PG, 97 min.
Directors: Sarah Smith,
Barry Cook
Writers: Peter Baynham,
Sarah Smith
Starring: James McAvoy, Hugh
Laurie, Bill Nighy, Jim Broadbent, Imelda Staunton, Ashley Jensen, Marc
Wootton, Laura Linney, Eva Longoria
“Arthur Christmas” was last
year’s big Christmas movie; and now that Christmas is rolling around again, it
finds its way to the home video market. The movie seems to be a British anomaly
in a genre generally dominated by American productions. It’s nice to see a
slightly different take culturally on what is dominated by what seem to be
American holiday ideals. However, the movie isn’t really different enough in
its plotting and themes to distinguish it from the annual Christmas entries.
The movie looks at the
actual family behind Santa Claus, a concept that is threatening to be overused
in the holiday genre before too long. The film is a little murky about exactly
what the family name behind Santa Claus is. Are they the Santas or the Clauses
or the Christmases? I’m really not sure from this movie. It’s story centers on
the youngest member of the family, Arthur. He seems to be referred to as Arthur
Christmas, but the family is usually called the Santas. You see the confusion.
Arthur’s dad is Santa Claus,
who’s real first name is Malcolm. Arthur’s brother is Steve, who is also
generally thought to be the first in line to be the next Santa. He runs
Christmas Eve like a military exercise. I’m not sure if we ever get the first
name of Grandsanta. So you’ve got three generations of the family business, and
they say you shouldn’t mix business with family. Anyway, Arthur is a bit of a
bumbler. No one thinks he’s really good for much beyond answering Santa
letters. Grandsanta feels some of the same sentiment toward him since he’s been
put out to pasture.
Well, needless to say, one
of Santa’s packages isn’t delivered with this year’s shipment and Arthur and
Grandsanta take it upon themselves to deliver it. Grandsanta’s reasons might
not be as pure as Arthur’s. Adventure and hilarity ensue. The movie is quite
funny in its depiction of the mechanics of delivering billions of presents in
one twenty-four hour period. Much has been seen before in countless other
Christmas movies.
My biggest problem with the
movie is this demystification of the Santa Claus myth. Part of the magic of
Santa is that all he does is deliver Christmas gifts to children who have been
good. The more we dissect the inner workings of the North Pole and the more we
humanize Santa, the less magic he seems to be. I like the Christmas movie where
Santa isn’t the central figure much better. Rudolph is a classic because he was
an addition to the myth, not a dissection of it.
I wonder if children
perceive Christmas differently than I did as a kid. It was mostly imagination
then. Now, it seems to all be laid out right in front of them. Does that make
it easier or more difficult to discern its truth? Is it harder on children to
learn the truth now? How much damage does it do the more real we make these characters
for them?
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