I recently combed through my past reviews and realized that I had never used the phrase 'paroxysms of laughter' when referring to a comedy.
I'm using it now. Aardman Animation & Sony Pictures Animation's Arthur Christmas - starring the voice of James McAvoy as Santa's bumbling son who tries to save Christmas for one little girl - made me laugh so hard I just about fell out of my seat. And, unlike so many holiday specials that preach about the magic of Christmas, this movie actually shows it.
Aardman Animation, Sony Pictures Animation Presents Arthur Christmas, Starring James McAvoy
Christmas is serious business. From the deck of the gigantic S-1 hover jet, thousands of paramilitary elves assist an ineffectual Santa (Jim Broadbent) in delivering toys around the world. Controlling everything from his control room in the North Pole is Santa's heir apparent, the highly-efficient Steve (Hugh Laurie). In this high-tech holiday, bumbling but sincere younger brother Arthur (McAvoy) stands out like a booger in cranberry sauce.
"They should ship him to the South Pole," whispers one elf after Arthur mucks things up in the control room again.
But something goes wrong; one little girl (Ramona Marquez) didn't get her present. Steve says this is within acceptable tolerances: they got every other child in the world, right? But for Arthur, forgetting one child is unacceptable. He grabs his Grandsanta (Bill Nighy) - permanently grounded after that Cuban Missile Crisis incident - hauls out the old sleigh, an enthusiastic wrapping elf (Ashley Jensen) and 8 reindeer and take to the skies in order to make sure everyone gets their Christmas.
Arthur Christmas proves great movies are about execution as much as ideas: in the hands of a lesser studio, this film could have turned into mush with an overly-efficient, humourless character presented as the villain. But writer/director Sarah Smith and co-writer Peter Baynham keep it about the characters, and keep them consistent throughout the film. In the process, they show how a dysfunctional family comes together to relearn what Christmas means. And they also demonstrate how brains without heart cannot save the day, and vice versa. It's a point not many animated films will make, outside of Pixar.
Aardman's clearly stealing a few pages from Pixar's handbook but they keep that wonderful British whimsy that fans of the Wallace and Gromit series love. The fact that they undersell a blink-and-you-miss-it Shawn the Sheep cameo makes it that much funnier; a lesser studio would have made it bigger. Bill Nighy just about steals the film as the dotty grandad and Imelda Staunton's Mrs. Claus is a delight - Santa may officially rule the roost but she quietly rules the rooster.
Aardman's always been a great stop-motion studio but with Sony Pictures Animation's help, they've become a formidable contender in the CGI realm. The only problem I have with this movie is the 3-D conversion: it once again darkens the colour palette.
Arthur Christmas is an Animated Delight
It says a lot about a movie that I wanted to watch it again immediately after the credits rolled. A wonderful film that deserves to stand alongside holiday classics like How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Arthur Christmas gets a 5/5.
Dominic von Riedemann - Dominic is the Animated Film Feature Writer, and winner of 11 Suite 101 Editors' Choice Awards.
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