC...
as Prince Betameche, Selenia's 300 year old younger brother. He is a mischievous youth who enjoys teasing his egotistical elder sister. - David BowieDavid BowieDavid Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
as Emperor Maltazard (also known as The Evil M, Maltazard the Evil or Malthazar the Cursed), the corrupt (and somewhat sardonic) emperor of the Forbidden City of Necropolis. Malthazar was once a noble warrior, but because of his pride and lust for power, he turned to the path of evil and betrayed his own people. Although the film refers to him as Malthazar, his name in the book was Malthazard and some film versions refer to him as Maltazard. For the Japanese release, he is voiced by GacktGacktis a Japanese singer-songwriter, actor, voice actor and author. Usually referred to by his mononymous stage name, he is known for his career as a solo artist and as the former vocalist for the defunct visual kei rock band Malice Mizer....
who is also a singer and actor. - Mia FarrowMia FarrowMia Farrow is an American actress, singer, humanitarian, and fashion model.Farrow first gained wide acclaim for her role as Allison Mackenzie in the soap opera Peyton Place, and for her subsequent short-lived marriage to Frank Sinatra...
as Grandma, Arthur's long-suffering grandmother. She possesses a dry sense of wit and is very protective of Arthur. - Ron CrawfordRon Crawford- Film :*Stingray Sam *Our Feature Presentation as Alexander Weever.*Joulutarina as Gideon.*Arthur and the Minimoys as Archibald.*Home of Angels as Card Player.- Television :...
as Archibald: Arthur's grandfather, who disappeared a few years ago during his quest for the Treasure of the Minimoys. He is known to the Minimoys as Archibald the Benevolent. - Snoop DoggSnoop DoggCalvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr. , better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg, is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Snoop is best known as a rapper in the West Coast hip hop scene, and for being one of Dr. Dre's most notable protégés. Snoop Dogg was a Crip gang member while in high school...
as Max, the leader of the Koolamassai, a race of beings who live near the Seven Lands' Great River. He owns a popular bar and dance club. Max has kept his tribe free under Malthazar's reign of terror by because his people are the only ones who know how to properly prepare the roots of the candyfruit tree, which the insect-like Seides can't go one day without. - Adam LeFevreAdam LeFevreAdam LeFevre is an American character actor, poet and playwright who works in cinema, television, theater and commercials....
as Ernest Davido, a greedy landowner who presides over and founded the multi-national Davido CorporationCorporationA corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
, which specializes in property development. - Jason BatemanJason BatemanJason Kent Bateman is an American television and film actor. After appearing in several 1980s and 1990s sitcoms including It's Your Move, and The Hogan Family, Bateman came to prominence in the early 2000s for playing Michael Bluth on Arrested Development, for which he won a TV Land, a Golden...
as Prince Darkos, Malthazar's vicious but dim-witted son. Darkos is the only survivor of seven children whom Malthazar sired through a union with a weevil. - Robert De NiroRobert De NiroRobert De Niro, Jr. is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973...
as The King, Betameche and Selenia's father and the benevolent and kind ruler of the Minimoys. He rides atop a large, furry animal called a Gamoul so as to compensate for his diminutive size. - Penny BalfourPenny Balfour-Selected filmography:* Flawless , as Cristal* Sidewalks of New York , as Young Hooker* Drop Back Ten , as Amanda Bennett* Ash Wednesday , as Callie* Arthur and the Minimoys , Arthur's Mother...
as Rosie Suchot, Arthur's mother. - Doug Rand as Francis Arthur's Father.
- Harvey KeitelHarvey KeitelHarvey Keitel is an American actor. Some of his most notable starring roles were in Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets and Taxi Driver, Ridley Scott's The Duellists and Thelma and Louise, Ettore Scola's That Night in Varennes, Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, Jane Campion's The...
as Miro, the royal advisor. - Erik Per SullivanErik Per SullivanErik Per Sullivan is an American actor best known for his role as Dewey, the younger brother to middle child Malcolm, on the FOX series, Malcolm in the Middle which was on air for 6 years.-Personal life:...
as Mino, Miro's son - Anthony AndersonAnthony AndersonAnthony Anderson is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He has starred in his own sitcom All About the Andersons, as well as the Fox sitcom The Bernie Mac Show during the fifth and final season of the show. He is also known for his leading roles in television dramas such as K-Ville, The...
