Arthur e a Vingança de Maltazard

Of all the movies I have seen, and that is quite a few since I am a projectionist at a cinema, this must be one of the most pointless movies ever made. It is just the fist half of a story that is finished in the sequel movie, Arthur 3, but it could easily have been cut down to around 10 minutes and included in the next movie instead. There are so many pointless scenes and so little actually contributing to the story. At least it is only pointless and not outright agonisingly bad, which saves it from getting a 1* rating. I would recommend skipping this one and just watch the recap that the next movie starts with instead.

Arthur and the Invisibles had a lot of problems but also had a fair share of good points, that made it an at least watchable if mediocre film. Arthur and the Great Adventure was a rather messy sequel that made the same mistakes as its predecessor and made even more on its way. It does have some good things too. The backgrounds have some great detail and it is colourful to look at, so most of the animation is good. The soundtrack is bouncy and has an adventurous feel to it. Freddie Highmore is still likable in the title role while Mia Farrow is as kindly and compassionate as in the first film and Selena Gomez is an improvement over Madonna, actually sounding like a young princess and closer to Highmore's age rather than somebody trying to sound younger. The story is very thinly plotted though and reads a lot like filler, not helped also by very hyperactive pacing and an abrupt conclusion, which felt more like the start of a film than the end. Arthur's adventure and search is tiresome and takes too long to get going, and there is too much of the father character, an important character but not that important. The live action scenes are still awkwardly staged and don't mesh particularly well with the animated sequences, while the dialogue lacks freshness or flow with some ill-judged and timed comic relief. Maltarzard, one of the first film's stronger characters, is a very weak villain this time round, here a character that is under-utilised and underwritten. Jimmy Fallon is even more irritating here now the material is weaker, Snoop Dogg fares better but also struggles. Will.i.am is out of place, but the worst case was Lou Reed, who sounds really bored and monotone. No attempt whatsoever is made to make Maltarzard sound like he did in Arthur and the Invisibles, and his character design here might leave youngsters who saw this film without seeing the first traumatised. In conclusion, not a truly terrible film but really not that great or good either. 4/10 Bethany Cox

A sequel that falls under the part 1 curse of movies. Never do a part one and 2 without having a natural breakoff point, it will always leave people disappointed and this movie definitely falls under that. It is a movie where a lot of things happened but a lot of things are told to us happened. It is a rather eventful movie with only things happening for the movies sake.

Arthur has to return to the minimoys but is prohibited by his parents. But after receiving a distress message from the minimoys, Arthur hurries to help them.

The animation took a step down here. It doesn't look as good as the first movie on a lot of levels. While the world is still fun and exciting it just doesn't look as great and is never brought attention to. Where did all these new Minimoys come from? Not sure but there is a lot of them now. While characters that had a character model from the previous movie looks fine. New elements, like for example the rats look terrible.

This movie has a weird frication with the parents and grown up characters, no doubt the most uninteresting and less impact of the plot part of the movie. This is not exiting or interesting like the fantasy animated world you have created, use that instead of these characters. The parents are also unregenerable from the previous movie, being more caring and less problematic than the first film.

This movie has a lot of events but not actually a lot of plot. The movie has a lot of people sitting down explaining something that happened instead of us actually experience it naturally. It could easily have been a more streamlined plot instead of people talking about what happened. It has a pretty bad "and then" plot like a kid making up a story instead of an actual plot.

The twist of this movie is spoiled in its title by the way. It leads to a terribly explained ending that ends the movie in the worst way possible, leaving us on the most interesting note and a very inorganic way. It is the part 1 problem that I hate, when you split your movie in the most inorganic way, it really hurts the movie you are making since it is only for the money and nothing else.

The voice acting is not the best here, a lot of the voices has been taken over by the American cast and they did not works as well as the European cast. Freddie Highmore still does a fine enough performance, but Betameche and Selenia is just not as good as the original voice cast. The characters here also has some surprise attitude problems, everyone seems so much more annoyed and full of attitude than the original. A character like Betameche is nearly unrecognizable from his original portrayal.

What you are left with is a poorly made movie on a lot of ways. Downgrade on cast, a very eventless movie with a twist that is in the title and a just poorly executed part 1 movie.

While the original film wasn't exactly a masterpiece either, this one digs lower. And I can't say it's an improvement. The music is corny. The titular villain only appears pretty late in the film. The characters are sideshows, most of them. I really can't say I liked very much about this film at all. Then again, perhaps it IS a plague when considering they decided to make a book into a 90-minute film, but I don't know. This whole film, to me, felt like an unnecessary sideshow, and the ending doesn't help it at all. Maybe a rental when it's available, but otherwise don't bother. This was a bigger disappointment than Terminator: Salvation even if watched with lower expectations.

For those that are used to Luc Bessons work this will not be a disappointment. I can only say that the other reviewers of this film have gone into it with their expectations way to high or I was watching a completely different film to them. This is not Disney or Pixar and if you don't go into this expecting that then you it will not disappoint you. Other reviewers completely missed the point that the adult actors are supposed to behave like cartoon villain's.

The animation and creativity is top notch and the story feels half finished only because it is meant to be watched as part of a trilogy. Do yourself a favor and ignore the negative reviews. Give this film a shot but watch it as part of the trilogy as intended and you will be very pleasantly entertained. I will agree that this is a kids film for adults and I would recommend it for ages 8/9 and up.

All in all a thoroughly entertaining production.