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Arthur and the Invisibles (2006) More at IMDbPro »Arthur et les Minimoys (original title)

4 items from 2013

23 May 2013 4:00 PM, PDT | The Guardian - Film News | See recent The Guardian - Film News news »

Perfectly serviceable though it is, this animated woodland saga feels cobbled together from many sources

That title is inviting the addition of the word "fail", but actually this is perfectly serviceable family animation. Even so, "generic" might have been a better description. Its woodland saga feels cobbled together from a dozen other sources, including FernGully, A Bug's Life, Arthur and the Invisibles, The Borrowers, Roger Dean, even Fifi and the Flowertots. Our heroine is a lonely human teen (Amanda Seyfried), who's shrunk to fairy size to aid magical forest dwellers in their battle against decay-spreading baddies. (The motivation for the decay-spreading is unclear – they're just baddies.) Boxes are studiously ticked. There's a mini-teen hunk for Seyfried to flirt with, comedy gastropod sidekicks, parenting issues, eco sentiments, bird-back aerial action and random celebrity voice cameos, including Beyoncé, Steven Tyler and Pitbull. What stands out is the animation. The microcosmic woodland world is luminous and detailed, »

- Steve Rose

21 May 2013 4:01 PM, PDT | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »

The most questionable thing about “Epic,” Blue Sky Studios’ latest animated adventure, is its title. Not only is it generic-sounding and Google-unfriendly, it’s also one of the last words most viewers would use to describe the film. Which is not to say that director Chris Wedge’s effort is some sort of epic fail, in fact it’s nothing of the sort: “Epic” is a reasonably entertaining, adeptly crafted kidpic whose biggest crime is its near pathological reliance on overfamiliar tropes and trappings. But that shouldn’t bother family crowds, who will likely line up in large numbers and leave satisfied, if hardly awed.

That “Epic’s” title survived market testing is a bit surprising when one considers how much of the rest of the film seems to have originated there. Almost everything that conventional wisdom would suggest a successful multi-quadrant family pic ought to contain is present here in some capacity, »

- Andrew Barker

3 May 2013 6:31 PM, PDT | MovieWeb | See recent MovieWeb news »

Jason Bateman is joining forces with Walt Disney Animation on a secretive, untitled comedy. No story details were released, but the project is said to be an, "animal comedy."

Byron Howard (Tangled, Bolt) is directing, although it is not known who is working on the screenplay or who will produce. Before making his directorial debut in 2008 with Bolt, Byron Howard worked in the animation department on such Disney animated movies as Pocahontas, Mulan, Lilo & Stitch, and Brother Bear.

It isn't known when production will begin, or when Disney is targeting the comedy for release.

This project marks Jason Bateman's second time providing his voice for an animated feature, after his role in the English version of Luc Besson's 2006 adventure Arthur and the Invisibles. »

- MovieWeb

3 May 2013 | Comingsoon.net | See recent Comingsoon.net news »

Jason Bateman is set to lead the voice cast of a mysterious new Walt Disney Animation project, says a story at The Hollywood Reporter . Specifics are few, but the trade claims that it will be an animal comedy and will be directed by Tangled 's Byron Howard. Bateman, who this year has already starred in Identity Thief and Disconnect , will next reprise his role as Michael Bluth for Netflix's new "Arrested Development" season. He has previously supplied big screen voice work for the English-language version of Luc Besson's Arthur and the Invisibles . Tangled (co-directed by Nathan Greno) was a surprise hit for the studio, raking in more than $590 million worldwide. The studio's next animated feature, Frozen , features the voice talents of Kristen Bell, Idina »

4 items from 2013