as Koolamassai - Chazz PalminteriChazz PalminteriCalogero Lorenzo "Chazz" Palminteri is an American actor and writer, best known for his performances in The Usual Suspects, A Bronx Tale, and his Academy Award nominated role for Best Supporting Actor in Bullets Over Broadway....
as Travel Agent - Emilio EstevezEmilio EstevezEmilio Estevez is an American actor, film director, and writer. He started his career as an actor and is well-known for being a member of the acting Brat Pack of the 1980s, starring in The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo's Fire...
as Ferryman
Production
The animation was done by the French company BUF CompagnieBUF Compagnie
BUF Compagnie is a French visual effects company, specializing in CGI for feature films, commercials, and music videos.-History:Based in Paris, France and Los Angeles, California, BUF Compagnie was founded by Pierre Buffin in 1984...
, 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
Photogrammetry
Photogrammetry is the practice of determining the geometric properties of objects from photographic images. Photogrammetry is as old as modern photography and can be dated to the mid-nineteenth century....
, 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
Motion capture
Motion capture, motion tracking, or mocap are terms used to describe the process of recording movement and translating that movement on to a digital model. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, and medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robotics...
, 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
Lip sync
Lip sync, lip-sync, lip-synch is a technical term for matching lip movements with sung or spoken vocals...
with actors' dialog, the French animators could not cope with the English phonemes. For Madonna and David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
, a camera was used to record their lips to help the animators. The animation was done with proprietary software.
Reception
The film was budgeted at $86,000,000. In its first two weeks in cinemas in France Arthur earned over US$20 million.Arthur and the Invisibles received mixed to generally unfavourable reviews.
In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, the movie's Los Angeles run garnered 21% positive reviews at the critics-aggregate site RottenTomatoes.com
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
. Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
reviewer Alex Chun wrote that, "Director Luc Besson admits he knew nothing about animation before he started this project, and it shows". Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
s Robert Koehler called it "alienating and dislikable" and specifically noted that, "Having African-American thesp
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
s Snoop Dogg
Snoop Dogg
Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr. , better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg, is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Snoop is best known as a rapper in the West Coast hip hop scene, and for being one of Dr. Dre's most notable protégés. Snoop Dogg was a Crip gang member while in high school...
and Anthony Anderson
Anthony Anderson
Anthony Anderson is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He has starred in his own sitcom All About the Andersons, as well as the Fox sitcom The Bernie Mac Show during the fifth and final season of the show. He is also known for his leading roles in television dramas such as K-Ville, The...
voice creatures that are basically humanoid monkeys shows poor taste". Many found it derivative of sources ranging from King Arthur
King Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
's sword-in-the-stone to the films The Dark Crystal
The Dark Crystal
The Dark Crystal is a 1982 British-American fantasy film directed by Jim Henson and Frank Oz. Although marketed as a family film, it was notably darker than previous material created by them. The animatronics used in the film were considered groundbreaking. The primary concept artist was the...
and The Ant Bully
The Ant Bully
The Ant Bully is a 1999 children's book drawn and written by John Nickle. It is about a young boy named Lucas Nickle , who is the titular character in the book and who likes to torment ants. It was later adapted into a computer-animated film of the same name by John A...
, which itself was based on a children's book written three years before Besson's. "It all simply looks as if [conceptual artist Patrice] Garcia and Besson couldn't decide on any one thing to copy", said Frank Lovece
Frank Lovece
Frank Lovece is an American journalist, author, comedy performer and comic book writer. He was additionally one of the first professional Web journalists, becoming an editor of a Silicon Alley start-up in 1996....
of Film Journal International
Film Journal International
Film Journal International is a motion-picture industry trade magazine published by the American company Prometheus Global Media. It is a sister publication of Adweek, Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, and other periodicals....
, "so they copied them all". 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
Mary Kay Letourneau
Mary Kay Fualaau , formerly known as Mary Kay Letourneau, is an American schoolteacher who was imprisoned from 1997 to 2004 for having sexual intercourse with her 13-year-old student, Vili Fualaau. She gave birth to two of Fualaau's children while incarcerated...
comes uncomfortably to mind".
