Kids' Fantasy

On the heels of his first foray into romantic comedy, versatile French filmmaker Luc Besson breaks new ground yet again with this computer-animated, family-friendly adaptation of his own children's book Arthur and the Minimoys. Arthur is a wide-eyed ten-year-old whose vivid imagination is fueled by the colorful bedtime stories his grandmother reads to him each night. His dreams are filled with images of African tribes and the remarkable inventions detailed in the enigmatic book that his grandfather left behind after mysteriously disappearing four years ago. Arthur and his family are in danger of losing their home to an unscrupulous real-estate developer, but if there is any truth to the tales of a treasure hidden deep beneath their garden and the tiny, fairy-like creatures that his grandmother so frequently sketches, there may still be hope of saving their home before it's too late. Now, with nothing to guide him but the clues left behind by his grandfather, Arthur will set out to find the mythical world of Seven Kingdoms where the Minimoys are said to dwell and ensure that his troubled family always has a place to call home. An imaginative children's fantasy in the vein of J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, Arthur and the Invisibles features the voices of David Bowie, Snoop Dogg, Madonna, Mia Farrow, and Freddie Highmore. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

E.B. White's classic children's story comes to the screen in this live-action adaptation with an all-star voice cast. Fern Arable (Dakota Fanning) is a young girl growing up on her family's farm. When a sow gives birth to some piglets, Fern's father (Kevin Anderson) intends to do away with the runt of litter, but Fern has become attached to the little pig and persuades her father to let him live. The pig, named Wilbur (voice of Dominic Scott Kay), becomes Fern's pet, but when he grows larger, he's put in the care of Homer Zuckerman (Gary Basaraba), a farmer down the road. Fern is still able to visit Wilbur regularly, and it soon occurs to both of them that pigs tend to have a limited life expectancy on a farm, and that unless something unusual happens, Wilbur will eventually becomes someone's dinner. Charlotte, a friendly spider, hatches a plan to make Wilbur seem special enough to save by weaving messages about the "terrific" pig into her web, and she soon persuades her barnyard friends to join in her plan. Charlotte is voiced by Julia Roberts, while the other actors who provide the voices of the animals on Zuckerman's farm include Robert Redford, John Cleese, Oprah Winfrey, Steve Buscemi, Kathy Bates, Cedric the Entertainer. Thomas Haden Church, and André Benjamin. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Directed by Mike Newell, the fourth installment to the Harry Potter series finds Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) wondering why his legendary scar -- the famous result of a death curse gone wrong -- is aching in pain, and perhaps even causing mysterious visions. Before he can think too much about it, however, Harry boards the train to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where he will attend his fourth year of magical education. Shortly after his reunion with his best friends, Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson), Harry is introduced to yet another Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher: the grizzled Mad-Eye Moody (Brendan Gleeson), a former dark wizard catcher who agreed to take on the infamous "DADA" professorship as a personal favor to Headmaster Dumbledore (Michael Gambon). Of course, Harry's wishes for an uneventful school year are almost immediately shattered when he is unexpectedly chosen, along with fellow student Cedric Diggory (Robert Pattinson), as Hogwarts' representative in the Tri-Wizard Tournament, which awards whoever completes three magical tasks the most skillfully with a thousand-galleon purse and the admiration of the international wizard community. As difficult as it is to deal with his schoolwork, friendships, and the tournament at the same time (not to mention his feelings toward the ever unfathomable Professor Snape (Alan Rickman), Harry doesn't realize that the most feared wizard in the world, Lord Voldemort, is anticipating the tournament, as well. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

