Book Review: Arthur and the Forbidden City

 Summary: Arthur's backyard looked like an ordinary garden until he discovered the Minimoys and their vast world where fierce battles are fought, ferocious monsters are faced, and one evil wizard, Maltazard the Cursed, rules from his terrifying stronghold: Necropolis, the forbidden city. Now ten-year-old Arthur magically transformed into a Minimoy must help them find a way into this forbidden city in order to rescue Arthur's grandfather, recover a stolen treasure, and save the land of the Minimoys before it's too late. 

Thoughts: This is the sequel to the book Arthur and the Minimoys (which I have not read) that I found at a used bookstore. I really liked the movie, Arthur and the Invisibles as a kid and had always been curious about the series and so I went ahead and picked it up. 
 The story basically follows the second half of the movie. It's lighthearted and childish with a touch of darker plot lurking beneath. Having seen the movie countless times I admit I was a little bored. For once it was almost complete on target only with a little more humor mixed in. So the story was good and easy to follow without the first book so long as you at least have watched the movie. If not I do really suggest reading the prequel first.
 The characters were nice but a bit dry. They might have gotten lost in the translation (the book is originally written in French) but that didn't change the fact that they were hard to connect with. On the other hand this was a really small book so there wasn't a whole lot of time for major development or connection. Also, this might have been established better in the first book but the characters didn't feel strange or unfamiliar, just dry. They had a habit doing things without explanation and going from one mood to the next in the blink of an eye. That being said, I still did enjoy the story and I really think that younger kids would find this book amusing. Though I did mention darker undertones above, it's nothing a small reader would pick up on/be scared of.

Content: There is the fact that two ten-year-olds are considered married by a kiss but this is all that is considered appropriate and the two were hardly even supposed to touch again until several years had passed. Despite this, there are two kisses in the book. There is also a bit of violence and some dark, though not necessarily scary, plot points that are really only dark if you over think them like I do! ;)
 So, overall, a good kids book but without a lot of meat in the way of characters.