Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard (2009)

Nice effects though.

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

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

This is a 2 part movie. The first part was released in Dec of 09 and the second part was released in Feb 2010. If you don't like the ending watch the second part which unlike Harry Potter took only 3 months to be released. Also just so you know there are maybe 3 scenes uptight parents will not like. There are hundreds of scenes in Shrek I would not let my child see. Movie was great and WOW entertaining if you watch both parts of the movie as a whole. Cannot believe this movie was made in France did you see the A star list of cast in the Original. Madonna, Robert Dinero, Mia Farrow, Snoop Dogg, Jimmy Fallon and Freddie Highmore is amazing. This film neither looks or feels the part of any B movie or any Indie Film. The effects for the budget were Awesome. I cannot believe it's getting such horrible reviews. Some of you need to re-watch the crap Disney and Pixar are putting out and the subliminal messages they pursue. Anyways I hope this review at least makes you look at it. Watch the first movie if you haven't seen it then watch the second and third sequentially or else you will be mad at the seconds ending.

Didn't see the first movie, but I'm not very much inclined to go see it now. My 11-year old was very disappointed with the way the story abruptly ends with a 'to be continued' and I could only agree with her.Although all the elements for an exciting adventure are there, somehow it isn't put together very well. There are too many details that have not been worked out well, specifically with a lot of the characters. The villain from the title doesn't appear until the last quarter of the movie, and just when you think the story is finally going to unravel, it's finished! Open endings can be interesting, but I wouldn't call this an open ending. The boy is still not back, his (grand)parents are still searching, the central matter that most of the movie evolves around has not been solved in any way and even in the end I had no clue to what the revenge of Malthazar was going to be. Being big and in the real world couldn't be all of it, could it?To me it seemed like only half a movie, or the first part of a miniseries on TV. Outrageous that I was nowhere warned for this!

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.