Arthur and the Invisibles

Luc Besson has always made films that seem to be tailor-made for video-game adaptation; Leon the Professional by itself could become one of the greatest games of all time. Sadly, the only Besson film until recently to be given a video-game treatment was The Fifth Element, a terrific action/sci-fi flick that became one of the worst PS1 games of all time. His most recent film, Arthur and the Invisibles, is aimed at children; so, of course, video-game adaptations have been made for nearly every viable system available. Reviews for the games have been remarkably high, eschewing the age-old rule of thumb that games based on movies are terrible. It’s my sad duty to say that the Game Boy Advance version breaks that high trend, as it is just as bad as could be expected.

The game begins with a quickie overview of the film’s storyline. Arthur is a young boy who, while exploring his grandparent’s house, looks through a telescope and is inexplicably transformed into a Minimoy, a pixie-like creature two millimeters tall. Given the instructions to go talk to the king and find Selenia with no explanation of who they are or why these things are happening, Arthur takes off on his quest with a chubby young Minimoy named Betameche. Then you are thrown into the first level. The game definitely assumes that you’ve already seen the film and know what’s going on, because this is about as clear as the plot is ever made. (Also, this is less of a flaw than a point of curiosity, but why are the characters called Invisibles in the title, then Minimoys throughout the game?)

The gameplay is standard platform/action fare, with a few minor puzzle elements here and there. Most of the “depth” of the gameplay comes from having to switch control between Arthur, Betameche, and, in later levels, Selenia, and utilizing each of their unique powers to advance. The first thing that’s immediately evident is that this is one of the slowest platformers ever made, as you have no ability to run at any point in the game. Slowing things down even more is the fact that whichever Minimoy you are currently controlling goes alone; you have to manually take control of each character to get them to go anywhere.  Despite these slowing factors, the game is still a mere two-three hours long, so it’s obvious that there’s just not very much game here.

The game takes every aspect that worked well in the movie and console game versions and does nothing with them. The fantasy art style, one of the perks of the film, is reduced here to bland environments and awkwardly animated characters (Arthur’s punch animation is one of the weirdest-looking attacks I’ve ever seen in a game). The music is standard fantasy fare, looped so often as to become really irritating by the end of the first stage, and the sound effects are among the most generic I’ve ever heard. As I mentioned before, the story, one of the strongest elements of the movie, has been completely glossed over here to the point that anyone who hasn’t seen the film will have no idea what’s going on or why they are supposed to be doing whatever the current task at hand is.

The Game Boy Advance is dated hardware, given, but it is capable of so much more. I was given the impression that the game was rushed out so there would be a version available for all possible systems on the day of the film’s release. Any child enamored with the film will, of course, want the video game as well. If all they own is a GBA, they might end up with this version of the game, and that would be unfortunate. That money would be better saved for the DVD; I can guarantee that any child on the receiving end of this game won’t be happy about it.

Gameplay: 3.8
Some of the most boring and s-l-o-w platforming of all time. You thought that first run through the level wasn’t boring enough? Now you’ve got to take two more characters through the same thing!

Graphics: 4.4
While some remnants of the beautiful artistry from the film are visible, for the most part this is a example of how repetitive environments can be, and how poorly animated characters can be.

Sound: 4.2
If you heard the music without it looping, you might not think it was that bad. Of course, it would only be 15 seconds long.

Difficulty: Easy
Provided you don’t fall victim to the sometimes cheap deaths, you should be through the game in three hours, tops. Continues are lenient, too.

Concept: 4.1
The concept of the film is pretty cool. To take that concept and shoehorn it into a generic action/platformer is not cool. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Overall: 4.1
Just goes to show why movie-to-game conversions have the reputation they do. Monsieur Besson’s work deserves better.