ARTHUR AND THE MINIMOYS
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'''Arthur and the Minimoys''' ('''Arthur and the Invisibles''' in English-speaking territories) is a part-animated, part-live action feature film adaptation of the same-name, 2002 children's book and the 2003 sequel ''Arthur et la cité interdite'' / ''Arthur and the Forbidden City'' 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 U.S., it opened on December 29, 2006, for one week in Los Angeles, California, with a wider release on January 12, 2007 (February 2, 2007 in the UK).[1]
With a budget of 65,000,000 euros. Arthur and the Minimoys was the most expensive French film production as of 2007.[2]
Plot
10-year-old Arthur is living with his grandmother in a quiet country house. He has recently lost his grandfather, and sees little of his parents. His grandmother entertains him by reading stories to him. One of these stories is about the friendship of the tall bogomatassalai and the Minimoys — tiny elfin beings living underground in the garden of his grandparents' house. According to these stories, the Minimoys hold a wondrous and expensive treasure of rubies given by the bogomatassalai to Arthur's grandfather in gratitude for his help. Arthur has become enamoured with a picture of Selenia, princess of the Minimoys.
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 up her mortgage from the bank and plans to evict the two. Arthur takes it upon himself to find the rubies in order to pay off the debt. After stumbling across various clues written a few years previously by his grandfather, Arthur manages to find the key to the Minimoys' world. He is met in the garden by the "bogomatassalai", tall men resembling Maasai tribals, who tell Arthur how to get into the Minimoys' world by way of shrinking down to their size. 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 — the plans of Malthazar, 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. Malthazar was once a Minimoy himself; a 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" (people fear his true name will bring bad luck). Arthur's grandfather is his prisoner, and the rubies form his throne.
Arthur, in a moment 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 as well as her younger brother. Armed with Arthur's new sword – the use of which they share – the trio embark. ''En route'' to Necropolis, they are numerous times put in danger by Malthazar's soldiers, who are making plans for the coming flood. During their travel Selenia explains Arthur that she is going to be 1000 years old in two days, so she would succeed her father until her own children get 1000 years old, so she has two days to find a husband, Arthur gets sad because of the age difference, until he learns they count years differently and really they are about the same age. (Betameche explains Minimoys are considered adults at 360 years old). Eventually, the questors arrive in Necropolis, but where the stubbornly independent Selenia takes the sword, and kisses Arthur, which as the first kiss of a princess, transfers her powers to Arthur, seals their wedding and makes Arthur the future king. Then Selenia confronts Malthazar alone. Malthazar wishes the first kiss of the princess to restore his original beauty, but 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, and put in a cell where she founds her companions are already captured. (The kiss scene was cut in the U.S. version, and the order of the scenes was changed)
While in prison, they find Arthur's grandfather Archibald, who like his grandson after him has become a Minimoy. This transformation has altered the proportions of his body, giving him a larger head, thinner limbs, long ears, and broad extremities. He has been teaching all his knowledge to Malthazard in exchange of food. Selenia feels defeated, but Arthur comforts her.
Malthazar lets then escape, just 3 minutes ahead of the flood, so he would make them suffer, but they could out run it using as their vehicle a clockwork car that Arthur, in his human form, recently possessed.
During the adventure, Arthur's infatuation of Selenia has been supplemented by comradeship, as well as by her own affection for him. While Arthur learns that custom says that newlyweds should not kiss again for at least ten moons, the princess Selenia decides she does not wish to wait and gives Arthur a long passionate kiss, before he returns to his human form. Now he still has an hour to save the Minimoys from the flood
After return to his own world, with the help of a royal advisor's long-lost son, Miro, Arthur is able to prevent the flood from destroying the Minimoys, redirecting it to Necropolis instead. Malthazar abandons the plan, as well as his army and his son, and flees.
They pay Davido with one ruby, but then he tries to steal all, Davido explains he wanted the farm because the ruby, since he once heard Arthur´s grandpa speaking of them. But the bogomatassalai capture him, and give him to the authorities (scene cut in the us edition).
The story closes with their vows, spoken by Arthur in his human form to Selenia, who sits 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 take a bow.
Reception
The film was budgeted at US$86 million.[3] By Boxing Day, ''Arthur'' earned over US$20 million in France alone.3. While in general, it was well received by the international public and critic, it failed in the US.