Besson, in a May 2007 interview, blamed American distributor The Weinstein Company
The Weinstein Company
The Weinstein Company is an American film studio founded by Bob and Harvey Weinstein in 2005 after the brothers left the then-Disney-owned Miramax Films, which they had co-founded in 1979...
for the film's poor critical reception 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".
Awards
On February 1, 2007, the film received the ImaginaImagina
is the name of an annual conference on computer graphics that takes place in Monte-Carlo, Monaco. It was created by The Institut national de l'audiovisuel . The first IMAGINA festival was held in 1981, while the actual name IMAGINA was only introduced in 1986. It is sometimes compared to the CG...
Award in the category Prix du Long-Métrage.
On October 1, 2007, Mylène Farmer
Mylène Farmer
Mylène Farmer, , born Marie-Hélène Jeanne Gautier, , , is a French singer, songwriter, occasional actress and author....
was awarded the NRJ Ciné Award for her dubbing of Sélénia's voice in Arthur and the Minimoys.
Home media release
The US edition DVD was released on May 15, 2007 with just the English-language version and cut down about 10 minutes from the original version. The international DVD versions include the uncut English-language version and the local-language version.Differences between release versions
After a screening test in the United States, the Weinstein company edited the film. Approximately nine minutes were cut. Most of the edits pertained to the love story taking place between Arthur and Selenia. 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 rope during the river scene, and Selenia taking the string back;
- Max referring to their drinks as 'Jack Fire' instead of Genie Soda, to tone down the alcoholic reference. Also, when Arthur escapes the bar during the blackout, Max lights up and smokes something that resembles a blunt and explains to Darkos that he was merely following the curfew order when he turned off the lights to the bar.
- Selenia kissing Arthur before going to confront Maltazard, and Betameche congratulating them over their wedding;
- Selenia kissing Arthur before he is transported back to his own world;
- Arthur learning of the custom that a princess must wait ten moons (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.
The entire storyline involving the parents and their greed for money was also deleted, cut short by a small cutscene and a 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.
Technology
The Minimoys featured in the first Augmented RealityAugmented reality
Augmented reality is a live, direct or indirect, view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data. It is related to a more general concept called mediated reality, in which a view of reality is...
Nestle Chocopic cereal box with the help of Dassault Systemes
Dassault Systemes
Dassault Systèmes S.A. is a leading company specializing in 3D and PLM software.Dassault Systèmes develops and markets PLM application software and services that support industrial processes and provide a 3D vision of the entire lifecycle of products from conception to maintenance to recycling...
technology 3DVIA Virtools.
Sequels
Arthur and the Invisibles was followed by a 2009 sequel, Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard based on a novel of the same name and another sequel in 2010 titled Arthur 3: The War of the Two WorldsArthur 3: The War of the Two Worlds
Arthur 3: The War of the Two Worlds is a French/American film with live action and animation co-written, co-produced and directed by Luc Besson, based on his novel of the same title and starring Freddie Highmore and Mia Farrow...
based on the final book in the series. The two films were edited together and released in the UK and Ireland as a single film titled Arthur and the Great Adventure.
All three sequels received mixed to poor reviews.
See also
- Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard
- Arthur 3: The War of the Two WorldsArthur 3: The War of the Two WorldsArthur 3: The War of the Two Worlds is a French/American film with live action and animation co-written, co-produced and directed by Luc Besson, based on his novel of the same title and starring Freddie Highmore and Mia Farrow...
- Arthur series (Besson)Arthur series (Besson)The Arthur series is a series of fantasy novels for children written by Luc Besson and a series of feature films written, produced and directed by Besson based upon them.- Novels :The four novels were originally published in France by Intervista...
- Arthur and the Invisibles (soundtrack)Arthur and the Invisibles (soundtrack)-Track listing:#"Quest For Love" by Jewel #"Go Girl" by Snoop Dogg#"It's A Beautiful Day" by Elijah Harris #"The Minimoys Overture" #"Nice Town" #"Arthur And The Aqueduct" #"The Phonecall And The Waxcake" #"Davidoo And The Watertank"...
External links
- and the Minimoys at Keyframe
- Arthur and the Minimoys at CanMag
- Mylène Farmer et son rôle pour les 3 films