Arthur Christmas Review

Aside from a few exceptions, such as 2003’s Elf, the prestige of being deemed a Christmas classic has been mostly reserved for Rankin/Bass’s 1960s stop-motion efforts as well as a select few 20th century feature films, like A Christmas Story and It’s a Wonderful Life. Aardman Animation, the folks behind Chicken Run and the Wallace & Gromit cartoons aim to change that with their latest release, Arthur Christmas, a holiday film so gleefully original that it leaves a silly smile pasted onto the viewer’s face all the way through.

Like any regular family, it turns out the Clauses are rather dysfunctional. The current Santa has allowed his son Steve to modernize Christmas, antiquating the sleigh and reindeer used by Santa’s father Grand Santa, who preceded the current big man. When one child’s gift fails to get delivered, Arthur, the odd brother of the family, sets out with Grand Santa and his old sleigh and reindeer to see to it that the girl’s gift is delivered. 

The film’s strength isn’t in this main goal, as the globe-trotting adventure to give the girl her gift does begin to drag a bit in the middle. Instead, I found myself whisked away in the thought-to-be-generic Christmas operations that have been realized here in ways I never could have dreamed up. The ways in which the film manages to explain the mystery behind Santa’s delivery of two billion presents in one night are amusing, exciting and manage to retain an absurd sort of believability amidst the colorful characters and creative changes to the usual Christmas formula.

While the central conflict isn’t all too interesting, the family interactions surrounding it are. Arthur may sound like a fairly generic underdog hero on paper, but the way he idolizes his seemingly inept father and self-centered brother make for some surprisingly complex relationships that are often absent from holiday films. There are some lightning-fast conversations, played often for comedy, but the speed coupled with British accents all around could leave some American audience members scratching their heads sometimes. All in all, though, the voice work is superb. James McAvoy plays the lead for immense likability, and he’s backed up by a great supporting cast, especially from the elf ensemble. Their voices may be squeaky, but they’re also charmingly fit for their species and are never annoying like those of some other high-pitched characters in today’s family film market (chipmunks, I’m looking at you). 

Through all this praise, I must point out the film’s one major stumbling point: I was honestly under the impression that the conflict around which the film revolves was actually just a subplot to get the main story going, which I presumed would be a battle against the out-with-the-old, in-with-the-new ideals of Steve. Instead, the quest to return the little girl’s toy turned out to be the main plot thread, which surprised and worried me, as I was right in questioning whether the tale would be capable of supporting the film’s runtime.

The movie feels artificially extended during some sequences. I wasn’t bored to tears, but there were definitely segments in which not enough happened to fully retain my interest. It seems that the filmmakers attempted to fill these voids with meaningful family-oriented revelations, and they don’t fall completely flat but also aren’t suited to the length of the portion of the film in which they reside. The experience is far from ruined, but it is detracted from.

In the end, originality is supreme in Arthur Christmas. It’s not quite up to par with past Aardman efforts, but that’s not a big criticism given the enormous quality of those films. While this may not be added to the list of the yearly holiday must-sees, it’s enjoyable, hilarious and wholly original fare and it’s almost always great fun. Don’t go in hoping for the next Christmas classic, but prepare to be entertained and surprisingly touched in the vain of the holidays.

FInal Score:

7.5/10

“Very Good”