Arthur Christmas (2011) Review

CLAYTON'S CHRISTMAS CINEMA!

Arthur Christmas (2011) Review

So far this season, I’ve reviewed a number of Christmas films that deal with somewhat more mature content, whether it’s slasher level violence like in Jack Frost or vulgar humour in Harold & Kumar. But today’s review is for a decidedly lighter and more family friendly animated film, Arthur Christmas. And no, this has nothing to do with the Aardvark.

In the North Pole lives the Santa family, consisting of Grandpa Santa, who has retired and gone a bit senile in his old age, the current Santa, who refuses to retire even though he himself is getting too old to do the job, his technologically savvy son Steve who is next in line to take up the role as Santa, and his other younger son Arthur, who is passionate about Christmas and all the children who look forward to their gifts from Santa each year, and he takes care of replying to all the children’s letters. On one fateful Christmas Eve, the grandeur mission to get toys to all the good little girls and boys has a slight error. One child doesn’t get a gift placed under her tree, but Santa shrugs it off as no big deal. Arthur, on the other hand, makes it his mission to get the gift to her before sunup. Together with a fastidious elf, his grandfather, and his pet Reindeer, they gear up the outdated sled that runs on magic and go on an epic journey across the world to get to England and deliver the child’s present.

Arthur Christmas is a very exciting, fun, and well crafted film that the whole family can enjoy. While it does have aspects that adults will appreciate more than children, this is definitely targeted directly at younger viewers. The animation is great, and I really appreciate some of the detail they worked in, such as Steve’s beard being trimmed in the shape of a Christmas tree. There were some aspects to the animation I didn’t care for, however. Everyone’s noses looked bulbous and odd (not too surprising considering it’s an animated feature for kids), and the elves were kind of creepy and annoying. In fact, the elves were my least favourite part of the film. Luckily, they play a secondary role to the Santa’s, which were all great characters in their own ways. The voice cast is full of talent, including James McAvoy (X-Men First Class), Hugh Laurie (House M.D.) and Bill Nighy (Pirates of the Caribbean). Undoubtedly the best part of Arthur Christmas is the original plot, loaded with creative concepts, most of which I’ve never seen in any other Christmas film. My favourite was the Enterprise-like ship used to deliver gifts, with features such as aerial camouflage and hyper drive engines.

All in all, Arthur Christmas definitely captures the magic of the holidays with its heartfelt story and surprisingly complete character development. It tends to be too frantic at times, which will surely work for young children, but older viewers may benefit from watching it in segments.