Arthur & The Invisibles (DVD-Video)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: C Film: C+
Discover
a magical and stunning CGI world with Arthur
and the Invisibles now available on DVD.
The story follows a ten year old boy named Arthur (Freddie Highmore of
Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory) as he takes a leap of faith and mind into a new world controlled
by a group of tiny creatures known as the Minimoys. Arthur’s grandmother once told Arthur a story
of how the Minimoys were in debt to his grandfather and held, to this day, a
great and expansive treasure for him. As
an evil land developer named Davido buys out the mortgage on Arthur’s
Grandmother’s home, Arthur sets out on a mission to find the Minimoys Kingdom
and recover the treasure that can save his Grandmother. Once in the kingdom Arthur finds himself
entwined in a whole new way of life and infatuated with his new friends. A bit of turmoil arises when an evil group of
Mosquito Flying rebels named Seides attempt to destroy the Minimoys by flooding
their lands. Can Arthur help his new
friends and recover a lost treasure? You
be the judge and view Arthur and the
Invisibles.
The film
was ok but does not live up to many of this reviewer’s current favorite CGI
ventures like Finding Nemo or even the new TMNT
film. The film uses both Live Action and
CGI to create a magical atmosphere but falls short in fully using the
capabilities of the combined format. The
film is definitely family friendly, but that may not be a compliment. The film in many ways is a bastard version of
the true French cut and destroyed much of the love story that was occurring
between Selenia (voiced by Madonna) and Arthur, which greatly enhanced the
story arch of the film and was more true to the novel.
Beyond
the final cut being tattered and torn, other aspects of the film were still
enjoyable. The voice acting cast is full
of big names and good talents with the likes of Madonna, Robert DeNiro, and
David Bowie showing up. Even Mia Farrow
plays Arthur’s Grandmother. In the end,
this was not a great film but enough to give the kids a watch. Plus two sequels are supposedly on the way,
so may want to get ahead of the game.
The
technical features on this CGI/Live Action release are clean and crisp. The picture is presented in a Widescreen
format that looks excellent throughout for the CGI though the Live Action
segments don’t seem to be as crisp as they should. The sound is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1
Surrounds that seem to miss their mark on consistency of power and seem weak at
times, but overall good. The extras are
nicely presented but not worth much offering the audience interviews with the
voice cast, a Jewel music video (no thanks), in the recording studio with Jewel
(no thanks, again), ‘Beautiful Day’
music video by Elijah, Some games trailer, and the film trailer.
The film
supposedly had a good soundtrack, but this reviewer thinks it is just
lukewarm. The film is fun and not too
simplistic that it would bore adults.
Overall, attempt to see the invisible.
- Michael P Dougherty II
