Taglines: 2 billion presents delivered in 1 night.
Arthur Christmas is a British/American 3-D computer animated Christmas comedy film, produced by Aardman Animations and Sony Pictures Animation as their first collaborative project. The film was released on November 11, 2011, in the UK, and on November 23, 2011, in the USA.
Directed by Sarah Smith, and co-directed by Barry Cook, it features voices of James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, Bill Nighy, Jim Broadbent, Imelda Staunton, Ashley Jensen, Marc Wootton, Laura Linney, Eva Longoria, Ramona Marquez and Michael Palin. Set on Christmas night, the film tells a story about the Santa Claus’ clumsy son Arthur Claus who discovers that the Santas’ high-tech ship has failed to deliver one girl’s present, goes on a mission to save her Christmas, accompanied only by his aging grandfather, a rebellious yet enthusiastic young Christmas Elf obsessed with wrapping gifts for children, and a team of eight strong, magical yet untrained reindeer.
About the Story
Set on Christmas Eve, the film opens with hundreds of elves helming the command centre of Santa’s mile-wide,[6] ultra–high-tech sleigh-esque craft, the S-1. Santa and the elves deliver presents to every child in the world using advanced equipment and military precision. These complex operations are micromanaged by Santa’s oldest son Steve and his obsequious elfin assistant Peter (among thousands of more elves) at mission control underneath the North Pole, while Steve’s clumsy and panophobic younger brother Arthur answers the letters to Santa. During a delivery operation, when a child wakes up and almost sees Santa, an elf back in the S-1 inadvertently presses a button, causing a present to fall off a conveyor and go unnoticed.
Having completed his 70th mission, Santa is portrayed as far past his prime and whose role in field operations now is largely symbolic. Nonetheless, he is held in high esteem, and delivers a congratulatory speech to the enraptured elves. Much to Steve’s frustration, who has long anticipated succeeding his father, Santa announces he looks forward to his 71st.
During their family Christmas dinner, Arthur’s suggestion for the family to play a board game degenerates into a petty quarrel between Santa and Steve, while Grand-Santa, bored by retirement, resentfully criticizes their over-modernization. Distraught, the various family members leave the dinner table. When Arthur humbly compliments Steve that he believes he will be a great Santa Claus, Steve rudely dismisses Arthur’s overture; later, their father shares with Mrs. Claus his grave doubts about his self-identity should he retire.
Meanwhile, an elf named Bryony finds the missed present—a wrapped bicycle that has yet to be delivered—and alerts Steve and his elf-assistant to the problem. Arthur is alarmed when he recognizes the present as a gift for Gwen, a little girl whose letter he had personally replied to. Arthur alerts his father, who is at a loss as to how to handle the situation; Steve argues that one missed present out of billions is an acceptable error whose correction can wait a few days. Grand-Santa on the other hand, apparently learning of the dire situation, proposes delivering the gift using Eve (mispronounced as “evie”), his old wooden sleigh, and the great-great-grandchildren of the original eight reindeer, forcefully whisking away a reluctant Arthur and a stowaway Bryony.
They get lost in 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. Through all this, Arthur eventually learns, to his compounding disappointment, that Grand-Santa’s true motive is to fulfill his ego, that Steve refuses to help them out of petty resentment and possibility of his brother being made hero overshadowing his work, and that his own father has gone to bed, apparently content even though a present was not delivered.
Arthur Christmas
Directed by: Sarah Smith
Starring: James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, Bill Nighy, Jim Broadbent, Imelda Staunton, Ashley Jensen, Marc Wootton, Laura Linney, Eva Longoria, Ramona Marquez, Michael Palin
Screenplay by: Peter Baynham, Sarah Smith
Production Design by: Evgeni Tomov
Cinematography by: Jericca Cleland
Film Editing by: John Carnochan, James Cooper
Costume Design by: Yves Barre
MPAA Rating: PG for some mild rude humor.
Studio: Sony Pictures
Release Date: November 23, 2011
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