Arthur Christmas

A collaboration between Aardman Animations and Sony Pictures Animation, “Arthur Christmas,” released in 2011, promised to be a family picture of a different type: a combination of original British humor (Aardman created “Wallace & Gromit”) and smooth American production (Sony produced “The Smurfs”). It doesn’t deliver on that promise – but it’s a very good, fun family film nonetheless. With a voice cast of some of the best of Britain, however, “Arthur Christmas” could have been special. James McAvoy is the protagonist, the younger son of Santa, voiced by Jim Broadbent, and is not meant to become Santa himself. His older brother, Steve, voiced by Hugh Laurie, is next in line. While waiting for the father to retire, Steve updated the holiday, retiring the old-fashioned sleigh of his Grandsanta, voiced by Bill Nighy, in favor of a technologically advanced spaceship driven by a team of elves.

However, even children know technology isn’t perfect. On one Christmas, Steve’s mission misses a child – a bike meant for a girl in Cornwall remains at the North Pole. Steve doesn’t care, so he feels it doesn’t matter. However, Arthur does. He lives for Christmas, spending the rest of the year answering children’s letters and preparing for the actual holiday – when the clumsy boy isn’t getting in the way.

Arthur can’t believe his father and older brother think delivering that last present before the sun rises is impossible. Weird old Grandsanta has been looking for an excuse to ride that sleigh again. (“I did the whole thing with six reindeer and a drunken elf,” he proudly says of one Christmas during the war.) These two go off on their own to make sure that Christmas is Christmas for every single child on the planet.

Kelly Jane Torrance said in her review, “"Arthur Christmas" isn't going to end up a Christmas classic, one of the handful of films and specials repeated on television each and every year. But it's worth seeing this year. It has old-fashioned values with a modern mind-set.” “How come I can’t see your house when I look on Google Earth?” one child asks Santa in a letter. “Is it true children aren’t real, they’re just antimatter?” asks an intrusive elf after Arthur and Grandsanta’s adventure goes on an out-of-control chain reaction at mission control.

Arthur himself isn’t much of a character, however, it’s hard not to love the underdog just the same. Torrance said, “Nighy's Grandsanta is a real delight, though, just the sort of crazy Englishman we'd expect Aardman -- and the underused Nighy -- to bring to life.” Ashley Jensen is also a highlight as Bryony, an elf whose wrapping skills are one to credit.

Torrance criticized, “Children not yet as cynical as their parents about how underwhelming 3-D has turned out to be will enjoy the snow flying into their faces as the space-sleigh sets off.” However, both groups should enjoy the lesson that Christmas belongs to everyone, especially those who believe in its magic.

I had been thinking of seeing this movie for a while. I have heard about it a lot and have heard good things about it, so I decided to check it out. You can see this on Max, so if you haven’t seen it yet, you should. This is a good one that should never be missed or looked over.

Happy Holidays everyone. I hope everyone had a blessed holiday. This is the greatest time of the year that should be enjoyed by those who celebrate it since everyone always looks forward to it when time gets closer.

Look out tomorrow when I review a film that wasn’t all that bad in “Disney Month 2023.”