Arthur and the Invisibles

Arthur and the Minimoys French Arthur et les Minimoys, also known as Arthur and the Invisibles in North America is a 2006 Englishlanguage French adventure comedy fantasy animatedliveaction feature film adaptation of the 2002 childrens book Arthur and the Minimoys, and the 2003 sequel Arthur and the Forbidden City, written 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 United States, it opened on December 29, 2006, for one week in Los Angeles, California, with a wider release on January 12, 2007 and it was released in the United Kingdom on February 2, 2007. With a budget of 60 million, Arthur and the Invisibles was briefly the most expensive French film production until surpassed by Astrix at the Olympic Games. The film received negative reviews from critics and was a box office flop. The film also received the Imagina Award in the category Prix du LongMtrage. The movies soundtrack album was released on January 9, 2007.

Arthur, reflecting his legendary British namesake, draws a sacred sword from its recess and uses it to protect the Minimoys from Maltazards soldiers whereupon Sifrat, the ruler of the Minimoys, sends Arthur to Necropolis, with the princess Selenia and her brother Betameche. En route, they are attacked on two occasions by Maltazards soldiers. In Necropolis, Selenia kisses Arthur, marking him as her husband and potential successor, and confronts Maltazard alone. When Maltazard learns that she has already kissed Arthur and thus can no longer give him her powers and cure his corruption, he imprisons all three, who discover a Minimoy form of Archibald. Thereafter Arthur and his grandfather escape and return to human form, with little time to spare before Maltazards flood reaches the Minimoys. With the help of Mino, a royal advisors longlost son, Arthur redirects the flood to Necropolis whereupon Maltazard abandons Necropolis and his son, and the water ejects the rubies above ground. Archibald pays Davido with one ruby and when he tries to take them all, the Bogo Matassalai capture him and give him to the authorities scene deleted in the U.S. edition. The film ends with Arthur asking Selenia to wait for his return, and her agreement to do so.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 toscale, which allowed the animators to use natural elements, such as plants and grass. While the film did not use motion capture, real actors were used as reference, and recorded withtovideo cameras, but without the markers used in motion capture. Besson directed their performances. In terms of lip s

Source: Wikipedia