Arthur is about an adventurous boy who always has his head in his grandfather's journal on Africa. Arthur has to save the home he and his grandmother by finding his grandfather's rubies and also save a village of tiny creatures from an evil creature. Arthur and the Invisibles is about a ten year old blonde hair blue eyed British boy, Arthur(Freddie Highmore) who lives with his grandmother,Granny (Mia Farrow), also blonde and blue eyed. The time period is in the 1960's. Arthur is a dreamer who loves pretending he is in Africa with his grandfather, Archibald(Ron Crawford). Archibald is an old adventurer who spent his life in African building “every useful thing imaginable”. However, Archibald mysteriously disappeared for three years. The movie opens with Granny looking for Arthur and his Australian Sheppard companion dog, Alfred. Granny is complaining that Alfred is suppose to be a guard dog but he is not doing a very good job. She is also complaining that Arthur is no where to be found. When she finds him he literally has his face buried in a book with a mask over his face as well. He is sleeping. She wakes him and he starts out of a dream. He says he was in Africa with his grandfather building a viaduct with the older man. Granny collects Arthur and they go into town.
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In the town Arthur is apparently wandering around while Granny is picking up a round box from an enthusiastic shop keeper who gives her the box for free. The two women are both excited about how Arthur will react to the gift.
Back at home Arthur is sent to go play while Granny goes inside the house. In a workshop Arthur has built a viaduct out of bamboo and is putting it to the test in the garden. Arthur congratulates Alfred on their invention before Granny calls him in. Granny surprises Arthur with a cake and candles, a present from Alfred, a ball, and a gift from Granny, a little red car that replaced a broken one Arthur had before. He receives a call from his parents(Penny Balfour and Doug Rand) who are both looking for jobs in the city. It is revealed that Arthur has spent most of his life in boarding schools and his parents are never there for his birthday. Sad and upset Arthur wishes that his grandfather will be there for his birthday next year before blowing out the candles.
At bedtime Granny is telling Arthur the stories from Archibald's journal. Granny and Archibald met in Africa. Archibald helped a tribe, the Bogo Matassala, who rewarded him with rubies. The tribe was tall and searched for their opposites, the Minimoys, to balance out their world which they found right next door. Archibald found them in Africa and the king gave him the secret to finding the small tribe whenever he wanted. It is later revealed Arthur brought the tribe back with him and they live in the garden. Arthur see's a beautiful picture of the Minimoys princess and is enamored.
Granny tucks him in and goes to her bedroom. She misses her husband.
The next morning a mean greedy man, Ernest Davido(Adam Lefevre) comes to their home. He throws the ball that was given to Arthur in the water tower and Arthur goes to fetch it. He tells Granny he will be the owner of her land if Archibald does not sign the papers in two days time. While leaving he kicks the toy car into a grate.
Learning that the property will be sold Arthur asks about the rubies as payment. Archibald hid them somewhere in the yard and Arthur goes to find the treasure. Frustrated after hours of searching he goes to the study looking for clues. He finds a picture of the beautiful princess and kisses it. He also finds a clue, a map on the back of the picture of the princess.
As Arthur searches for more clues some men come to evaluate and buy some of Archibald's things. He tells Granny about the map and she says he is too big to believe in the stories she told him. Granny sends Arthur out of the room. After they are done the men take 30 years worth of memories and pay too little for it all. Almost immediately some debt collectors come and take the money. Arthur then receives a call from his parents but while on the phone the phone company cuts the line. Arthur refuses to sit and wait for their home to be sold and resolves to find the rubies.
After storming back upstairs he finds a message from his grandfather telling Arthur that Archibald had gone to the Minimoys to recover the rubies, that he needed Arthur's help, he apologizes, and he gives Arthur instructions to open the door to the Minimoys world. He has to do all of this on that night.
Granny puts him to bed and Arthur begins going through the instructions. He has been locked out of the study where everything he needs is. He sneaks into his grandmothers room and steals the key but she gets it back from him and locks him in his room.
