Arthur Christmas

11/23/20111h 37m

Theatrical Release (US)

~ Ever wonder how 2 Billion presents get delivered all in 1 night? ~

Overview:

For hundreds of years, the Claus family has delegated the title "Santa" to a chosen few of its members, which can be passed down upon retirement. Each Christmas, Santa and his vast army of highly trained elves produce gifts and distribute them around the world in a one-night high-tech operation. However, when one of 600 million children to receive a gift from Santa on Christmas Eve is missed, it is deemed ‘acceptable’ to all but one—Arthur Claus, the current Santa’s misfit son deemed ineligible for the title, who executes an unauthorised rookie mission to get the last present halfway around the globe before dawn on Christmas morning.

Director:

Sarah Smith

Status:

Released

Language:

English

Buget:

$10,000,000.00

Revenue:

$151,300,000.00

Key words:

sleigh
elves
holiday
assistant
santa claus
wish
reindeer
family
north pole
high tech
clumsiness
duringcreditsstinger
letter to santa claus
woman director
christmas
father son relationship
brother brother relationship

Cast

James McAvoy

~ as ~

Arthur (voice)

Hugh Laurie

~ as ~

Steve (voice)

Bill Nighy

~ as ~

Grandsanta (voice)

Jim Broadbent

~ as ~

Santa (voice)

Imelda Staunton

~ as ~

Mrs Santa (voice)

Ashley Jensen

~ as ~

Bryony (voice)

Marc Wootton

~ as ~

Peter (voice)

Laura Linney

~ as ~

North Pole Computer (voice)

Eva Longoria

~ as ~

Chief De Silva (voice)

Ramona Marquez

~ as ~

Gwen (voice)

View full cast & crew

Reviews (2)

r96sk
Written 4 year(s) ago
7
A good watch.

I had a fine time watching 'Arthur Christmas'. The plot is a little light, with a fairly simple event taking a relative while to resolve itself, but it's still a pleasant festive animated film - with neat animation.

There are a number of familiar names on the voice cast, too many to name in actual fact. My personal standout is Hugh Laurie as Steven, though James McAvoy, Bill Nighy and Jim Broadbent are all enjoyable too.
CinemaSerf
Written 2 year(s) ago
7
It is actually quite hard to find innovative ways to tell Santa stories now, but this one does do quite well on that score. It all centres on Santa's now almost entirely automated delivery process using a sleigh clearly inspired by the starship "Enterprise". Horror of horrors, though, when the youngest member of the Claus family - the eponymous "Arthur" - discovers that one young girl isn't going to get her expertly wrapped bicycle! His dad "Steve" is content to put it down to a technical glitch, and his grandad (the sitting Santa) is too tired to bother, too. It falls to "Grand Santa", "Arthur" and his old fairy-dust powered, reindeer-pulled, sled to get the bike to the little "Gwen" before the sun comes up on Christmas morning. What now ensues are a series of fun escapades as the old man (he rather reminded me of Wilfred Bramble's "Steptoe" character) and his enthusiastic young dreamer have to navigate the world - at high speed - and find a small Cornish village that shares it's name with one or two other places around the world, whilst avoiding the authorities who are rapidly concluding that space aliens are on the loose. A solid and entertaining voice cast - especially Bill Nighy and James McAvoy as our intrepid delivery boys deliver an entertainingly paced script well, with some enjoyably crafted animation and a suitably jolly score from Harry Gregson-Williams. It's fun, this - and offers plenty for younger and older alike.