An orphan who dreams of someday finding a family to call his own finds his fate taking an unexpected turn when a mysterious stranger named Wilbur Robinson transports him into the future. Based on the book A Day With Wilbur Robinson by William Joyce, Meet the Robinsons tells the story of a boy with a lifelong wish to belong, and shows what happens when he meets an incredible collection of characters who just might have the power to make his wildest fantasies come true. The film's all-star cast of vocal contributors -- including Angela Bassett, Kelly Ripa, Tom Selleck, Adam West, Steve Zahn, and Laurie Metcalf -- brings the world of the future to life as never before seen on the silver screen. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A scrawny rat named Remy (voice of Patton Oswalt) finds his dreams of culinary superstardom stirring up sizable controversy in the kitchen of a fine French restaurant in director Brad Bird's madcap computer-animated comedy. It's hard being a rat with culinary aspirations, but Remy is convinced he has what it takes to break the stereotypes and follow in the footsteps of star chef Auguste Gusteau (voice of Brad Garrett). As fate would have it, Remy is currently situated in the sewers directly beneath Gusteau's elegant restaurant. Soon Remy teams up with a young chef with little talent named Linguini (voice of Lou Romano). Together they are able to create some fabulous dishes, but they live in fear that someone will discover their secret and object strenuously to a rat being in a kitchen. When Remy's passion for cooking turns the haughty world of French cuisine upside down, the rat who would be king of the kitchen learns important lessons about life, friends, and family while questioning whether he should pursue his culinary calling or simply go back underground and return to his life as a sewer rat. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

New Line Cinema founder Robert Shaye's directorial debut, the family-friendly science-fiction tale The Last Mimzy is an adaptation of a short story by Lewis Padgett. The story concerns a young brother and sister, Noah and Emma Wilder (Chris O'Neil and Rhiannon Leigh Wryn), who discover a strange box of artifacts one day while vacationing at the family's summer cottage. When the objects in the box begin to act in strange and mysterious ways, the pair decides to hide it from their mother (Joely Richardson) and workaholic father (Timothy Hutton). When Noah begins to display a previously unknown flair for advanced scientific concepts, the boy's teacher (Rainn Wilson) takes an interest in him. The two youngsters soon become the object of much interest from the government after their new discovery causes a large blackout. Eventually, the duo discovers that they are responsible for helping save the future of humankind, and Emma's precious stuffed rabbit might be something much more than it appears to be. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Producer Marc E. Platt brings author Susan Cooper's popular series of children's fantasy books to the big screen with this tale of a young boy (Alexander Ludwig) who discovers that he is the latest in a long line of immortal warriors. When the forces of darkness, led by the villainous Rider (Christopher Eccleston), threaten to overpower the forces of light, the young chosen one must venture out into the world to realize his destiny and ensure that evil is defeated. Ian McShane and Frances Conroy round out the cast. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Released as Three Wishes for Cinderella in the US, Tri Orisky Pro Popelku has been a Christmas tradition in the Czech Republic since its original release in 1973, and also enjoys a large fan base in Germany. Based on the story by Bozena Nemcová, director Vaclav Vorlicek retells the classic Cinderella fairy tale with modern-day socialist feminism. Popelka (Libuse Safránková) is a servant in the house of her stepmother (Carola Braunbock). A resourceful and independent young girl, she confides her closest friend the owl. When she comes across three magical acorns, she is granted a single wish for each one of them. She meets the Prince (Pavel Trávnicek) in the woods and competes with him in sharpshooting and matches his wit in riddles. After disguising herself in hunting outfits, she makes her final wish for a beautiful wedding dress. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Robin Williams's dizzying and hilarious voicing of the Genie is the main attraction of Aladdin, the third in the series of modern Disney animated movies that began with 1989's The Little Mermaid and heralded a new age for the genre. After a sultan (Douglas Seale) gives his daughter, Jasmine (Linda Larkin), three days to find a husband, she escapes the palace and encounters the street-savvy urchin Aladdin (Scott Weinger), who charms his way into her heart. While the sultan's Vizier, Jafar (Jonathan Freeman), weaves a spell so that he may marry Jasmine and become sultan himself, Aladdin discovers the Genie's lamp in a cave, rubs it, and sets the mystical entity free, leading the Genie to pledge his undying loyalty to the dazzled youth. Aladdin begins his quest to defeat Jafar and win the hand of the princess, with the Genie's help. Monsters, Disney's trademark talking animals, and a flying carpet all figure into the ensuing adventures, but Williams' Genie, who can change into anything or anybody, steals the show as he launches into one crazed monologue after another, impersonating figures from Ed Sullivan to Elvis Presley. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

