Any Christmas themed film with a tongue in cheek opening scene that resembles the SyFy classic, Independence Day (1996), gets an automatic 9 stars from me, and not just because ID is one of my favorite contemporary alien invasion films. I give Arthur Christmas an extra high rating because it's also a perfectly stunning movie.
Arthur Christmas is a mountainous collaboration of immense talent and unlimited funds, and as such, the perfect amalgamation helps to create one of the best feature animation films outside the seemingly indestructible, impenetrable Disney universe.
Aardman Animations, Ltd., is not a newcomer. The British animation studio based in Bristol, England, is best known for its retro stop-motion, clay animation techniques featuring weird and oblique characters like Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep. The money that funded Arthur Christmas came from the coffers of Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California. It is one of the largest American studios for motion pictures and television. How large, you ask? Their revenues in 2020 were a mere $7.16 billion.
Mountains of cash and unbridled talent can sometimes take a nose dive. But not this time. Arthur Christmas runs full out on all cylinders, and is so continuously amusing and entertaining you'll wonder where the time went when the deservedly lengthy end credits begin to roll across the screen.
This is a movie with a colossal heart, enormous scope, and endless imagination. To say it's a film about how Santa Claus operates would be like trying to explain the Universe to a rock. It's impossible. It's loaded with pop culture references, and voiced by some very clever actors like Hugh Laurie, James McAvoy and Bill Nighy.
Stream, rent or buy the DVD. You'll want to watch it with your kids every Christmas. And when the children inevitably grow up and move away, open that great bottle of cold Pino Grigio you've been saving for that special occasion and watch it yourself. It's simply an amazing experience, and one to be savored.
No spoilers here as usual, but I will reveal the filmmakers were originally going to have a mean and nasty elf named "General Antlers," whose ambition was to turn the reindeer into hamburgers!
Arthur Christmas is a mountainous collaboration of immense talent and unlimited funds, and as such, the perfect amalgamation helps to create one of the best feature animation films outside the seemingly indestructible, impenetrable Disney universe.
Aardman Animations, Ltd., is not a newcomer. The British animation studio based in Bristol, England, is best known for its retro stop-motion, clay animation techniques featuring weird and oblique characters like Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep. The money that funded Arthur Christmas came from the coffers of Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California. It is one of the largest American studios for motion pictures and television. How large, you ask? Their revenues in 2020 were a mere $7.16 billion.
Mountains of cash and unbridled talent can sometimes take a nose dive. But not this time. Arthur Christmas runs full out on all cylinders, and is so continuously amusing and entertaining you'll wonder where the time went when the deservedly lengthy end credits begin to roll across the screen.
This is a movie with a colossal heart, enormous scope, and endless imagination. To say it's a film about how Santa Claus operates would be like trying to explain the Universe to a rock. It's impossible. It's loaded with pop culture references, and voiced by some very clever actors like Hugh Laurie, James McAvoy and Bill Nighy.
Stream, rent or buy the DVD. You'll want to watch it with your kids every Christmas. And when the children inevitably grow up and move away, open that great bottle of cold Pino Grigio you've been saving for that special occasion and watch it yourself. It's simply an amazing experience, and one to be savored.
No spoilers here as usual, but I will reveal the filmmakers were originally going to have a mean and nasty elf named "General Antlers," whose ambition was to turn the reindeer into hamburgers!