Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard (2009)

Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard arrives as the second chapter in Luc Besson's adaptation of his own children's books, following a boy who answers a distress call from a princess held captive by a villain. It is a live-action and animated hybrid from 2009, and it carries the unhurried confidence of a film with no argument to make beyond getting Arthur back into the tiny kingdom. The voice cast is a curious assembly of American pop figures: Snoop Dogg, will.i.am, Fergie, Selena Gomez, and Lou Reed, who replaced David Bowie as the villain. None of this is presented as a statement. The performers are hired for their voices, not for the demographic weight they might carry.

Princess Selenia spends the running time as a hostage, and the plot treats her rescue as the engine of the story, which places the film outside any modern feminist reading. The Bogo Matassalai, a fictitious African society, administer tests of camouflage and environmental nonviolence. This could be mistaken for ecological messaging, but it functions as a plot device, a way to move Arthur toward his transformation. The society exists to serve the hero's journey, not to comment on the world. There is no racial consciousness at work here, no climate crusade, no economic grievance, and no meditation on bodies, minds, or histories in need of revision.

What remains is a children's adventure with mixed critical reception and a troubled distribution history. It was a success in France and a loss almost everywhere else, edited together with its sequel for British audiences. The film asks nothing of its viewers except attention. In an era that rewards cinema for its positions, this one holds none. That is not a failure of nerve. It is simply a story about a boy who shrinks and a villain who grows, and it seems content to leave the culture untouched.