Arthur Christmas [DVD]

Santa is real! You knew it in your heart. He lives at the North Pole in an underground complex, the position of Santa being passed down from father to son. In the hallway is a long line of portraits, starting with "Santa Claus the First 295-369 AD", through a line including "Santa Claus the Thirteenth 1549-1634" and so on. The last portrait is of "Santa Claus the Twentieth 1941- _". It has no end date because he still holds the position.But this may be his last year. It's traditional to retire and pass the baton after 70 years. This Santa has two sons. The younger, Arthur, is adorable, happy and enthusiastic, but too bumbling to be trusted with anything other than answering Letters to Santa.The elder brother, Steve, has totally upgraded the Christmas Eve procedure. The sleigh and reindeer have been retired in favor of a giant airship with a cloaking device (whoo hoo!) and well-trained Field Elf Battalions. It is a wonderful imagining of how Santa delivers toys to every child in the world on a single night.But this Christmas Eve, after everyone is back to Mission Control and Operation Toy is "Mission Accomplished", an elf named Briony finds that one toy was missed. There's a child in Cornwall who will not have a gift from Santa! Arthur is beside himself, but Steve is firm. It's 5:10 am, and there's no way to get the toy in place before sunrise: "Arthur. Christmas is not a time for emotion. We will get 4 double 7 85BXK a present... in the window of Christmas. We'll messenger the item - it will be there in 5 days."This isn't good enough for Arthur. With his cantakerous GrandSanta (retired) they pull the sleigh out of mothballs and make sure Christmas comes true for every last child.This is a great Christmas story with your usual feel-good vibe and ending. Steve is not an evil bad guy, he is merely focused on his military-like procedures and his 99.999999% success rate for the year.There is so much humor in this movie. Such as when GrandSanta is not impressed with Steve's smugness: "Christmas 1941, WWII, I did the whole thing with six reindeer and a drunken elf."Meanwhile, Steve is checking his messages on his HO-HO (like a phone) such as this one:"You looked great today.Siri""Arthur Christmas" premiered in 2011, 97 minutes of animated fun. The voice acting is top of the line, with Hugh Laurie ("House") as Steve, James McAvoy as Arthur, Jim Broadbent as Santa and a cackling Bill Nighy as GrandSanta.The DVD is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and 5.1 Dolby Digital. You can listen to the movie, or watch with subtitles, in three languages: English, French or Spanish.The DVD also has 3 Special Features which are fun to watch.1. "Un-Wrapping Arthur Christmas" (13 minutes) Just about everyone involved as cast or crew has a say in this making-of featurette. Bill Nighy says, "It was one of the best scripts I've read for a long time."2. "Progressive Reels" (15 minutes total) This is a look at five different aspects of the movie. I particularly enjoyed the animation people taking us through the initial "Invasion Sequence", where we follow a troop of elves delivering toys. "The camera style in this sequence was heavily from the Cinéma Vérité, a run and gun style of filmmaking." What is was was just like an action movie.3. "Elf Recruitment Video" (1 minute) A cute trailer."They are the world's most elite team.On the SingleLargestCovert MissionEVER."Very recommended family Christmas movie!Happy Reader

Great hit at Christmas last year. Most of my 1st grade kids had never heard of it, and I'm so glad I found it in the list. It's a great story, held their interest, and got cheers at the end.

This is not only my all time favorite Christmas movie. It's my favorite all time movie. Period. Like most white American kids growing up, Christmas was key component of my childhood. It absolutely nails just what Christmas was about for me as a child, and judging by the response this movie has, it has captured the same thing for many others.This movie is also a marvel in terms of its writing. Not only is it filled with dozens of very funny one liners, but I am also amazed at how well every piece of the story fits together. Every one of the major characters are well drawn out with flaws and is one of those great stories that doesn't need a villain. You can understand where every character is coming from and everyone gets a well deserved happy ending.There is so much about Christmas that this movie gets right. It addresses the stress that people go through trying to make Christmas happen. It is clever the way it separates the actual character(s) of Santa, and the idea behind why Santa exists. The flying scenes on the sleigh are gorgeous. It perfectly showshow Santa Claus and Christmas has changed over the years.It is also a great road trip story with a clearly defined location the heroes much reach. What makes a road trip story great, is getting behind a character in their drive to reach the location, and watching everything conceivable thing get in their way. It builds to the perfect level of absurdity and desperation that makes the eventual arrival of the destination so gratifying. The ending as well is as perfect and moving as any ending can be and moved me to tears multiple times.If I had to nit pick to find flaws in the movie, it would be in two minor characters: Cheif De Silva (The leader of the U.N.) and Mrs. Claus. De Silva seems a touch out of place, and not entirely necessary to the story. However her scenes lead to several good jokes so I'm willing to let it slide. With Mrs. Santa, she is written and voiced fine, but what I think holds her back is the animation. She's the most restrained of the characters which I think lead to some difficulty portraying her through animation. Additionally animation I'll admit is not quite Pixar quality, but the characters and settings are so well designed, as far as I'm concerned, that does not matter.Basically this film, serves as both as an incredible story in its own right, and is sublime to those who know anything about Christmas.

Cute movie. It was something different to show my class at Christmas.

The storyline is simple and heartwarming with the right amount of action and jokes to keep you interestedeven after the credits roll. The animation is smooth and will be sure to make this a favorite with kids of allages.As both a family and Christmas movie this one is a huge win in my opinion. It has everything you want andmore.