Arthur Santa Claus 3D

Year after year, new Christmas movies continue to hit theaters starting in late fall. While only a few of them manage to become a fixed part of the Christmas must-see program, most of them quickly fall into oblivion again. All too often, Christmas films use the same familiar set pieces over and over again and don't even bother to try to inspire the audience with new, original ideas. The team from Aardman Animation, who are responsible for wonderful works such as the adventures of Wallace & Gromit, has finally succeeded once again with Arthur Santa Claus, classic Christmas themes with many clever ideas, charming characters and a lot of humor to create a really worth seeing holiday fun with quite existing cult potential.

Arthur loves Christmas. And that love doesn't come from just anywhere. After all, Arthur is Santa's youngest son. His brother Steve, on the other hand, who is soon to take over from their famous dad, associates Christmas less with joy and shining children's eyes, but rather approaches his task with the cool expertise of a businessman calculating every detail. Steve has long been in charge of the actual operations; the aging father is really only something of a representative figurehead. When on Christmas Eve, despite Steve's strict regiment, a child doesn't get his present, Santa and his successor want to tick this off as a minor slip-up on an otherwise perfect Christmas Eve. But the dorky yet kind-hearted Arthur can't live with the idea that somewhere a little girl might lose her faith in Santa. Together with his 136-year-old grandpa, the reigning Santa's predecessor, and his old sleigh, Arthur sets out to deliver the final gift. But wherever Arthur goes, chaos is not far behind, and so begins an adventure that suddenly puts the entire Christmas in jeopardy.

Like many other Christmas movies, Arthur Santa is fast, colorful, and loud. Not really festive attributes in themselves. However, even in the scenes that are obviously made for the 3D effect to work particularly well, there are often more lovely ideas to be discovered than in many a complete film. The best example is the first few minutes of the film, in which a hundred elves are shown handing out presents to sleeping children with absolute precision under the watchful eye of Steve and the not-so-watchful eye of Santa Claus. The whole thing plays out in the best James Bond or Mission: Impossible manner, with a gag density that makes it almost impossible to discover all the nice ideas on the first viewing.

There are yapping dogs cleverly silenced, toys that are too loud are defused so that the children don't wake up, and the form of gift-giving to the children is adapted to the respective customs of the different countries. And the viewer can already laugh heartily almost throughout here. And even if in the rest of the movie not all the gags succeed equally well and the fun overshoots the mark a bit here and there, the whole thing works really well on balance. That's also because the characters are all very likable. Even Steve, not really much of a likable guy, isn't your typical antagonist, but is kind of charming in his own unique way despite his arrogance and emotional coldness.

The animation is really great. The characters are real cartoon characters, but details like clothing, hair, and skin are animated to near perfection. Add to that the imaginative set and very atmospheric visual effects that put the viewer in a real Christmas mood. By the emotional ending at the latest, which saves Grandpa Santa from drifting into overly cloying kitsch, Allen's festive spirit has probably taken hold.

It should also be mentioned, however, that the film is rather unsuitable for very young viewers. While Arthur Santa is a family film, rated for ages 0 and up, the humor is at times hard to follow for children under 6, especially since there are also many scriptural overlays that are not entirely irrelevant to the story or to minor gags.

Besides that, Arthur Santa is simply a very funny, original, and endearing film. The British influence of the Aardman studio is very noticeable in both the humour and the moral kitsch levels. Quite great fun that works well for more than just kids and definitely not just at Christmas. If you like animated movies with fun, action and heart, you should definitely check out Arthur and His Family at the North Pole. Absolutely worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp