You've all heard of Pokemon right? Well, did you know anything about Nintendo's bread and butter before the cartoon and series of games hit the US? Most people would probably say no to that, and that's exactly how you're going to feel about Atari's upcoming title based on the animated movie, Arthur and the Minimoys. The mythos of Arthur and the Minimoys is simply massive within the French society. In France, Director Luc Besson is held in the same light as Steven Spielberg in the US.

The movie is about a ten-year-old boy named Arthur, who must save his grandfather's house from being demolished. To do so, Arthur sets out on a journey to acquire a treasure from the land of the Minimoys, a race of tiny people who live in harmony with nature. Along the way he meets up with Princess Selenia, and gets involved in a big adventure.

In addition to the huge public awareness Minimoys has in France, the film will feature some big name voice talent. Madonna will be voicing Princess Selenia, while David Bowie and Snoop Dogg will also voicing some of the key characters in the movie. Voice work for the game has yet to be nailed down, but the developers are making every effort to lock down the same high profile voice talent that will be featured in the movie.

The game will be targeted toward the movie audience, which consists of 8-12 year-old kids. While the game is heavily based on puzzle solving, fighting, racing and flying also play a big role as you progress through the game. Due to the younger target audience, the puzzles in each level won't be overly challenging. To help younger gamers out, there will be plenty of visual cues that will tell players how to get through a certain area.

Once you get into the game, you'll find three characters in your party. Arthur and his two companions must work together to solve puzzles and get through each level. You can switch between the characters on the fly, and during certain puzzles it will be required for players to switch from one character to another in order to successfully solve the puzzle. As you progress through the game, your character's weapons will be upgraded to dish out more damage or have a wider area of effect.

Arthur and his crew will have to work their way through three huge game worlds. Atari showed off the Badlands and the Whitelands in the PC demo we were given. Each level in these massive worlds is linked together, so during a flying level you may see the area you just went through down below. Speaking of the flying level, it plays completely different from the on the ground levels. You won't have freedom of movement, but instead will be locked down on rails. However, you will be able to target multiple enemies and launch missiles and other various weapons as you fly past.

From what we've seen, Arthur and the Minimoys looks like a promising kids title that should go well with the upcoming animated movie. The movie is currently set to hit US theaters in January, with the game following on PC, PlayStation 2, PSP, GBA and Nintendo DS. We'll have more on Arthur and his adventures at E3, where Atari plans to have the game featured on the show floor.