Any children's film worth its salt carries a message.
While not worth its salt, nor its pepper, napkin or seat at the table, the crummy live-action/ animated flick du jour "Arthur and the Invisibles" will at least teach kids a valuable lesson: Marketing lies.
Sometimes candy isn't as sweet as the ads say. Sometimes action figures aren't as fun as the kids in the commercials make them out to be. Sometimes movies don't turn out nearly as exciting as the trailers indicate.
"Arthur and the Invisibles" is all promise and no delivery. Crammed with characters who talk too much, a brainless story and dopey action scenes that come off as weak copies of better kids' films, the movie is a yawner.
French director Luc Besson ("The Fifth Element"), who is also a prolific children's book author, makes a loud, obnoxious film based on his "Arthur" series, in which a young boy shrinks down to microscopic size to go on adventures with a tribe of tiny elflike creatures who live underground.
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The hero is Arthur (Freddie Highmore), a 10-year-old inventor who's living with his grandmother (Mia Farrow) while his parents are off searching for work. A mean land developer storms in and threatens to foreclose on the land unless Grandma can come up with the payment within two days. Arthur decides to come to the rescue by finding hidden rubies that his grandpa left behind.
Luckily, African tribesmen appear from out of the blue on the night of the full moon to help Arthur concoct a magic portal with an inverted telescope that shrinks the kid down to Minimoy size. Arthur joins forces with bumbling Prince Betameche (voiced by Jimmy Fallon) and gung-ho Princess Selenia (voiced by Madonna) in a quest to defeat the evil lord Maltazard (voiced by David Bowie).
Once underground, the film shifts from live action to a gaudy brand of computer animation.
Arthur's voyage recycles set pieces from "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" and "The Ant Bully." You know, the usual surfing on a half nutshell, sliding through straws and riding atop flying insects. What's worse, there are hardly any transitions from one scene to the next. Little is explained about what drives characters from one formulaic thrill ride to the next.
Audiences should ignore this one until Arthur becomes invisible.
Arthur and the Invisibles (H1/2) — Rated PG for fantasy action and brief suggestive material. Luc Besson directs. 103 minutes. Playing at Park Place, El Con, Foothills and Cinemark.
