Review of Arthur Christmas (2011) by Spencer P — 29 Mar 2018

In a world in which Santa is a title rather than a person and most of the traditional gift-delivering methods have been replaced with modern technology, the current Santa's youngest son, Arthur (James McAvoy) finds out that due to a glitch, one child's present hasn't been delivered. With only hours to spare, Arthur teams up with his Grandsanta (Bill Nighy) and Bryony (Ashley Jensen) an overexcitable Elf from the wrapping division, to take the old sleigh out one more time, in order to get the gift delivered on time...

Arthur Christmas, being Aardman Animations first CGI feature that doesn't use the traditional Nick Park character designs, not only manages to maintain the studio's iconic British wit and humour from their other projects, but it's terrific voice-acting, heartwarming lessons about trying to use the best elements of the new and old ways to make the perfect Christmas and it's tightly paced plot, makes this one of the best modern Christmas films out there.