Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard

Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard
Teaser poster
Directed by	Luc Besson
Produced by	Luc Besson Emmanuel Prévost
Written by	Luc Besson Céline Garcia
Based on	Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard by Luc Besson
Starring	Freddie Highmore Selena Gomez Mia Farrow Lou Reed Jimmy Fallon Ron Crawford Stacy Ferguson Snoop Dogg will.i.am Logan Miller Robert Stanton Penny Balfour Jean-Paul Rouve
Music by	Éric Serra
Cinematography	Thierry Arbogast
Edited by	Julien Rey
Production company	EuropaCorp Apipoulaï Avalanche Productions Narfia Entertainment Group
Distributed by	EuropaCorp (France) 20th Century Fox/The Weinstein Company (USA) Entertainment Film Distributors (UK)
Release dates	November 26, 2009 (2009-11-26) (Germany) December 2, 2009 (2009-12-02) (France)
Running time	93 minutes
Country	France
Language	English
Budget	€65 million ($90 million) shared with Arthur 3
Box office	$78,520,547

Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard (French: Arthur et la vengeance de Maltazard, also known in North America as Arthur and the Invisibles 2 or simply Arthur 2) is a 2009 English-language French animated/live-action feature film co-written, co-produced and directed by Luc Besson, based on his novel of the same title and starring Freddie Highmore and Mia Farrow. EuropaCorp produced the film, which is the second in Besson's Arthur series, following Arthur and the Invisibles. It was a box office flop and was panned by critics.

Plot

In 1963, protagonist Arthur stays with his grandparents for the holidays, during which the Bogo Matassalai (a fictitious African society) assign Arthur a series of tests including camouflage and environmental nonviolence. Having passed these tests, Arthur prepares to see the Minimoys to celebrate, until his father decides to take him and his mother back to the metropolis. When a spider gives Arthur a grain of rice containing a distress-call, which he believes has come from the Minimoys, he returns to his grandparents' house, where the Bogo Matassalai's attempt to give him Minimoy stature through a telescope fails, and they instead wrap him in vines of increasing tightness until he falls in a drop of sap into the Minimoy Max's bar. En route to investigate the Minimoys' condition, Arthur and Max rescue Betameche, who leads Arthur to the King. He then learns that Selenia is held by Maltazard, who is inspired to invade the human world by increasing his own size. Maltazard tricks the Minimoys into completing this design. The telescope itself is destroyed in the process, leaving Arthur trapped at his Minimoy size.

Cast

• Freddie Highmore as Arthur
• Selena Gomez as Selenia. Gomez replaces Madonna, who voiced the character in the original.The character was dubbed by French singer Mylène Farmer in the French version
• Mia Farrow as Daisy
• Lou Reed as Maltazard. Reed replaces David Bowie, who voiced the character in the original.
• Jimmy Fallon as Betameche
• Ron Crawford as Archibald
• Robert Stanton as Armand
• Penelope Ann Balfour as Rose
• Jean Betote Njamba as Bogo Chief
• Bogos -
  • Valery Koko Kingue
  • Abdou Djire
  • Bienvenu Kindoki
  • Laurent Mendy
  • Ibrahima Traore
  • Aba Koita
• David Gasman as Mechanic
• Alan Fairbanks as Pump Attendant
• Logan Miller as Jake
• Snoop Dogg as Max
• will.i.am as Snow
• Fergie as Replay
• David Gasman as King/Bogo Chief
• Leslie Clack as Ferryman
• Alan Wenger as Mono Cyclop/DaVinci
• Barbara Weber Scaff as Miss Perlanapple
• Jerry di Giacomo as Proscuitto/Guard
• Paul Bandey as Miro/Unicorn Chief

Home media

On March 22, 2011 20th Century Fox, the North American distributor for the Arthur films, released Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard and Arthur and the War of the Two Worlds in a two-movie direct-to-video release titled Arthur and the Invisibles 2+3: The New Minimoy Adventures. A theatrical release for the film was not given in the US after Arthur and the Invisibles was a failure at the North American box office. However, the film was still released theatrically in Europe and as well as in the UK and Ireland as Arthur and the Great Adventure.

UK version

Shortly after the third film Arthur 3: The War of the Two Worlds was released, the two films were edited into a single feature titled Arthur and the Great Adventure, which was given a theatrical release in the UK on December 24, 2010.

Reception

Both the original and UK versions received mixed to poor reviews. Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard is widely thought of as the weakest film in the Arthur series.

Video game

To promote the film, a video game was released for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Windows. The game composes of mostly minigames and cutscenes which are loosely related to the plot of the film.

Sequel

In 2010, a sequel titled Arthur and the War of the Two Worlds was released.

External links

• Arthur et la vengeance de Maltazard at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Arthur et la vengeance de Maltazard at IMDb