New Year, New Movies

Continued from page 1

Not much has been made of "Arthur and the Invisibles," but it’s a fun film for the 'tween and under crowd. It’s the story of a boy, played by Freddie Highmore (Charlie from "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory") who must find his missing explorer-grandfather and find a stash of rubies to save the family farm from ruthless developers. The twist is that both the grandfather and the rubies are being held captive in a world populated by tiny people within Seven Kingdoms--completely hidden in Freddie’s own backyard.

In many ways, it’s a metaphor for the imagination of youth, when whole worlds of adventure are available in your own backyard. To find grandpa and save the day, Arthur must become one of the tiny denizens of invisible kingdom. In doing so, he Freddie Highmore becomes the voice of a CGI-version of himself. It’s a fun movie for the younger set, although my daughter recommended it “for ages zero to kazillion,” and I quite enjoyed it myself. There are certainly worse ways to spend a snowy day.

Who of us hasn’t been in a museum or wax gallery, seen all those almost-alive versions of people and animals, and fantasized about what would happen if they all came alive? That’s the premise of the book on which this film is based, and it’s a fun one.

I’ve got to say, the plot of "Night" has so many holes it’s like the Alpine Lace of family films. (Why does everything come back to right the next morning--except the rules? So these aren’t really Teddy Roosevelt or Genghis Khan, they’re wax figures with their personalities? Then why would the beautiful museum guide hyperventilate over the chance to meet a wax statue with the personality of Sacagawea? Or, wait, King Tut really is King Tut reanimated--or is he?) Well, never mind. It’s a fun movie (though not exactly a classic) for all ages, if you don’t think about it too much. And it’s great fun to see Dick Van Dyke and the other older actors out and about, especially as bad guys.

"Night at the Museum" gets snaps for being the one holiday movie that my whole family--young children, college-age cousins, parents, grandparents--all agreed to see, and all enjoyed. And both my college-aged nieces were lured back to the Museum of Natural History--which, I suspect, was one of the main purposes of the novel to begin with.