Arthur Christmas

Movie Title--  Arthur Christmas

Release Year--  2011

Running Time--  1 Hour and 37 Minutes

Director--  Sarah Smith and Barry Cook

Cast--  James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, Bill Nighy, Jim Broadbent, Imelda Staunton, Ashley Jenson, Marc Wootton

When Santa, in conjunction with his oldest son Steve neglect to deliver a little girl's present on Christmas Eve, Santa's youngest son Arthur takes it upon his self to save the girl's Christmas.

On Christmas eve, Santa (Jim Broadbent) is out in his new sled the S1, a high tech aircraft that carries all the presents.  With the help of his oldest son Steve (Hugh Laurie) and a ship full of delivery elves, presents are more efficiently delivered to each child in the world.  Steve is next in line to be Santa and has been the person responsible for Santa's new way of delivering presents, believing that it is time to bring the Santa operation into the new millennium.  Steve expects Santa to announce when he arrives back at the North Pole to announce that he is stepping down as Santa and Steve will be his replacement however when Santa announces that next year he will be delivering presents for the 71st year, Steve becomes very cross.  This causes friction between Steve and Santa when they all sit down for Christmas dinner. 

Arthur, Santa's younger son is the person that receives the letters that are written by the children from all over the world and he is the one that enthusiastically writes them back.  Arthur is enchanted by the magic of Christmas.  He is an eternal optimist and when the family becomes upset over dinner, Arthur suggests they play "Christmas" the board game.  When they pull the pieces out, Santa, Steve and Grand Santa (Bill Nighy) argue over who is going to play with the Santa piece.  The argument finally ends when Santa takes the piece and gives Steve the candlestick.  While playing the game, Steve gets a message and leaves the game.  Arthur chases him down and says that he thinks Steve will make a great Santa one day but Steve rudely dismisses him.

Steve goes to the control room and learns from Peter (Marc Wootton) his elf personal assistant and Bryony (Ashley Jensen), an elf from the Giftwrap Battalion that one child's gift didn't get delivered.  Steve wants to keep this a secret but Santa soon learns of the missed delivery and Steve tells him that the margin of error is basically a zero and it is ok to miss one child.  Santa slightly pacified by this answer and goes to his room to rest after his long night.  When Arthur hears about the mistake he becomes determined to make up for it and grant Gwen (Ramona Marquez), the owner of the undelivered gift, a magical Christmas, not matter what it takes.

This film is a little strange but at the same time, it is quite amusing.  This another Santa film that has Santa changing with the times that we live in, which is really quite cool if you go  further back and look at the progression of Santa since he has come to film (in live action and animation).  This film makes Santa a little more high tech but at the same time we see that Santa is ready to give his position to the newer generation, which I think also says something about the society we are living in now; ready to push out everything old and outdated just to replace it with something shiny, young and new.

I will say, although I like James McAvoy and I really like that the character he plays, Arthur, outlook on Christmas is very overwhelming at times and not in a good way.  He wants to make the holiday magical for every child in the world and that is exactly how a Santa should be, it is just at times, this descendant of Santa tends to get very annoying.  His over exuberance seems to be a slight downfall at times when it should be more on the serious side and it sounds as if Arthur is in a constant state of shock causing him to use his "outside" voice even when he isn't meaning to.

If you are interested in seeing a twist on the regular old Santa story, this is a pretty good watch.  If you are looking for something a little different, I would recommend this film as well.  Spend a few hours with Santa and his family and Don't Forget the Popcorn!