Review of Arthur Christmas, starring James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, Jim Broadbent, Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton, Ashley Jensen, Miggie Donahoe.
Be warned: if you take your kids to Arthur Christmas, depending on what you’ve already told them about Santa Claus, you may have some explaining to do. The movie makes some changes to who Santa is in the modern world.
That said: that’s your biggest problem if you take your kids to Arthur Christmas, because otherwise, you’ll all enjoy yourself. Besides, a kid who wants to believe will rationalize any variation on the Santa Claus legend anyway. And Arthur Christmas may toy with Santa’s identity, but it doesn’t mess with what he is.
The title character is actually one of Santa Claus’ two sons. Actually, he’s the son of the current Santa Claus (who has an actual first name – Malcolm, of all things!) Santa Claus is a title – like King of England – bestowed from one generation to the next. Malcolm has assumed the mantle from Grandsanta (who still lives with the family), and it’s pretty well assumed that Santa’s son Steve will be the next guy to take charge. After all, he runs the North Pole with military efficiency while the well-meaning but klutzy Arthur works in the mailroom. He’s got a big heart which he shows as he screens and answers kids’ letter to Santa. He’s a likeable loser, but not a leader.
Steve’s operation is on display in the movie’s opening sequence, which on its own would make a very entertaining animated short. The S1, a giant air cruiser shaped like Santa’s original sleigh, descends upon a sleeping city, and Santa and his team of elves, swoop in like Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossibleto deliver their payload of toys. It’s a high-energy mission where the elves employ all kinds of cool gadgets ( like the scanner that judges kids not as strictly “naughty” or “nice” but breaks them down by a “nice percentage” and distributes toys accordingly). In the movie’s best bit, they have to deal with a “waker” – a kid who starts to stir while Santa is in the room. It leads to a great parody of action movie bomb diffusing scenes.
After all that, there’s a problem – one toy didn’t get delivered. Steve’s percentage is not 100%, but he and his dad (now largely a figurehead) decide to bury the news and leave well enough alone. Arthur can’t stand to think that one child will be without a toy, so he and Grandsanta take the old sleigh out of mothballs and try to get it delivered before the little girl who wanted it wakes up in the morning. They set off on an adventure with a lot of heart and a lot of fun. Kids will appreciate the slapstick; adults will appreciate the humor to come out of their GPS. First-time film director and co-writer Sarah Smith balances things that appeal to all ages very well.
Like any big animated 3D movie, there is star power behind the voices. To their credit, they aren’t obvious – you pretty much have to wait until the end to discover what voices Hugh Laurie, James McAvoy, Bill Nighy, Eva Longoria and others provided.
Arthur Christmas is very much of the times with its jokes about GPS’s and Google Earth, so someday, it probably will be dated (sorry, Google Earth, but something else will inevitably come along). But then again, stop-motion animation looks really dated now, and we’ll all watch the Rankin Bass specials year-after-year. As long as its message is timeless, the movie has a chance to be timeless too.