In the United States, the movie's Los Angeles run garnered 20% positive reviews at the critics-aggregate site RottenTomatoes.com.[4] ''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".[5] ''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".[6] 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".[7] 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. ... This was the only country where the film was changed. The rest of the world has the same film as France".[8]
Awards
On February 1, 2007, the film received the Imagina Award in the category Prix du Long-Métrage.[9]
Production notes
The animation was done 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 plants and grass. While the film did not use motion capture, real actors were, however, 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.
[10]
Cast
English-language version
★ Freddie Highmore - Arthur
★ Mia Farrow - Arthur's Grandmother
★ Penny Balfour - Arthur's Mother
★ Douglas Rand - Arthur's Father
★ Ron Crawford - Archibald
★ Adam LeFevre - Davido
Voices
★ Madonna - Princess Selenia
★ Jimmy Fallon - Betameche
★ Robert De Niro - King
★ Harvey Keitel - Miro
★ Chazz Palminteri - The Travel Agent
★ Emilio Estevez - Ferryman
★ Snoop Dogg - Max
★ Anthony Anderson - Koolomassai
★ David Bowie - Malthazard
French-language version
★ Barbara Kelsch : Arthur
★ Mylène Farmer : Selenia
★ Cartman : Bétamèche
★ Alain Bashung : Malthazard
★ Rohff : Max
★ Marc Lavoine : Darkos
★ Cut Killer : DJ Easy Low
★ Jacques Frantz : The king
★ Sergio Castellitto : Station manager
★ Stomy Bugsy : Koolomassaï
★ Serge Blumental : The electrician
★ Dick Rivers : le passeur
★ Barbara Weber-Scaff : Mino
★ Doudou Masta : Maasai chief
Portuguese-language version
★ André Raimundo : Arthur
★ Luciana Abreu : Selenia
★ Pedro Granger : Bétamèche
★ Carlos Neves (aka Pacman) : Max
★ José Pedro Vasconcelos : Arthur's Father
★ Rita Blanco : Arthur's Mother
★ Rui Mendes : Archibald
★ Paula Neves : Mino
★ Nuno Guerreiro : Ferryman
Mandarin-language version (Taiwan)
★ Ella Chen : Arthur[11]
★ Selina Ren : Selenia
★ Nono : Bétamèche
★ Wu Bai : Malthazard
★ Jeff Huang : Max
★ Hebe Tian : Miro
German-language version
★ Bill Kaulitz from Tokio Hotel: Arthur
★ Nena : Selenia
Characters
Main characters
★ 'Arthur': The main protagonist. 10-year-old Arthur largely lives with his grandmother because his parents have little time to spend with him; a fact Arthur resents. His grandfather has mysteriously vanished. Arthur is determined to find him and the treasure of the Minimoys so that he can pay off the unscrupulous debt-collectors who covet his grandmother's land. Arthur, judging by his aptitude for finding clues and thwarting his enemies, has inherited his grandfather's intelligence.
★ 'Princess Selenia': The daughter of the King of the Minimoys; the proud and headstrong Princess Selenia, despite appearing haughty and arrogant, is an honourable and caring individual who is determined to protect her people from the evil of Malthazar. She has a somewhat antagonistic relationship with Arthur at first (believing him to be her inferior). However, after he draws the Sword of the Minimoys from the Stone, she comes to respect him. During their journey they fall in love. Selenia is a formidable fighter and possesses great intelligence.
★ 'Betameche': Selenia's younger brother. Betameche is 300 years old, which is quite young for a Minimoy. He is a mischievous youth who enjoys teasing his extremely egotistical elder sister.
★ 'Malthazard': The arch-villain, Malthazard, also known as 'Malthazard the Evil' or 'Malthazard the Cursed' is the corrupt emperor of the Forbidden City of Necropolis. With his army of minions, the Sades, he is determined to conquer the land of the Minimoys and claim the Princess Selenia as his queen. He possesses the treasure of the Minimoys and keeps it in his stronghold in Necropolis, where it forms his throne. 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 Malthazard, his name in the book was Malthazar and some film versions refer to him as Maltazard. He was corrupted to the path of evil by a beautiful but seductive weevil and by her he is a father to a boyish bully named Darkos.
Other characters
★ 'Grandma': Arthur's long suffering grandmother is a major character in the film and book. She possesses a dry sense of wit and is very protective of Arthur given the fact that his parents aren't there most of the time on account of trying desperately to get new jobs in the wake of the Wall Street Crash. Her husband, Archibald mysteriously disappeared a few years ago in search of the treasure of the Minimoys.
★ 'Archibald': Arthur's grandfather, he mysteriously disappeared years ago during his quest for the Treasure of the Minimoys. The legal courts have declared him legally dead, but he is actually alive in the dungeons of Necropolis. He is a brilliant explorer and adventurer; traits evidently imitated or inherited by his grandson, Arthur. He teaches the Sades novelties in return for food during his incarceration in Malthazar's dungeons. He is known to the Minimoys as Archibald the Benevolent.
★ 'Ernest Davido': A greedy and sinister landowner who presides over the multi-national Davido Corporation, which specializes in property development. Davido is determined to evict Arthur and his grandmother from their land so that he can demolish their home and build flats in their vacated land. He also hopes to obtain the rubies called the Treasure of the Minimoys, of which Archibald had told him during a moment of inebriation. Davido appears emotionally immature.
★ '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. Malthazar takes advantage of his son's loyalty by bidding him remain behind when the flood enters Necropolis.
★ 'The King': The King of the Minimoys is the father of Betameche and Selenia, as well as a benevolent and kind ruler. He is balky when faced by violence, although possessive of his children. He rides atop a large, furry animal called a Gamoul, so as to compensate for his diminutive size.
Changes between French and U.S. versions
After doing a screening test in the US, the Weinstein company edit the film, about nine minutes were cut. Most of the editions were done to remove part of the plot, the love story between Arthur and Selenia:
Arthur arrives at the Minimoy world in a middle of a Ceremony. Selenia is going to be 1,000 years old in two days (about 10 years in human years), at that age she will replace her father as ruler of the Minimoys, until her own children attain that age. That means that she has two days to find a husband. Maltahzard has been waiting for years for this moment, not only to became the king of Minimoys, but because the first kiss of a princess has magic, that can cure him and restore him a Minimoy prince.
Arthur falls in love with Selenia from the first sight.
Before confronting Maltazard, Selenia kisses Arthur, which for the Minimoys is a wedding ceremony. This kiss also transfers some unknown magic of Selenia to Arthur, and makes him the new king of the Minimoys.
When Maltazard learns Selenia is already married, he decides to kill her, along with all her people.
Davido wants the farm because he heard about the rubies. At the end of the film he tries to steal them, but he is stooped by the Bogomatasalai warriors.
DVD
The US edtion DVD was released on May 15, 2007 with just the English-language version and cut down about 10 minutes from the original French version. The international DVD versions include the uncut English-language version and the local-language version.
Trivia
★ Since this movie takes place in 1960, one anachronism is the The Bee-Gees song "Stayin' Alive" (1977) coming from the phonograph.
★ When Darkos first appears in the Stunning Rapids Bar, the visible words behind his head spell out "Stupid".
Sequel
Besson announced in 2007 that he is directing two sequels, ''Arthur et la vengeance de Maltazard'' (''Arthur and the Vengeance of Maltazard''), planned for 2009, and ''Arthur et la guerre des deux mondes'' (''Arthur and the War of Two Worlds''), planned for 2010. [12] [13] .
See also
★ List of animated feature films
★ List of computer-animated films
Footnotes
1. Official site and ComingSoon.net: ''Arthur and the Invisibles''
2. China.org: "French Director Visits China for Film Release" (reprinted from ''People's Daily'', Jan. 12, 2007)
3. BoxOfficeMojo.com: ''Arthur and the Invisibles''
4. RottenTomatoes.com: ''Arthur and the Invisibles''
5. ''Los Angeles Times'' (Dec. 29, 2006): "'Arthur and the Invisibles': A film with no shortage of well-known talent makes an awkward transition from live action to animation"
6. ''Variety'' (Dec. 21, 2006): ''Arthur and the Invisibles'' (review by Robert Koehler)
7. ''Film Journal International'' (posted online Dec. 29, 2006): ''Arthur and the Invisibles'' (review by Frank Lovece)
8. Luc Besson and Rie Rasmussen
9. Imagina
10. ''Animation World Magazine'' (January 12, 2007): "''Arthur and the Invisibles'': Luc Besson's Animated World" (review by Alain Bielik)
11. S.H.E is busy, but willingly lends voices to animated film about a magical kingdom. ''Tom.com''. January 30, 2007. Retrieved June 27, 2007.
12. SciFi-Universe.com (Jan. 6, 2007): "''Arthur et Les Minimoys'' de Retour", citing ''Film Francais'' article (in French)
13. Luc Besson official site (in French)
References
★ Official Site (French plus 17 languages)
★ and the Minimoys'' at Keyframe - the Animation Resource
★
★ ''Arthur and the Minimoys'' at CanMag
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