Arthur and the Invisibles [DVD]

I must agree with Nanahuatzin, this film is good but the international edit is much better. I got the UK DVD on sale in Zavvi (sadly the closing down sale) and after watching it found a few bits confusing, so as I generally do I checked it out on IMDB. There I learned that the distributors in the US decided to cut the love scenes out for the US and UK films. So I looked around, having not spent much money on the UK cut, and found an international DVD with full uncut English soundtrack. 9 minutes of footage doesn't sound like much, but suddenly so many scenes make more sense! So buy the international film and watch it as it should be seen. Oh, and it's real name is "Arthur and the Minimoys", not "Arthur and the Invisibles".

This film is the biggest european animation so far. Besson spent 5 years on it, and while it failed in the english speaking market it went fairly well in the international marke, enough to secure the two sequels already in production.

Why the diference?

When Besson casted Maddona (a long time friend) whe did not know the problems involved.

A lot of the problems in pace and plot of the US edition of the film are result of the eforts of the Weinstein company in removing half of the plot: The love story of Arthur and Selenia, which due to Maddonas voice, became "inapropiated". In the international editions all this was left and the film has received good notes.

So the falling in love, kissing and marrying of Arthur and Selenia were cut, along other sections that were considered inapropiated for small kids. This left some plot holes and the motivation of the characteres became unconvincing.

I recomend to try the French DVD editions (it includes the undedited enlgish version) and also inlcudes a beautifull "making of" of the film, in french.

This delightful little adventure was greatly enjoyed by my two small children but also had enough more sophisticated jokes and challenges to be entertaining for the adults in the family.

"Arthur and the invisibles" is a mix of live-action and CGI which merge seamlessly into each other as the action switches between two scales - that on which humans lives, and that of tiny elves the size of an ant and known as the invisibles or "Minimoys."

Arthur, a ten year old boy played and voiced by Freddie Highmore (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) is staying with his grandmother (Mia Farrow) in Conneticut. His parents, who are trying to cope with a difficult financial era, have packed him off, first to boarding school in England (conveniently explaining Freddie's English accent) and then to his grandparents' farm during the vacation, while they try to find work "in the City".

Arthur's grandfather Archibald (Ron Crawford), an engineer who spent many years working on projects in Africa, has mysteriously disappeared some four years before. Somewhere on his land, he had hidden a valuable collection of rubies with which he had been presented by a grateful African tribe. This treasure is desperately needed because a greedy developer (Adam Lefevre) is setting up the compulsory purchase of Archibald's home, following which he plans flatten the entire area for redevelopment.

With two days to go before the developer will be able to evict Arthur and his grandmother, Arther finds a message from his grandfather about his mission to get the rubies back, which tells Arthur how to contact this microscopic tribe. The adventure which follows is more extraordinary than he could have imagined ...

The world of the tiny Minimoys is brought to life in charming CGI with a star studded voice cast. Robert de Niro voices the King of the Minimoys with Madonna playing his daughter, Princess Selenia, and Harvey Keitel his minister, Miro. Snoop Dogg voices Max, the proprietor of a micro-nightclub: Jason Bateman provides the voice of the sinister Darkos, who is the son of the even more sinister "Evil M," brilliantly voiced by David Bowie.

While most of the film is aimed at small children, there are plenty of jokes which will amuse grown-ups. For example, when using a clockwork toy car to escape from danger at high speed, Arthur says "Just hope there arn't any speed cameras down here or we've had it."

Extras on the DVD include music videos for two of the songs: "Quest for Love" performed by Jewel and "Beautiful Day" performed by Elijah.

Overall, the plot isn't the most original I've ever seen, and the film might not appeal to some older teenagers or to adults who have difficulty entering into the spirit of children's stories. It isn't in quite the same league as "The Incredibles" or the first two "Shrek" films which is why I've given this film four stars rather than five.

However, the vast majority of small children will enjoy "Arthur and the Invisibles" - mine certainly did - and many parents will not find it too difficult to watch with their children.