Bowies having fun here in this charming, underrated animated fantasy from Luc Besson, playing the twisted ruler of dark forces in the miniature kingdom of the Minimoys (each the size of a tooth). Malthazard is a former Minimoy knight, the most charismatic and brave in all the kingdom, who commanded a force to range out into the wastelands to find his people a new source of water. When he returns victorious but traumatised from his trials, the sole survivor, his people have forgotten him, and society has changed: courageous knights are no longer necessary in this new egalitarian Minimoy kingdom, and Malthazard finds himself irrelevant and cast aside. That's all fuel for a Disney-villain-style transformation into a warped, scarred version of himself, the general of legions of sinister warriors. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBiN6QYK1vU Bowie is creepily compelling throughout, in a kind of cracked, ugly, kids redux of his superior Goblin King of two decades earlier. Where Jareth is a fantasy figure though, Malthazard has more in common with Rowlings Voldemort: a wracked, exiled, haunted figure whose name must never be mentioned (hes referred to as M, or Evil M), poisoned and poisonous. Incidentally, if youre going to seek out Arthur And The Invisibles, its recommended that you find the European or UK version of the movie - some of the running time was snipped to cater to American audiences, and whoever wielded the scissors left some important plot and character beats on the cutting room floor.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
