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Arthur and the Invisibles
EMAILPRINTThe Weinstein Company / Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Generally unfavorable reviews
Based on 22 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 16 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Animation | Family/Kids | Fantasy | Foreign
Written by:
Luc Besson (also books)
Céline Garcia (idea)
Directed by: Luc Besson
Release Date:
Theatrical: December 29, 2006
DVD: May 15, 2007
Running Time: 102 minutes, Color
Origin: France
Summary
RATING: PG for fantasy action and brief suggestive material
Starring Freddie Highmore, Mia Farrow, Ron Crawford, Penny Balfour, David Bowie, Doug Rand, and Adam LeFevre
From the creative mind of filmmaker Luc Besson, comes a larger-than-life, family adventure about a boy who, after his grandfather disappears, sets out to save his family home from emerging real estate developers. (MGM)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Big Blue: Director's Cut La Femme Nikita The Fifth Element The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc The Professional
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
The movie--while it doesn't knock you out--doesn't self-destruct either. Besson may never rise to the level of his best American models here, but it's fun watching him try.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
This semianimated adventure is enjoyable and imaginative despite its formulaic qualities.
Read Full Review >Premiere Monica A. Reyhani
Ultimately, Besson has made an interesting, if shaky in places, homage to childhood.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Gregory Kirschling
"The Professional's" Luc Besson has made a fair share of artfully bad movies. Arthur and the Invisibles -- half-live-action, half-CG kid's adventure -- is (by a hair) more bad-bad, like "The Fifth Element," than good-bad, like "The Big Blue."
Read Full Review >TV Guide Angel Cohn
This is director Luc Besson's first attempt at combining animation with live-action, and while the look of the film is impressive, he should have focused more of his efforts on fleshing out the script that he adapted from two of his own "Arthur" books.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
None of the characters are compelling, despite the star-studded vocal cast behind them, including Madonna, Robert De Niro, Snoop Dogg and Jimmy Fallon. Our attitude toward them is casual interest, not anxious concern.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
Luc Besson, a sort of French version of Steven Spielberg without the intuition, has tried a lot of genres in his young career and has had his greatest success with slick action films like "The Fifth Element" and "La Femme Nikita." Animated movies for kids he should stay away from.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
Arthur and the Invisibles may be a tale for children, but it's got the bad habits of a profligate adult -- the thing borrows shamelessly from its betters and then pretends to be self-sustaining.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Peter Debruge
This inventive family movie sets up the most delightful premise, then squanders it on the kind of yawn-inducing CG adventure you might expect from one of those long, plot-heavy cut scenes that slow down video games.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
The result isn't an unpalatable pudding but rather a fair-to-middling children's film that is half CG-animation and half live-action.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
There are cute flourishes, but much of the cleverness is smothered by tired dialogue and doughy animation, which gives the animated characters the personality of mannequins and the look of cheap merchandising knockoffs come to life.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Jean Oppenheimer
Predictable and overly busy, this sci-fi adventure should nonetheless appeal to computer-game-savvy tots, especially those familiar with the source material, while boring their parents silly.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
Watching Arthur and the Invisibles is like sticking your head in a Gallic pinball machine: It's hectic, technically impressive, and your skull starts to pound after a while.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
It's a film for kids who want to know what headaches feel like.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Neil Genzlinger
The computer-generated world is visually rich, but short on the droll humor that makes good children's films bearable for adults.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Alex Chun
Director Luc Besson, best known for "La Femme Nikita" and "The Fifth Element," admits he knew nothing about animation before he started this project, and it shows.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub
Besson is a pro when it comes to action movies, but this part live, part animation effort is a mess, highlighted by creepy animation, derivative plot points and a child star who speaks way too fast.
Read Full Review >Variety Robert Koehler
Haplessly blends live-action and visually repellent computer-animated work.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marrit Ingman
The real problem is that the story is just incoherent, and the faster it moves, the more frantic it seems.
Read Full Review >New York Post Kyle Smith
This kids' cartoon from France is such a surreally demented attempt to connect with children that it's the equivalent of foie gras breakfast cereal or a bleu cheese milkshake.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 6.2 (out of 10) based on 16 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Quas W. gave it an8:
Why did they cut some of the scenes in US release. It makes the story hard to understand. Its good, but better if it is complete.
Phil J. gave it a10:
Rather boring story, but is totaly worthwhile to watch for it's characters. The relationship between Arthur and Selenia is what really got me interested. The age difference between the two actors didn't bother me at all. It is a shame that the US versions had 10 minutes cut from it because of the deeper relationship between Arthur and Selenia. Well, I guess you can always watch the cut scenes on youtube. I'm looking forward to the sequels.
Javier D. gave it a9:
The animation is beautiful, and better than most US films. the story is lovely, but the English version has been cut of crucial scenes. Try to see the original French. Hint: Arthur marries Selenia and will be the future king of the Minimoys.
E B gave it a6:
A nice story over all, yet the English DVD version was overly-edited by deleting all scenes alluding to any hint of romance between Arthur & Selenia (which WERE in the original cinematic version in North America), whereas all these scenes remain in the French version! That is not fair IMHO & I can see no good reasons for changing the plot so much by removing those scenes. If anyone can cite any specifics as to WHY these scenes were cut from the english DVD (prefereable from the horse's mouth, the DVD's producers, please do post that on-line... [IMHO it was a bad move to delete those scenes; it reduced the narrative's quality & intrigue of the story! ...dumb move guys!).
PnArdy PnArdy gave it a6:
Not impressive but cute 3d animation. Not really charming characters. Madonna's mature voice doesn't suit her young girl character and her partner - young boy who plays the leading role. To much mosquitoes.
Chad S. gave it a6:
When Arthur(Freddy Highmore) first encounters Princess Selenia(Madonna), a beautiful and indelibly feminine, but nevertheless, creature, who could've been a figment of his raconteur grandfather's imagination; "Arthur & the Invisibles" brought me back to my first movie star crush. Her name was Kira. She was a gelfing. She was the most beautiful...muppet, I had ever seen(way, way, way prettier than Miss Piggy). Even though "Arthur & the Invisibles" largely covers the same terrain as "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids", a scene like the one in which Arthur shares a rosebud-turned-bed with Princess Selenia, somewhat alleviates this formulaic film from the commercially-mandated instinct that it's noisy action in which audiences yearn for. The age difference between Arthur and Princess Selenia is provocative(they come close to kissing), but never sordid; always sweet. If "Arthur & the Invisibles" had more ambition and artistry, the filmmaker could've chopped the running time of this first adventure(a tired story about recovering rubies to help save the farm), and reunited the age-challenged couple when Arthur got older. Princess Selenia isn't like the dragon in the Peter, Paul & Mary folksong(she's corporeal), but Arthur's affinity for this Minimoy may not last once he starts meeting human girls; which is what's intriguing, and potentially fatalistic, about Princess Selenia's promise that she'll wait for him.
Maximilian K. gave it a10:
I liked this movie a lot because there were little creatures, and how the boy went into the telescope. At the end of the telescope was a little glass, and after he hit the glass, the gooey stuff melted the glass and he went to the backyard and that was really really really cool!!!!!!! It was very exciting and fun. I also liked the way they escaped from the water coming by getting through a door using the wind-up car that they found, enabling them to go faster and saving them. This really good part was when the boy found his grandpa's hidden treasure in the backyard. I really liked the graphics. I recommend this movie for everyone to see!
