It has always been difficult to make a stellar Christmas movie, though that doesn’t keep studios from trying every year. Even in the earlier years of cinema, you had to sit through a lot of dreck around the holidays. The real miracle of the original Miracle on 34th Street is what an outstanding film that was. Today, it is even more difficult to separate the diamonds from the coal. Between the of-the-moment pop culture cash-ins and the live-action and CGI remakes of beloved classics, I doubt we will ever see another truly great Christmas film again.
Then I belatedly saw 2011’s Arthur Christmas. Although I am huge fan of all things Aardman, I did not previously make an effort to check out this production of theirs, as it looked rather crass. Also, it was made during that awkward period where they ditched clay in favor of CGI, and I find it difficult to not hold that against it. Lastly, although I watch a great quantity of designated “kid’s media” with the same regard I have for adult fare, this registered on my radar as being too solidly aimed at children (or, at least, what studios think children will enjoy).
Now, this is not a great movie. But it gets so much right that I found it easy to overlook those shortcomings. And those shortcomings begin with the premise.
The film begins with another year of “Operation Christmas”, in which a campaign of military precision and high-technology delivers presents all over the world in one night. Santa’s sleigh is now a vaguely sleigh-shaped spaceship. Platoons of elves actually perform the overwhelming bulk of the deliveries, placating angry dogs and disabling security alarms in maneuvers seemingly lifted directly from the first Mission Impossible picture.
It is believed this mission was once again a complete success, though one gift is found to still be on the sleighship. This undelivered bicycle is discovered only after Santa (Jim Broadbent) has gone to bed and put his phone on silent. Steve (Hugh Laurie), one of his sons, is the mission leader at North Pole operations and he doesn’t believe it is such a big deal that one gift out of millions didn’t make it. After all, just look at how small of a percent that is of all gifts distributed.
Santa’s other son, Arthur (James McAvoy), is a clumsy oaf who relishes all that is Christmas. His job at the pole is to answer children’s letters to the top man, and he appears to been placed there only to out of the way. But he is the one determined to get one little girl her bike before the sun rises on Cornwall. Steve, the next in the line of succession to take Santa’s place, thinks Arthur is being irrational. As he puts it, Christmas is not the time to get emotional.
Arthur will set out on a bizarre and rambling journey to deliver the remaining gift, with help from Grandsanta (Bill Nighy), who is all too happy to get the original sleigh out of storage and hitch the original reindeer up to it. He even has a container of the ol’ magic dust that enables the reindeer to fly.
Grandsanta is cranky, funny and my favorite character here. He has all sorts of strange, and often ominous stories, such as the last mission he flew in the original sleigh, when he was nearly shot down during the Cuban missile crisis. He’s prone to hysterics: “Don’t leave me alone, an old man and his reindeer. Not on Christmas. At least have the decency to finish us off with a rock!” Then there’s his tales of the Christmases gone wrong: “Every child got a sausage nailed to a piece of bark that Christmas.” This is a character begging for his own spinoff film.
There’s also a stowaway on this flight, a gift-wrap-obsessed elf named Bryony (Ashley Jensen). She is as sincere as Arthur in making things right. This character has some good lines, but mostly acts as a decent foil for him and for Grandsanta. I especially like a scene where she says Arthur has to give her orders for what to do when they get to their destination. She simply spins every thing she knows needs to be done into questions for him: “Should I go in through the cat flap?” and “Would you want I should let you in now?” So help me, that was pretty cute.
The flight to England will be anything but direct. One of the detours will be to Africa, which Grandsanta has mistaken for France. This isn’t too surprising, as he earlier mistook a plane for the North Star. He’s also very selfish, such as the moment where they are surrounded by lions, and he tries to get them to take Bryony. The means for them escaping that predicament is novel, as the magic dust for the reindeer results in the lions floating in the air. The cloud of dust makes the same happen to zebras, elephants and meercats, and this is one of the best visual gags in this film.
There aren’t any pop culture references to be found here, and for that I am deeply grateful. I hope it will assist the movie in possibly gaining more of an audience as time goes on. If anything does date the picture, it will likely be some of the jokes centered around technology, though the cell phones and such here are all fictitious. Still, I love the bit of direction the GPS gives for the final leg of the journey: “1368 miles, and then a slight left.”
Arthur Christmas is far from perfect. It would likely have been complete trash, if it wasn’t for it being made by Aardman. Even then, it is a bit unfortunate this was made during their brief fascination with CGI, instead of being rendered in clay. Still, even with all the high-tech elements and a spaceship sleigh, Aardman brings the one element to this film I believe any other company would have forgotten, and that is genuine heart.
Dir: Sarah Smith
Starring: James McAvoy, Bill Nighy, Ashley Jensen
Watched on blu-ray