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Arthur Claus (James McAvoy) is the bumbling son of the reigning Santa, Malcolm Claus (Jim Broadbent). Arthur is relegated to the Letter Department where he can presumably do no damage. Arthur's brother Steve (Hugh Laurie) is the heir apparent to the title of Santa. Steve is handsome, confident, and in charge of the North Pole command center that monitors Santa's gift-giving flight around the world. The film opens with a bravura set piece showing how Santa is able to stop in millions of homes in one night. Hint: he has the help of thousands of elves.

When Arthur discovers that one gift was accidentally undelivered, he becomes determined to get it to the unfortunate girl before Christmas sunrise. Even with the help of his retired grandsanta (Bill Nighy) and a perky elf (Ashley Jensen) from the Wrapping Department, can Arthur travel around the world in time?

There have been many movies over the years where Christmas must be saved from disaster, but Arthur Christmas has a very creative take on it. From the opening scene where it's established that Santa is really a dynasty through the centuries, a title handed down from father to son, to the paramilitary operation to get millions of presents delivered in one night, to the misadventures of Arthur and his grandsanta as they try to make sure one little girl is not disappointed, Arthur Christmas is fun, creative, and original. Produced by Aardman Animations in association with Sony Pictures Animation, this CGI animated film delivers Aardman's distinct brand of quirky humor and style.

The art direction maintains the slightly skewed look of an Aardman claymation film. The character designs are asymmetric and the surface textures are realistic yet bold. The North Pole command center and Santa's high-tech sleigh are clean and modern.

Sometimes celebrity voice talent backfires, but here it works beautifully, the English accents lending a sense of gravity that heightens the silliness. Bill Nighy is particularly good, conveying wisdom that is tinged with resentment of the modern gift-delivery methods his son and grandson use.

Arthur Christmas is a funny, heartwarming, and poignant look at the Santa Claus mythos, adding a family dynamic that will resonate with children and adults. I expect Arthur Christmas will become a joyful holiday favorite for years to come.

As a fan of Aardman ever since Wallace and Gromit, I was interested from the get go into seeing Arthur Christmas. Apart from it dragging slightly in the middle, Arthur Christmas was a wonderful film. The animation is absolutely breathtaking, it is all very colourful and beautifully modelled, and the soundtrack is so rousing it makes you want to get out your favourite Christmas Carols/Songs CD and sing along afterwards. The script is mostly witty, if more amusing than laugh-out-loud funny, and the story has a lot of charm and heart to it. The three best assets were the terrific characters, Arthur in particular, makes such a big impression with his likability and his wonderful jumper and I hope to see more of him in the future, the voice cast with a spirited James McAvoy, a jovial Jim Broadbent and a truly inspired Bill Nighy and the real sense of occasion, watching this movie you actually feel that it's Christmas. All in all, colourful and entertaining, I thoroughly enjoyed it. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Okay for me, it was simple but perfection! Simple storyline, great animation, great characters! This movie is what Children Animation should be like! The movie was not bad and it also had a nice theme to it. The bad guys weren't to violent or vicious like other children animation. But if you think about it there were not really any bad guys at all. There were only a few violent moments (explosion of 'Eve') and I thought at one moment the older brother was going to do something bad but it kept to the innocence. Great movie for young kids and older viewers looking for a calm, fun night to enjoy! Great work to everyone who were involved.

It's funny that some of the Oscar nominated movies were not as good as this. The animated movie section could have done with a movie like this. It has more than a little heart and it is a really good movie. I liked the 3-D too, but it's not really important. Because the movie works with it and without it.

When the movie started (I knew the general idea through the trailer), I did wonder how'd they make a feature length movie out of it. I wouldn't say I was afraid, they'd just fill the running time with smaller benign things, but I didn't really believe in it. I was so wrong. The movie always has something up its sleeve and it works perfectly. Great characters, great comedy and a heart that is so sweet it might be made out of sugar!

Took this one in at the 2nd run theatre this afternoon with my 5 year old son and 3 year old daughter.

I think that for the most part, they enjoyed it though I think the humour and writing may have actually fit for a bit older crowd.

To be honest my wife and i were both surprised how entertaining WE found the film. The prattling one-liners from Grandsanta were hilarious!

And the whole high-tech concept applied to Santa does probably the best job yet at coming across with a conceivable plan for how Santa pulls it all off in one night.

I think in a couple of years my kids may appreciate it even more, as they get old enough to understand some of the more sophisticated humour.

At any rate, a surprisingly cute Christmas flick.