Arthur Christmas
Arthur Christmas is a 2011 British-American 3D computer-animated film produced by Aardman Animations and Sony Pictures Animation as their first collaborative project. Directed by Sarah Smith and co-directed by Barry Cook, the film stars the voices of James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, Bill Nighy, Jim Broadbent, Imelda Staunton, and Ashley Jensen.
Set on Christmas night, the film tells a story about Arthur Claus, the clumsy but goodhearted son of Father Christmas, who discovers that Santa's high-tech ship has failed to deliver one girl's present. In response, he embarks on a mission to save her Christmas, accompanied only by his free-spirited and reckless grandfather, a rebellious yet enthusiastic young Christmas elf obsessed with wrapping gifts for children, and a team of eight strong, magical yet untrained reindeer.
Arthur Christmas was released on 11 November 2011, in the United Kingdom, and on 23 November 2011, in the United States. It was well-received by critics and earned $147 million at the box office on a budget of $100 million.
Plot
On Christmas Eve, hundreds of Christmas elves helm the command centre of Father Christmas's mile-wide, ultra-high-tech craft, the S-1. The current Santa, Malcolm Claus delivers presents to every child in the world using advanced equipment and military precision. These complex operations are micromanaged by Malcolm's son Steve and his obsequious assistant Peter from underneath the North Pole. Meanwhile, Malcolm's younger son Arthur answers the letters to Santa.During one of the delivery operations in Poland, a toy is accidentally activated, waking a child and nearly revealing Santa. A tense escape operation ensues, during which a Christmas elf aboard the S-1 inadvertently leans on a button, causing a present to fall from the supply line and go unnoticed.
Malcolm is past his prime, he is nearly a figurehead. He delivers a congratulatory speech to the elves, announcing that he looks forward to his seventy-first mission—much to the frustration of Steve, who had prepared to succeed his father as Santa.
During their family Christmas dinner, Malcolm and Steve quarrel, while Malcolm's father and predecessor Grandsanta, bored by retirement, expresses resentment of the modernization. Steve's PDA alerts him, and he hurries away from the table. Arthur follows Steve, and the two learn that a Christmas elf named Bryony Shelfley has found the missed present—a wrapped bicycle for a little girl in England named Gwen, to whose letter Arthur had personally responded. Arthur alerts his father, who is at a loss; Steve argues that one missed present out of billions is an acceptable error, citing this year's Christmas as the most successful in history. Grandsanta, on learning of the dire situation, whisks a reluctant Arthur away to deliver it in EVE, his old wooden sleigh. In the process the three get lost on three different continents, lose several of their reindeer, and land in danger several times, ultimately being mistaken for aliens and causing an international military incident. Arthur learns, to his disappointment, that Grandsanta's true motive is to fulfill his ego, Steve refuses to help them.
Finally, stranded in Cuba, Arthur recovers the sleigh. Meanwhile, the elves grow increasingly alarmed at rumours of the neglected delivery and the Clauses' unthinkable indifference, sending them into a panic. In response, Malcolm, Margaret, and Steve take the high-tech sleigh-craft to deliver a superior present—to the wrong child.
Arthur and his company reach England but lose the remaining reindeer. Furthermore, a Predator drone scrambled by Chief De Silva of UNFITA intercepts and opens fire on the sleigh, believing it to be an alien spacecraft. Grandsanta sacrifices EVE, while Arthur and Bryony parachute to the ground.
All three male Clauses ultimately arrive at Gwen's house before she awakens, only to have all but Arthur quarrel about who gets to actually place the gift. Noticing that only Arthur truly cares about the girl's feelings, the elder Clauses collectively realize that he is the sole worthy successor. As a result, Malcolm gives Arthur the honour, and Steve, recognizing his own shortcomings, forfeits his birthright and acknowledges his brother's worthiness to take up the mantle. Gwen glimpses a snow-bearded Arthur in a wind-buffeted sweater just before he vanishes up into the S-1.
In a postscript, Malcolm goes into a happy retirement with Margaret—where he also becomes Grandsanta's much-desired new companion—and plays Arthur's board game with him for many happy hours. Meanwhile, Steve finds true contentment as the chief operating officer of the North Pole. Bryony is promoted to Vice-President of Packing, Pacific Division. The high-tech S-1 is rechristened EVIE in honour of Grandsanta's old sleigh and refitted to be pulled by a team of five thousand reindeer led by the original eight, all of whom have returned home safely. Arthur happily guides the entire enterprise as Santa Claus XXI.
Cast
- James McAvoy as Arthur Claus, the good-natured but clumsy younger son of Malcolm and Margaret who works in the mail room.
