Arthur Christmas: Review (and a W.W. Christmas message)

By Spence Blazak

I just came out of one of the hardest weeks of my life. I had two debates with people about whether life had a meaning. I dealt with what might have been a life or death situation. I said goodbye to a very good friend. A girl who used to sit at my table every once in a blue moon during 6th period lunch passed away. I visited a friend in the hospital and shared an elevator with a little Hispanic baby, and his mom's worried face broke my heart. I decided to go home for the weekend to grab my bearings.

My mom was feeling a little bit glum and felt like "it doesn't feel like Christmas this year." Honestly, I had completely forgotten it was Christmas. I became distraught when I realized that maybe this is what the real world is liked. I decided to take her out on a mom-date to the movies to maybe cheer us both up. The Descendants is apparently dismally depressing, so despite its potential to be huge Oscar bait, I thought that would only further the anti (dare I say it) Christmas spirit. So we went to see Arthur Christmas. Yeah. That. That movie that had a shitty trailer before Moneyball. That movie that looked idiotic. That movie I've spent a month mocking. Yet, it has a high "fresh" rating on Rottentomatoes.com, so I said what the heck. Regardless of my reluctancy, we decided to go, and also regardless of my reluctancy, it was the surprise of the century. As Steve Holt once said on Arrested Development, I didn't like Arthur Christmas at all. "No………………………I LOVED IT."

The plot is simple. The "Santa" is like a crown that is handed down through generations of Clauses. The current "Santa" is on his 70th mission (Christmas Eve), which is typically when the crown is handed down to the next in line. The next generation consists of Steve (Hugh Laurie) who runs the high-tech Christmas operation and Arthur (James McAvoy) who handles the letters to Santa. The presents are delivered, the current "Santa" retains his crown, and everyone goes to bed, but it is discovered that one present has been missed. An English girl will wake up Christmas morning with nothing under the tree. While no one else cares, the distraught Arthur sticks to his principles by heading for England before the sun rises with nothing more than an old fashioned sleigh, Grandsanta (Bill Nighy), and the present.

Crafted by Aardman Animation, the masters behind the hilarious Wallace and Grommit series, Arthur Christmas nails it as a Christmas movie. The English have a different brand of comedy stylings than weYanks do, and its application to a Christmas movie is brilliant. For instance, Grandsanta wants to summon the reindeer so he blows his "reindeer horn". It sounds broken. He flips it over and taps it to see if something is stuck inside. A dead rat falls down. I laughed so hard that I almost hurt myself. Also, there are several Harry Potter actors in the cast (Hagrid, Rufus Scrimgeour, and Professor Umbridge to name a few). Really, whats not to love?

Arthur Christmas is also a social and political commentary in the best way: it doesn't boast. Christmas is run by the Clauses as a military operation with extreme precision. Everyone at the North Pole is married to their job. It is brilliant because it is a parody of the cliched Christmas movie Dad who forgets its Christmas because he is so busy. Applying this stereotype to Santa himself is golden. It applies a fresh take on the "beating a dead horse" theme of the corporatization of Christmas with a new angle. For instance, the running joke where none of the Clauses remember the names of all the reindeer is too good.

As for the movie's charm, I feel it deserves a paragraph of its own. The character of Arthur rivals that of Buddy the Elf for cheeriest person captured on celluloid, yet there is something about Arthur that is a little more believable. Ironically, he is less of a cartoon character and more of a believable guy. With his tacky Christmas sweater, awkward swag, and light up moose slippers, he is a bashful adult. I'm not bashing Elf, I'm saying that there is something…endearing about Arthur. In a scene where a disillusioned Santa reads all of the letters that Arthur wrote back to children, McAvoy's narration brought tears to my eyes. No lie. And in the end when all of the Clauses finally deliver the pink bike to the little girl? I couldn't believe myself. A movie I had no faith in melted my cold, cold heart.

My point is this. What is the point of a Christmas movie? To make you forget about how bad your break up was and how stressful exams are. Its point is to bring you back to when you were a kid shivering in fear when the Bumble kidnapped Rudolph or when Frosty melted in a greenhouse. Maybe I've gotten soft in my old age. Maybe I'm more sentimental than I used to be. Maybe I won't like it as much when I see it again. Regardless, Arthur Christmas was one of the most enjoyable experiences I've had at the movies in a very long time.

Merry Christmas!

4 stars.