He climbs out the window and rigs up an apparatus to get the key back. After getting the key, and knocking more sleeping drops in granny's drink, which knocks her out, he goes through the rest of the instructions retrieving a key, five stone warriors, a tribal canvass, a telescope, and the location to the passage to the other world. The Bogo Matassala appear and lead Arthur to the other world where he is turned into a elf like creature This happens after talking to a fat red headed creature, Prince Betameche (Jimmy Fallon), who thought he was joking about Davido buying the property to build apartments. Arthur explains that the garden he Minimoys live in will be destroyed. Beta, as he wants to be called, lets him into the tiny world. The Bogo's stay behind telling him he is the only one who can really combat the Evil M, Malthazard(David Bowie) a creature Arthur previously read about in Archibald's journal. So now he has to save the house and combat evil. He has 36 hours.
In the the other world he goes to talk to the king, Emporer Sifrat (Robert De Niro) interrupting a ceremony where the princess, Selenia (Madonna), is attempting to pull a sword from the stone. Beta explains to their father that an uplander has come to their land. He then tells them why he came, their little land is in danger. Upset that her brother, Beta, interrupted the ceremony she proclaims that she will combat the Evil M. Arthur explains why he Is there. He needs to find the rubies, save the farm, and save them all at the same time. It is revealed that his grandfather has been gone for three years, and had also helped the Minimoys a lot. He wandered the 7 lands and found his rubies in the land ruled by the Evil M. No one has come back from there but Arthur is going to go there to find Archibald anyway.
They hear something outside of the room they are in and everyone goes to check it out. It is the map maker and he is injured. Selenia helps the map maker while and Arthur realizes that the room is surrounded by a canvass, which is something his grandfather learned when he was in Africa. It is to disguise the village. The canvass tears and Evil M's men come in. They do battle in the room and Evil M's men are all subdued. In the process Arthur pulls the sword from the stone and uses it to take the men down. It becomes clear he is the chosen on who will wield the sword. After the battle Selenia tells her father she has to go defeat Evil M. He tells her she must take Arthur with her. Arthur, Beta, and Selenia set out to fight Evil M and find Arthur's grandfather and the rubies.
After leaving the room/palace/village they find there way to a hotel keeper who tells them that he transported Arthur's grandfather years ago. After refusing to transport him Selenia pays and convinces the man to send them to Necropolis where Evil M rules.
They meet with some difficulty on the way and end up in a river. It is revealed that Minimoys cant swim and hate water. Arthur saves them and they find their way to a field of flowers where they decide to eat and sleep. Before they go to sleep it is revealed that Beta is 299 years old and Selenia is almost 1000 years old.
Meanwhile Granny wakes from a deep sleep and goes about her day until she realizes Arthur is gone. She calls the police who tells her they will do their best to find him.
After they wake, eat , and shower they continue on their journey. The come upon the bamboo irrigation system Arthur made. Selenia says that the system will be a problem if it falls into the hands of the Evil M because he will likely send the water to the Minimoys village. They see the Evil M's minions stealing the straws and Arthur says he will try and fix it. He gets inside a straw and prepares for the straws to be transported to Necropolis. Beta and Selenia follow. The straws are put in the river and carried to a place where a guy is cutting them up. They guy, Koolamassai (Anthony Anderson) finds the trio and hides them taking them to Max(Snoop Dog) where they drink and have fun until Evil M's son, Prince Darkos(Jason Batemen) shows up. Selenia refuses to dance with him and a fight breaks out. Selenia, Beta, and Arthur escape after being given a map that will lead them right to
to Evil M's quarters. Meanwhile Granny receives a surprise visit from Arthur's parents and she explains that Arthur ran away and why he did so.
In Evil M's Layer Selenia separates from the group telling Arthur that she has to fight evil M alone. She bequeaths her royal powers to Arthur if she does not make it back to the meet up point. She goes to M's chambers where he is eating. She tries to sneak up on him but is unsuccessful. They have a conversation about what happened to make M evil. He paints a picture of him being a hero, a conquer, and an unfortunate victim of disease which made him an outcast. He was sent to solve the issue of a drought and to accrue riches. Selenia paints a completely different picture making M out to be a reckless, depressed, and angry man. He betrayed his own people and killed entire populations. His down fall was hanging out with the wrong people which led to him looking the way he does now and act the way he does now. Evil M planned to use Selenia to return to the way he was before but before he can say more a guard tells him that Selenia brought an uplander, the uplander freed the sword of destiny, and has come for the rubies..
Meanwhile Arthur and Beta are thrown in prison. There they find Arthur's grandfather. About the same time Selenia also gets thrown into the same cell. Selenia is happy to see Arthur and calls him her prince charming.
Meanwhile, Arthur's parents are out looking for him and they decide they will never be apart from Arthur again.
After Arthur and his grandfather and catch up they are taken to the Evil M. In the chamber they see how the straws and Archibald's knowledge were used. They also see Mino(Erik Per Sullivan), Miro's(Harvy Keital) son, which Miro asked them to search for on their travels. It is revealed that Malthazard is going to use the straws to flood the Minimoys village. Malthazard sends them into the tunnel which will be flooded but not before Arthur gives Mino the watch that was sent from Miro. Arthur tells Mino to signal with the mirrors he controls at noon.
In the tunnel Archibald gets tired and can't go on further. Arthur see's his wind up car that had been kicked into the grate by Davido and he has an idea. They wind up the car and drive it to the Minimoys palace gates. They make it there just in time to get behind the gates and close the doors. The prince and princess reunite with the king. It is revealed that the Minimoys can only hold the water back an hour and they are counting on Archibald and Arthur to fix the flooding problem.
With less than five minutes left Archibald and Arthur and transported back to the upland.
Davido and the police are already at the house preparing to take over the land and evict Granny. Davido, looking for Archibald patronizingly(expecting not to find him), turns to find him standing next to Granny. They go inside while Arthur looks for the signal from Mino while Archibald is buying time for Arthur to find the treasure.
Meanwhile Malthazard, oblivious to the survival of the Minimoys, is giving a speech to his men. He thinks he is the ruler of the 7 kingdoms now and wants to celebrate. While the celebration goes on Mino gives the signal.
Arthur throws a ball down a hole clogging up the tunnel and stopping the water. The water floods the chamber where the Evil M is celebrating. While the chamber floods M escapes and the rubies rise to the surface and out of the hole. Mino happened to be sitting on the rubies and rises to the surface with them.
Arthur runs to the house and manages to make it there just in time to pay the account in full.
Arthur uses a straw to send Mino back home with the sword. The princess puts it back in the stone. Back at the house Archibald sits down to lunch with Granny, Arthur's parents, the police officers, and the Bogo. Arthur is upstairs looking at a calendar. He looks out the window and says, “only ten more moons Selenia”. Way far out in the garden Selenia says “I will wait for you.”
Best part of story, including ending:
I dislike the story because it seems the movie does not fully develop the story. For example Arthur and Selenia have a budding relationship but there isn't a lot of details. Selenia originally does not like Arthur and then all of a sudden she thinks he is prince charming. Another example is Evil M. You only learn a little bit about why he is evil. You do not really find out exactly why he betrayed his people. Also, when he escapes where does he go? He is just kind of gone. I also dislike the loose references to the King Arthur legend. I think the story should either be all about King Arthur or it should have nothing to do with King Arthur and simple be a story about a boy named Arthur. The connection seems to be tacked on at the end.
Best scene in story:
My favorite scene in the movie happened outside in the yard. Davido is smugly looking around for Archibald because he is certain Archibald is not going to show up. When he turns back to Granny there is Archibald mucking up Davido's plans to buy the land.
Opinion about the main character:
I like the main character because he is a very noble and brave boy. He never wavers for a second and he does what needs to be done even though his parents suck, his Granny is kind of clueless, and his dog is a coward.
