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Its backdrop is a rich and fascinating one, but the film is let down by a screenplay and direction that fails to register on a personal level.

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Arthur Christmas (3D) (Film)

by Annette Basile | November 22, 2011 14:05 | Edited November 22, 2011 14:06

The animation’s top-notch and the funny screenplay plays well for adults and kids, but this film’s real trump card is its big heart.

Aardman Animations - the creators of Wallace And Gromit and Chicken Run - are back on the big screen. But as with their 2006 feature Flushed Away, Aardman are again working with CGI instead of the stop-motion that made them famous. Flushed Away was fun but Arthur Christmas is something else. It's brilliant.

 

Set on Christmas night, it's a yuletide tale that's really about the collision between the old and modern worlds. The sled and reindeer are gone. In their place is the S1 - a massive flying craft that takes Santa and his elves across the planet to deliver every single child a gift. Despite the high-tech operation and the thousands of elves and computers in Mission Control, one little English girl called Gwen gets left out.

 

Does one kid matter? To Arthur (voiced by James McAvoy) - Santa's sweet and uncoordinated younger son - she does. Reigning Santa (Jim Broadbent) and his eldest son Steve (Hugh Laurie) aren't losing any sleep over young Gwen. But Arthur and his grandfather (Bill Nighy) dust off the vintage sleigh, grab real reindeers and secretly go off into the North Pole night to deliver Gwen's present - aided by the funniest character here, Bryony (Ashley Jenson, Ugly Betty), an elf with an eyebrow ring, a blonde streak and a Scottish accent.

 

The animation is sensational but most of all, Arthur Christmas is a winner because it's funny and has a big heart. There's an amusing military theme, with Steve coming across like a career army recruit, while Broadbent's Santa is reminiscent of the Major in Fawlty Towers - a vague, bumbling, eternal military man. The A-List voice cast also includes Imelda Staunton as Mrs Santa, plus Eva Longoria, Laura Linney, Joan Cusack, Robbie Coltrane and Michael Palin.

 

The script (co-written by debut feature director Sarah Smith) is fortified with meaning and smarts and plays well for both children and adults, while the 3D is judiciously used - it's part of the film's fabric and never intrudes or jars.

A must-see for animation fans, Arthur Christmas is, inarguably, Aardman's finest hour-and-a-half.