“Arthur Christmas” is a fun, adventurous and enjoyable Christmas animated film for the entire family! Recommended!
© 2011 Sony Pictures Animation Inc. All Rights Reserved.
DVD TITLE: Arthur Christmas
DURATION: 97 minutes
DVD INFORMATION: 1:85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, Audio: English, French, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital and English-Audio Description Track, Subtitles: English, English SDH, French and Spanish
COMPANY: Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures Animation/Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
RATED: PG (Some Mild Rude Humor)
RELEASE DATE: November 6, 2012
Directed by Sarah Smith, Barry Cook
Screenplay by Peter Baynham and Sarah Smith
Produced by Steve PEgram
Co-Producer: Chris Juen
Executive Producer: Peter Lord, Carla Shelley, David Sproxton
Consulting Producer: Osnat Shurer
Music by Harry Gregson-Williams
Cinematograhy by Jericca Cleland
Edited by John Carnochan, James Cooper
Casting by Sarah Crowe
Production design by Evgeni Tomov
Costume Design by Yves Barre
Featuring the voices of:
Fatima Ptacek as Dora/Blue Lobsters
Regan Mizrahi as Boots/Blue Lobsters
Ioana Alfonso as La Maestra Eloisa
Chris Gifford as Big Red Chicken
Leslie Valdes as Senor Tucan
Marc Weiner as Map/Swiper/Fiesta Trio/Delivery Truck
How CAN Santa deliver billions of presents to the whole world in just one night? With an army of one million combat-style Field Elves and a vast, state-of-the-art control center under the ice of the North Pole! So how could this incredible operation have MISSED one child?! To Santa’s young son, Arthur, it threatens to end the magic of Christmas. With retired Grandsanta, a rebellious young elf, an old sleigh and some untrained reindeer, Arthur sets out in a crazy mission to deliver the last present! Deck the halls with excitement, fun and wonder in this new Christmas classic!
In November 2011, the British/American 3D animated film “Arthur Christmas” was released in theaters.
Produced by Aardman Animations and Sony Pictures Animation, the film was co-directed by Sarah Smith (“The Pirates! Band of Misfits”, The League of Gentlemen”, “The Awful Truth”) and Bary Cook (director of “Mulan” and known for visual effects for Disney films such as “Aladdin”, “Beauty and the Beast”, “The Rescuers Down Under”, “Tron”) and a screenplay co-written by Smith and Peter Baynham (“Borat”, “Bruno”, “Hotel Transylvania”).
The animated film would feature voice talent from stars such as as James McAvoy (“X-Men: First Class”, “Wanted”, “The Last King of Scotland”), Hugh Laurie (“House, M.D.”, “Stuart Little”, “Monsters vs. Aliens”), Bill Nighy (“Love Actually”, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1”, “Hot Fuzz”), Jim Broadbent (“Moulin Rouge!”, “Gangs of New York”, “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”), Imelda Staunton (“Vera Drake”, “Shakespeare in Love”, “Chicken Run”), Ashley Jensen (“Ugly Betty”, “Gnomeo & Juliet”, “How to Train Your Dragon”), Marc Wooton (“Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel”, “Cyberdelic”), Laura Linney (“The Truman Show”, “Mystic River”, “Primal Fear”), Eva Longoria (“Desperate Housewives”, “The Sentinel”), Joan Cusack (“Working Girl”, “Say Anything”, “Toy Story 2 & 3”), Michael Palin (“Monty Python and the Holy Grail”, “Life of Brian”, “The Meaning of Life”) and many more.
The inspiration of “Arthur Christmas” was to answer the questions that children have of how Santa could bring presents to children all over the world.
“Arthur Christmas” is a film about the youngest son of the Claus family. For Arthur (voiced by James McAvoy), he loves the spirit of Christmas and although he works in the mail room, he does all he can to read the letters of children and making sure they get what they want for Christmas.
But for such a grand operation of bringing presents to many children around the world, the whole organizational process was changed thanks to Steve (voiced by Hugh Laurie), older brother of Arthur, who introduced technology with super fast vehicles that would allow Santa (portrayed by Jim Broadbent) and his elves to bring presents to the children. And to stop using the sleigh and reindeer that Grandsanta (voiced by Bill Nighy) used a long time ago.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Santa (voiced by Imelda Staunton) is getting restless as she wants her family home for Christmas and suggesting to Santa that he should retire and pass the torch to one of their children.
On Christmas Eve, as Santa and his elves successfully delivered all toys to the children, while Arthur is happy to see that Santa made many children’s wishes come true for Christmas, he knows that his father and many of those in the North Pole see him as a klutz. Afterall, he accidentally flooded one of the elves living quarters and so, he was put into the safe, mailing room.
But as the Claus family plans to celebrate Christmas together, you feel an unhappiness with the family. Santa not sure if he wants to retire, Stevie wanting possibly to be Santa but more concerned about efficiency than the children, while Arthur is just trying to be part of the family who tends to push him away because he doesn’t fit into any major plans due to his clumsiness.
That very night, as everything is thought to be a success. Both Stevie and Arthur find out that one present has been forgotten to be delivered. Arthur freaks out because he believes all children’s wishes must come true, meanwhile Santa looks towards Stevie and his technology not working 100%, and in a way Stevie feels that despite the mishap of one present not being delivered, everything worked very well. But this upsets Arthur because he believes that one child should still get her present from Santa.
