The self-announced last film as a director from French prodigy Luc Besson (Leon, Le grand bleu/The Big Blue) is the partially animated Arthur et les Minimoys (Arthur and the Invisibles), a whimsical fairytale based on the elfin creatures created by Céline and Patrice Garcia that inspired a bestselling series of novels written by Besson. Though uneven in tone (the film is set in 1960 but features rap and disco music) this adaptation of the first two novels in the series admirably blends the animated and live-action parts and has a lot on offer for kids – though adults will probably yawn more than once at the predictable twists and turns of the plot. 

When Arthur goes underground, he is transformed into an elfin-like creature with pointy ears and a chlorine white mess of a hairdo to rival anything on the Parisian catwalks. He is also transformed into a CGI animated character, like the Minimoys (or "Invisibles") and various other creatures he meets underground. They include princess Selenia (voiced by Madonna in the English version) and her kid prince brother Betamechesomething (Jimmy Fallon), with whom he will try to get the rubies back from the evil M (David Bowie). 

 

Fights with various enormous creatures (including insects) and other assorted perils come in carefully calculated doses along the way, and there is even some light romance and a strong moral message to complete the package. Kids will love it and adults will probably nod in recognition at the blatant “borrowing” from the likes of Rudyard Kipling, the Arthur romances, Shrek and the Disney universe amongst others (A sword-in-the-stone sequence is especially painful).

 

Though not always consistent (and especially the big fights are messily edited together), animation quality is generally very high. It is clear that Besson and his French animators have poured their hearts into blending the real and animated worlds together, with some of the backgrounds in the animated sequences rendered with staggering realism (many of the sets were actually constructed and then used as a basis for the animators). The film also wisely keeps out of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? territory, keeping the human world and those of the Minimoys mostly separate onscreen.

 

Though a case could also be made for M, who seems to ooze and drip evil from every pore, the character that most stands out is Selenia, who captures not only Arthur’s imagination but also that of the audience. She is girlish, immature and yet sexy and independent, tough qualities to keep in balance but here they work together marvellously. In the live-action sequences, Highmore and Farrow have a nice granny-grandson relationship full of warmth, and it is refreshing to see a grandmother who is not tied to a wheelchair or at least a cane, instead running around as if she were a young girl stuck in an older body. (Parallels between Farrow’s character and Selenia, who is coming of age as her 1000th birthday nears, are unmistakable.)

 

The clear anachronisms aimed at older viewers (Snoop Dog in a cameo as a club owner who looks as severely out of place in 1960 -- even for an underground and animated character -- as his club's choice of music) will be over many smaller children's heads, which is probably for the better since they feel tired and unimaginative. Instead, the young ones will be free to enjoy this unoriginal but competently made feature uncluttered by the knowledge that superior examples exist. 

 

Buy the DVD at: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.fr, amazon.de, dvdGO.es .  

 

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