- Hugh Laurie as Steven Claus, Malcolm and Margaret's elder son and Arthur's incredibly capable, business oriented, but cynical, older brother.
- Bill Nighy as Grandsanta, the 136-year-old grumpy but loving grandfather of Steve and Arthur, a staunchly traditional former Santa who dislikes the modern world. A post-retirement joyriding incident which led to him almost causing the Third World War during the Cuban Missile Crisis caused the family to ban him from flying. He comes out of retirement to help Arthur save Christmas, though his unfamiliarity with the modern world leads them into trouble. He was Malcolm's predecessor and the 19th Santa, serving from 1871 to 1941.
- Jim Broadbent as Malcolm "Santa" Claus, the affable but ineffective man in charge at the North Pole. He is Grandsanta's son, Margaret's husband, and Steve's and Arthur's father. He has been Santa since 1941 and is the 20th to serve in that role.
- Imelda Staunton as Margaret Claus, Malcolm's dedicated and talented wife, and mother of Steve and Arthur.
- Ashley Jensen as Bryony Shelfley, Wrapping Division Grade 3, the Scottish-accented enthusiastic Christmas Elf from the Giftwrap Battalion who ends up tagging along with Arthur and Grandsanta.
- Marc Wootton as Peter, Steve's obsequious assistant Christmas Elf.
- Laura Linney as North Pole Computer
- Eva Longoria as Chief De Silva, the head of UNFITA.
- Ramona Marquez as Gwen Hines, the girl whose present Arthur must deliver.
- Michael Palin as Ernie Clicker, the elderly elf and former head of Polar communications for 46 missions during Grand-Santa's time as Santa Claus. He is brought out of retirement to help Steven track Grandsanta's old-fashioned sleigh.
- Jerry Lambert as N.O.R.A.D.
- Ryan Patrick Donahoe as Pedro
Elves are voiced by Pete Jack, Sarah Smith, Rich Fulcher, Kris Pearn, Kevin Cecil, Stewart Lee, Peter Baynham, Danny John-Jules, Adam Tandy, Bronagh Gallagher, Alan Short, Kevin Eldon, Seamus Malone, Cody Cameron and Emma Kennedy.
Production
Arthur Christmas was first announced in 2007, under the name Operation Rudolph. It was the first film made by Aardman in partnership with Sony Pictures Entertainment and its subsidiaries.Aardman spent 18 months on pre-production on the story and design in the UK before relocating to Sony's Culver City, US, for another 18 months of production. On 27 April 2009, it was reported that production had begun with Aardman and Sony Pictures Imageworks working together on animation.
Release
The film was released on 11 November 2011 in the United Kingdom and on 23 November 2011 in the United States. The music video for Justin Bieber's song Santa Claus is Coming to Town, which plays over the end credits, was exclusively shown in theatres before the film.Home media
Arthur Christmas was released on DVD, Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D on 6 November 2012, in the US, and 19 November 2012 in the UK.Reception
Critical response
Arthur Christmas holds a 92% rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes from 167 critic, which labels it "Aardman Animations broadens their humor a bit for Arthur Christmas, a clever and earnest holiday film with surprising emotional strength." On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 69 based on 32 reviews, indicating generally favourable reviews.John Anderson of Newsday praised the film as "not only funny and fresh, but... a new way of tackling the whole yuletide paradigm: Santa as a high-tech hereditary monarchy." Michael O'Sullivan of The Washington Post described it as "unexpectedly fresh, despite the familiar-sounding premise". Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times wrote that "the plot may be a little too cluttered for the toddler crowd to follow, but the next age group up should be amused, and the script by Peter Baynham and Sarah Smith has plenty of sly jokes for grown-ups." Rene Rodriguez of the Miami Herald stated that "the movie fails utterly at coming up with a story that merits all the eye candy."
Accolades
The film won a Golden Tomato Award at the 13th Golden Tomato Awards as the best-reviewed animated film of 2011.Box office
Arthur Christmas has earned $46,462,469 in North America, $33,334,089 in the UK, and $67,622,914 in other countries, for a worldwide total of $147,419,472.In the United Kingdom the film opened in second place with a £2.5 million weekend gross, behind Immortals. It topped the box office in its fourth week, by which time the cumulative gross was £11.5 million. The film returned to the top of the box office on week seven, during Christmas week, grossing £2.05 million and a total of £19.7 million.
In the United States and Canada the film earned $2.4 million on its opening day and $1.8 million on Thanksgiving Day. It would go on to gross $12.1 million over the three-day weekend and $16.3 million over the five-day period. This was on par with studio expectations. The film went on to gross nearly $50 million domestically against a $100 million budget.