Arthur Christmas follows Santa Claus' clumsy son as he sets out with Grandsanta to deliver a present to a child who was missed on Christmas Eve. The film is a lovely family Christmas movie, however, what this movie is most famous for is its imagining of how Santa delivers all of the presents in one night. We would always watch this movie sometime in December in primary school. But how does my recent rewatching of the movie compare to my fond memories of it?

The unique representation of Christmas Eve features thousands of high-tech elves delivering presents Mission: Impossible-style. The film opens with Arthur reading a letter from a child sent to Santa. The child asks how he manages to deliver the presents all in one night. We then cut to the 'Christmas Eve Drop'. This is an incredibly clever sequence and possibly my favourite scene in any Christmas movie. This lasts for about five to ten minutes and those five to ten minutes are the best five to ten minutes of the entire movie. The rest of the movie is decent but the opening sequence is carrying most of the weight.

The rest of the movie is very funny and remains quite clever, however what brings this movie down is how hard it is to follow. It isn't a challenge to understand the story as it is a relatively simple storyline, but the dialogue is very hard to catch. Most of the characters talk very quickly and have UK accents which only makes understanding it more of a challenge. Additionally, there is always a lot going on and is quite fast-moving. However, this is a way in which the film succeeds. The dialogue is often something that young children don't notice anyway so it hardly makes a difference if it is harder to understand. The story is easy enough to follow that it could almost be understood with no talking at all. However, it remains that some of the jokes may be lost without being able to always understand what they are specifically saying.

After seeing Arthur Christmas three times, the fourth viewing wasn't as exciting. I still loved the opening sequence but from then on, the movie was a little boring because I knew what was going to happen. However, it remains a great movie and I would suggest it as a fantastic family movie and it did make my list of favourite Christmas movies.

Arthur Christmas is an excellent Christmas movie. It is funny, great for the family and has one of my favourite opening sequences in any movie. Although the dialogue is a bit hard to understand and the film doesn't get better after multiple viewings, it is still a high-quality film.

Directors: Sarah Smith, Barry Cook

Starring: James McAvoy, High Laurie, Bill Nighy, Jim Broadbent

Year released: 2011

Times previously watched: 3

Re-view rating: 7/10

Review by Tristan Carr

Last edited: 11/12/2022