Arthur Christmas (2011) review

Arthur Christmas (2011)

Directed by: Sarah Smith

Produced by: Peter Lord, David Sproxton, Carla Shelley, Steve Pegram

Screenplay by: Peter Baynham, Sarah Smith

Starring: James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, Bill Nighy, Jim Broadbent, Imelda Staunton, Ashley Jensen

I knew I wanted to review one movie that featured the mythos of Santa Claus and his worldwide Christmas toy delivery. I could go with “Miracle on 34th Street” or “The Santa Clause,” but instead we’re going with a much more recent film, one that should be a modern Christmas classic, but doesn’t seem to have that status yet. It’s the 2011 animated movie “Arthur Christmas,” centered on Arthur Claus (James McAvoy), the clumsy, good-natured second son of Malcolm (Jim Broadbent), the current Santa, whose latest high-tech run is marred by the realization that one child has accidentally been left without a gift. Energetically animated but also containing a lot of heart, this movie captures a fresh and modern yet still nostalgically pleasing take on the season.

The plot establishes that the Santa role is actually a dynasty; 20 generations of the character have taken up the mantle over the years, and the current one is on his 70th mission. However, his current role is mostly that of a figurehead, while hundreds of elves do most of the delivering via expert stealth and precision tactics, piloted aboard the S-1, a camouflaged ship. The operation is handled from a control panel at the North Pole by Malcolm’s eldest son Steve (Hugh Laurie), eager to take his father’s place, while Arthur mostly just answers the children’s letters. But during an incident where Santa is nearly discovered by a child, a bicycle falls through the cracks and is left unaccounted for, eventually found by a wrapping elf named Bryony (Ashley Jensen) after the mission. Steve is willing to accept it as a lone error in an otherwise perfect night, but Arthur is heartbroken at leaving Gwen Hines (Ramona Marquez), a young British girl, with nothing under the tree. So his retired Grandsanta (Bill Nighy), a staunchly traditionalist, shows him the old wooden sleigh and eight reindeer, coaxing him to join him on an attempt to deliver the gift before the sun comes up, while Bryony tags along.

One of the first things that will jump out at you about the movie is the overall look, which almost turns you off at first glance. The character designs admittedly look funny, but I think it’s just a product of the animation studio Aardman Animations; they’re a British team mostly known for similar-looking stop-motion claymation films like “Chicken Run,” “Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit” and “Shaun the Sheep Movie.” This was their first film after splitting from DreamWorks; but the strength here lies in the speed and movement. The entire opening sequence where the elves are delivering the gifts is fantastic; just the way they execute their operations—the sneaking, the lingo, the technology—is so satisfying. The bizarre visuals and dialogue make for terrific humor, especially how many times they use descriptive captions or apply strategic vocabulary to such silly, childish conditions; it’s like watching an Edgar Wright comedy, that’s how funny it gets.

That translates into the characters, with many of the best lines coming from Grandsanta, especially his little stories about past Santas. Bryony gets plenty of laughs as well, just her almost obsessive methods of wrapping, while Steve’s assistant elf Peter (Marc Wootton) is enjoyable merely for how much of a sniveler he is. But the film is much more than just a laugh fest; the heart of the story is about each of these generations and their various motivations. Grandsanta wants Christmas done the old-fashioned way, Steve thinks everything should be new and state-of-the-art, Malcolm is struggling to hold on to his position because he’s old, tired and forgetful, and Arthur doesn’t care who’s Santa or how things are done as long as each respective child is happy. It’s the way their ideologies clash that creates the basic conflict, but it’s not done in a way that strictly vilifies any of them.

In a lesser movie, you could see Steve as the bad guy, because of how corporate and militaristically stuffy he gets; but you still understand his dilemma, because he is very efficient yet frustrated with his current role. It’s kind of like a high-ranking employee having the responsibilities and pressures of a CEO, but not the title; so he still has someone above him to answer to, even if that someone is doing very little. But this doesn’t make Malcolm any less likeable, as we see how much he loves being Santa and doesn’t know what he would do with his life otherwise; his talks with his wife Margaret (Imelda Staunton) lend plenty of gravitas to the character. Even Grandsanta’s reasons aren’t exactly noble; he mostly just wants glory and validation that he can still keep up with the times rather than to help the kids, only to discover that some of the old methods are out of date for a reason.

Arthur himself—often adorned in an ugly sweater and goofy novelty slippers—easily could’ve been too innocent or perfect that you can’t relate to him, but he’s not without his own complexities; he screws up a lot, is afraid of pretty much everything, and has his own crisis of faith. But he clearly has his heart in the right place, still loving to give and believing in the wonder and magic of Christmas, and how each child should experience it. It all amounts to a beautiful climax, where all the Clauses converge on Gwen’s location with sunrise approaching, and ultimately come to a compromise. The emotion of the situation really hits you without ever going too serious—the image of Grandsanta riding a reindeer from a trash can is hilarious, by the way—continuing the narrative of how Christmas respects the many different ways we celebrate it and how we can spread the proper spirit.

Don’t get me wrong; “Arthur Christmas” isn’t a perfect film; some of the character developments and decisions are slightly rushed and random, and I think the subplot of the sleigh and reindeer being mistaken for extra-terrestrials is pretty dull. But in my opinion, there’s still so much to love with this movie; the performances, the music, the writing, the timeless themes, the detail—also, I’m also just really curious about the rules of Christmas: The Board Game; if it has anything in common with Monopoly, I feel like it’s bound to ruin even more holidays. However, the movie was very poorly marketed for American audiences, and ended up getting blitzed at the box office by the new “Twilight” movie and the reboot of “The Muppets”; however, I’ve read that it’s still quite popular in the UK. I’m hoping it can maintain that momentum through other countries in the years to come; I think it belongs in the top tier of great Christmas specials, so give it a watch and re-discover the joy of believing in Santa.

My rating: 9/10