Luc Besson can really be an excellent film-maker, but he has a tendency to lose himself in his own flamboyant sense of style. In his best work (which consensus would hopefully dictate to be Leon-The Professional), he has the good sense to ground the action between a well-connected set of characters, before going off and nearly incinerating his sets and actors with his ridiculous choreography. More often, though, his audiences can all but hear him telling his actors to get out of the way so that can frame his shot in a visually appealing but logically improbable way. Enter his visualization of the Arthur and the Minimoys series (or Arthur and the Invisibles in the United States), the director’s first franchise as well as his first attempt to engage an audience too young to get in to see most of his other work. As they tend to, Besson’s lesser instincts win out, but it’s harder than ever to figure out why, as the Minimoys films are the one thing that you could never predict his output to be: dull.
For those unfamiliar with the Arthur mythology, it can best be summarized thusly: while visitng his grandmother (Mia Farrow) in the countryside, Arthur (Freddie Highmore) learns of both the Bogo Matassalai, a tribe native to Africa, and of the Minimoys, a miniature race of people with freakishly long ears who are at one with nature in a way that the Na’vi could only dream of being. While visiting his grandparents after the events of the first film, Arthur receives a grain of rice with the word ‘help’ on it. Believing it to from the Minimoys (all things considered, a reasonable assumption), he enlists the aid of the Bogo to have him shrunk down to the Minimoys size, and is then off to help them, with particular attention devoted to love interest Selenia (creepily played by Madonna in the original, here by Selena Gomez). As you might have gussed from the surtitle The Revenge of Maltazard, villain Maltazard (David Bowie in the original, an incredibly bored Lou Reed here) has returned with a diabolical scheme that, of course, involves Arthur. Without giving too much away, suffice it to say that the full scope of the plan being revealed in The Revenge of Maltazard, and its measures being enacted in The War of Two Worlds.
Besson’s first error (even beyond the abysmally trite dialogue and characterizations) is to visualize the Minimoys in computer animation, while keeping the rest of the world in live action. It creates a weird aesthetic disconnect that the film never recovers from, but it also highlights Besson’s inexperience with animation, at least in comparison with his relative mastery of traditional cinematography. The countryside of Arthur’s grandparents is realized with both a color and precision that recalls Pan’s Labyrinth, with all of the falling leaves and dappling sunlight that that infers. In comparison, the world of the Minimoys seems drab, a little boring, and in no way immersive, to say nothing of the quality of the animation. The Minimoys themselves are completely unconvincing, and take on a Robert Zemeckis motion capture level of creepiness when they have to fly, emote, and kiss each other (especially with Arthur and Selenia). On one level, it’s just a little off-putting, but on another, it’s plainly disconcerting to have one of the most expensive franchises in the history of French film be so decisively visually outclassed by Honey, I Shrunk The Kids.
But the real problem here is that the mythology of the series could be much more compelling than it is, and nearly every factor suffers because of it. The notion of a microscopic world inside of our own is rife with possibilities, so it’s depressing to see the filmmakers resort to turning it into one so clearly modeled off of Fern Gully and other direct predecessors of Avatar. Mostly, it’s depressing to see someone who came up with the guns from The Fifth Element fail to exploit myriad visual possibilities when they were so clearly presented to him. There are moments when the old Besson is still present and kicking, but they are too few and far between in a franchise that could have been laid out and choreographed by virtually anyone.
DVD Bonus Features
None.
"Arthur and the Invisibles 2 & 3: The New Minimoy Adventures" is on sale November 30, -0001 and is rated PG. Children & Family. Directed by Luc Besson. Written by Luc Besson, Céline Garcia, . Starring Freddie Highmore, Selena Gomez, Snoop Dogg, WilliAm, Fergie, Lou Reed.