But Stevie tries to tell him that with their technology, it wouldn’t be ready in time to bring a present for one child and to not worry about it.
But for Arthur, having responded to this child who didn’t believe in Santa but wanted to see if he was real and that she would get a bike for Christmas, he is determined in finding a way to get that present to her. And what best than to talk to Grandsanta, who still has his sleigh and reindeer.
And together, the two plus an elf named Bryony (voiced by Ashley Jensen) decide to bring the present to the child the old way. The only problem, Grandsanta’s memory is not so good and the three end up going to the wrong areas of the world. Meanwhile, because the three are doing something that is “illegal”, Stevie will do all he can to make sure his family doesn’t cause the Claus name a disservice and that is by stopping them.
With all these obstacles, will Arthur be able to make this one girl’s Christmas wish come true?
VIDEO & AUDIO:
“Arthur’s Christmas” is presented in 1:85:1 anamorphic widescreen. “Arthur’s Christmas” is presented in English, French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital plus an English – Audio Description Track.
If you want the best audio quality, I recommend the Blu-ray release.
But overall, the CG animation for “Arthur Christmas” by Aardman Animations is pretty much the best animated film that I have seen from the studio. Textures are well-detailed, everything from the characters to background scenery is amazingly well-detailed and well-animated. If anything, I had a feeling that this film would look even more incredible on Blu-ray.
And as for the audio quality for “Arthur Christmas” is well-done as there are quite a number of action-paced segments that utilize the surround channels effectively. But if you are an audiophile, definitely go lossless as the Blu-ray release of “Arthur Christmas” will have a much better and possibly immersive soundtrack.
Subtitles are in English, English SDH, French and Spanish.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Arthur’s Christmas” comes with the following special features:
- Un-wrapping Arthur Christmas – (13:27) Featuring interviews with the cast and crew of “Arthur Christmas”.
- Progression Reels – (13:49) Featuring animators commentary and for the featured progression reels for “Arthur Christmas Unwrapped”, “Arthur’s Office”, “Grandsanta”, “Invasion”, “Trelew”.
- Elf Recruitment Video – (1:11) An animated video for elf recruitment (and a promotional for “Arthur Christmas”).
EXTRAS:
“Arthur Christmas” comes with an UltraViolet code which allows you to download the film to your computer or select Apple and Android devices and also stream to computers, tablets or smartphones.
When it comes to animated films with a Christmas theme, a lot of films that tend to feature Santa often become banal. Rehashed storylines with predictable endings. But for Aardman Animations, they wanted to do something different when it comes to an animated Christmas film.
Many children often ask how Santa is able to deliver so many presents to people all around the world and what writers Peter Baynham and Sarah Smith did was to answer just that.
Unlike other Santa-related films, “Arthur Christmas” shows us that there is a line of Claus’ members from grandsanta that people are familiar with, when it comes to the sleigh and reindeer. But now a new generation of Claus that use modern technology that allows them to cover a large area of the world with speed and efficiency. And how the elves have a big part to play in the wrapping and delivery of the items to various homes.
But what if technology goes awry? In this case, technology doesn’t account for one single present and that means a child will be missing out on her Christmas gift?
It’s a pretty interesting concept to deal with different means of delivering children’s presents to various people and how technology comes into play for a modern Christmas storyline.
And because of its story, it’s an accessible Christmas animated film for both children and adults. Children will no doubt love watching clumsy Arthur or even the adorable Elves, while adults will understand the concept of Santa retiring, Mrs. Claus wanting her husband to be home and literally pass the torch to their children and of course, Santa having a hard time facing reality that it is probably time to let his children become the next Santa, while he starts his new life becoming more of a husband.
It’s no doubt a modern tale, mixed in with the classic “will Santa be able to deliver the presents in time” storyline.
The animation from Aardman Animation and Sony Pictures animation was magnificent. This is probably the best CG animated film to focus on Christmas and as the animation and the artwork for this film is very detailed and well-done, the voice acting with its talented cast also should be commended but having this British/American collaboration worked very well and was impressed by how things were executed in terms of animation, storyline, voice acting and direction. I was impressed!
As for the DVD, picture and audio quality on DVD is very good, but if you are an audio or videophile, I recommend the Blu-ray release of “Arthur Christmas”.  The DVD also comes with a few special features and for the most part, “Arthur Christmas” is a solid holiday release!
Overall, “Arthur Christmas” is an animated film that parents will no doubt want to buy for the children to watch over Christmas vacation.
It does have a PG-rating mainly for mild rude humor but for the most part, there is nothing terrible, nothing violent that will frighten children. Granted, there is a scene where Arthur, Grandsanta and Bryony accidentally land in the African jungle and are chased by animals of the wild and there are times where Arthur tends to get himself in a wee bit of trouble (ie. trying to fly with the reindeer) or one scene (which is probably the rude scene of the film), when Steve accidentally delivers a toy to the wrong child and tries to take it back from the child. This is probably the extend of anything that an be seen as frightening for very young children. But outside of that, “Arthur Christmas” is the perfect Christmas animated film being released on Blu-ray or DVD for the family this year!
“Arthur Christmas” is a fun, adventurous and enjoyable Christmas animated film for the entire family! Recommended!