6/10
Aardman fllms will always be measured against the yardstick of Wallace & Gromit, which may be unfair, but is inevitable. By that standard, Arthur Christmas is enjoyable, but not memorable. Fine for kids, OK for grownups.
Arthur (James McAvoy) is the younger of two brothers. His older brother Steve (Hugh Laurie) is the brains and driving force behind the whole present-delivering process that operates under the North Pole, with a level of technology that would make the Pentagon jealous. The actual Santa Claus (Jim Broadbent) is now rather ancient and portly, but even more decrepit is Grandsanta (Bill Nighy) who is 136 and pretty much put out to pasture with only a dessicated reindeer for company in front of the telly.
Steve is anxious, even desperate to take over the CEO title of the business, but his dad doesn't seem interested in retiring any time soon. Arthur, meanwhile, is relegated to answering letters, since he is a one man disaster area, liable to cause havoc wherever he goes. The scene is therefore set for an inter-dynastic struggle, which is triggered by the fact that after an apparently successful mass global delivery on Christmas night, one small girl in Cornwall is left without a present. Steve can't see the point of taking the trouble to rectify the mistake, but Arthur, in collaboration with Grandsanta, is determined to see the poor mite get her bike, even if it means getting out the old sleigh and reindeer that have been in hibernation for decades.
Thus we have the second, and most important part of the film as the multi-phobic youth and the grumpy old old codger, plus specialist packing star, Bryony (an elf) haphazardly doglegging across the globe, trying to reach their destination on time while all occasions conspire against them. I expect you can guess that they will probably make it on time, despite innumerable improbably hazards, and that the journey will make a man out of Arthur, and the his soft-hearted love of pleasing children is deemed more worthy than Steve's military efficiency. But the point of films like this is not so much where you get to as how you get there, and it is an enjoyable enough adventure.
By my reckoning, this is the fourth full length Aardman feature - its predecessors being Chicken Run, Curse Of The Were Rabbit and Flushed Away. None of them have really set new standards of genius, and this is no exception. If I seem a little grudging in my enthusiasm, it is simply because the film never really takes off, despite all the bravura set pieces. If I had to choose one word for it, it would be NICE.
