Arthur and the Invisibles

A young boy (Freddie Highmore) hopes to stop the eviction of his grandmother (Mia Farrow) from her farm by finding a fortune in rubies hidden by his long-lost grandfather. His quest calls for him to shrink down to the size of the Minimoys, an infinitesimal, pixie-like race of people his grandfather brought back from deepest Africa. Director Luc Besson’s latest film, a mix of live action and gleaming computer animation, follows the pattern of most of his others—eccentric, spirited, more than a little off-the-wall, occasionally utterly outlandish, yet never dull or halfhearted. The story isn’t terribly original, but Besson gives it a fuel-injected energy that’s hard to resist; he even gets a lively performance out of the usually low-key, diffident Highmore—which is more than Tim Burton was able to do.