Arthur Christmas is a family comedy movie focusing not on Santa Claus, but instead his son Arthur, who is second in line to the throne and title. This movie puts a twist on Santa’s operation and his magic sleigh. However, the famous sleigh is now a huge sci-fi flying machine capable of holding thousands of elves and an onboard factory.

Review by Krish Lukha

This movie starts off by asking the viewers a question – “how does Father Christmas travel across the world in one night?”. The answer to this in the movie is simple: he uses a high-speed UFO. This film portrays Christmas as a military mission where everything is precise and hi-tech, including invisibility devices and the sleigh itself. The fast-paced start to this film is when Santa’s eldest son, Steve, is running the operation like a tight ship in order to deliver all the presents in time. He is first in line to become the next Santa and is serious and sharp. Meanwhile, his brother is the clumsiest person on the North Pole, with his first scene including him falling down the stairs and destroying the workspace of the mission control elves. However, he is a hero at heart. When he finds out that one child (Gwen) has been forgotten by accident, he is the only true person who actually wants to help save her. Whilst his father and brother give up automatically and his grandfather agrees for his own selfish reasons, he is the only one who is willing to give up his night to make the girl happy.

Another twist that has been introduced in this movie is that Santa is a title and bloodline, which makes this film more interesting. This heart-warming animation has been praised by many for its plot and character developments and is a recommendable film to watch.