"No one gets an unwrapped present on my watch!"

Arthur Christmas has been getting such great reviews that I decided to check it out. However, instead of making the same mistake that I made with The Muppets, this one I decided to see on a Monday afternoon. I was one of five people in the entire theater and that is the way I like it. I did not see it in 3D and I have to say, I really enjoyed it a lot.

We learn that the current Santa Claus is actually 20th in the line descended from Saint Nicholas, who reigned from 295-369 A.D., and he is serving his 70th Christmas as Santa Claus. His youngest son, Arthur, runs the letter office while his oldest son, Steve, runs mission command and is expected to take over Santa duties when his father retires. After what they believe to be another successful Christmas, one of the elves finds a misplaced present and realizes that a child has been missed. Along with the help of his Grandsanta, Arthur makes it his mission to ensure that the little girl gets her present before the sun rises on Christmas morning.

Arthur is the only one left in his family that has not been jaded by their family business. He tries very hard to keep the Christmas spirit alive and sometimes his decisions are a little misguided, but they always come from a place of love. The story is really sweet and it puts a new updated spin on the methods and history of Santa.

My only real complaint was when Arthur and Grandsanta are trying to get to the little girl's house they get lost a few times. I just felt like this part was a little drawn out and had a few too many "missed turns." Other than that, I thought it was very well done.

I could have done without the Justin Bieber music video, but that is not part of the actual feature. The video is shown before the movie starts and then the song plays again during the final credits. It was less creepy than his video with Mariah Carey, but still completely unnecessary.

But I digress.....

The awesome actors who lent their voices to this film include: James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, Bill Nighy, Jim Broadbent, Imelda Staunton, Ashley Jensen, Laura Linney, Michael Palin, Joan Cusack, Robbie Coltrane, Eva Longoria, Andy Serkis and Dominic West.  I could figure out most of them, but a few of the elves were a little harder because their voices were made higher and more elf-like.

Ninja Elves
Arthur Christmas at MOVIECLIPS.com

This is the only Christmas movie out this year (not including Harold and Kumar) and I think it is definitely worth seeing in the theater. It is great for the whole family and it will definitely warm your heart this holiday season!

xoxo
c
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