The 1995 Academy award-winning film Babe was Australian-made and featured the latest in talking animal anima-tronics. It told the heart-warming story of a sheepherding pig named Babe and his rise to community fame. The film was a tremendous hit, both financially and critically. Babe: Pig in the City is the higher budgeted American-made sequel that picks up where the original left off. It was directed by George Miller (Mad Max trilogy) who produced the original Babe film, and received a lot of criticism for being much darker than the original. The story owes more to George Orwell's Animal Farm or Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist than the original film. Having triumphed at the National Sheepdog trials, Babe returns home a hero. But after farmer Hoggett (James Cromwell) suffers from a farming accident, Mrs. Hoggett, a naive portly woman, is left to work the ranch alone. It's not long before the bank comes knocking. Desperate to save her farm from foreclosure, she accepts an offer for Babe to perform his sheepherding abilities at an overseas state fair. Babe, Mrs. Hoggett, Ferdinand the duck, and the singing mice travel across the ocean to a surreal metropolis, where they suddenly become stranded and separated. Soon Babe is performing with circus apes, being chased by wild strays (sounding a lot like Marlon Brando in The Godfather), and making a new wheelchair-bound canine friend (voiced by Adam Goldberg). He also is anointed leader of the animal community. What Babe lacks in street smarts he makes up for in honest goodness as he teaches audiences yet again that "an unprejudiced heart can mend a broken world." ~ Arthur Borman, All Movie Guide

Ace animator Don Bluth directed this direct-to-video follow-up to his 1997 hit Anastasia, concentrating on the adventures of Bartok the Albino Bat (voice of Hank Azaria). Bartok and his best friend, Zozi the Bear (voice of Kelsey Grammer), are now making their way as street performers, but they find themselves drawn in when Prince Ivan is kidnapped by the wicked Ludmilla, who wants to get rid of the man who stands in her way as heir to the throne. Bartok and Zozi decide they must come to Prince Ivan's rescue, and they confront the evil and powerful witch Baba Yaga. Along with Azaria and Grammer, who repeat their roles from the original, Bartok the Magnificent features voice performances from Jennifer Tilly, Catherine O'Hara, and Tim Curry. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Director Tim Burton brings his unique vision and sensibility to Roald Dahl's classic children's story in this lavish screen interpretation. Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp) is the secretive and wildly imaginative man behind the world's most celebrated candy company, and while the Wonka factory is famously closed to visitors, the reclusive candy man decides to give five lucky children a chance to see the inside of his operation by placing "golden tickets" in five randomly selected chocolate bars. Charlie Bucket (Freddie Highmore), whose poor but loving family lives literally in the shadow of the Wonka factory, is lucky enough to obtain one of the tickets, and Charlie, escorted by his Grandpa Joe (David Kelly), is in for the ride of a lifetime as he tours the strange and remarkable world of Wonka with fellow winners, media-obsessed Mike Teavee (Jordan Fry), harsh and greedy Veruca Salt (Julia Winter), gluttonous Augustus Gloop (Philip Wiegratz), and ultra-competitive Violet Beauregarde (AnnaSophia Robb). Over the course of the day, some of the children will learn difficult lessons about themselves, and one will go on to become Wonka's new right hand. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory also stars Christopher Lee, James Fox, and Noah Taylor; the book was famously adapted to the screen before in 1971 under the title Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, with Gene Wilder as the eccentric candy tycoon. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Two young girls who believe that fairies are real attempt to prove it to the world in this drama based on actual events. In 1917, there is little to be happy about in the Wright household in West Yorkshire, England. Polly (Phoebe Nicholls) and her 12-year-old daughter Elsie (Florence Hoath) are still grieving over the death of Elsie's younger brother, and Polly's niece Frances (Elizabeth Earl) has come to stay with them after her father was declared missing in action during World War I. Polly longs for some sort of proof that there is a life beyond our own, while the two girls ardently believe in fairies and enthusiastically study legend and lore. One day, Elsie and Frances produce photographs of fairies that they claim were playing in their garden; Polly believes that they are real, and soon the snapshots attract international attention. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Peter O'Toole), author of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries and a confirmed spiritualist, declares the photos "as genuine as the King's beard," while illusionist Harry Houdini (Harvey Keitel), who has devoted much time and energy to exposing phony mediums and psychics, takes a more cynical view, though he too is eventually convinced that the fairies are real. While Fairy Tale: A True Story presents the appearance of the fairies as fact, analysis of the photographs proved them to be fakes (especially after the same fairies were discovered as illustrations in a children's book published before the photos were taken). The real-life Elsie Wright admitted late in life that the fairy photos were a hoax performed as a "little joke" and that she was always surprised that so many people believed them. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide