Mission: Noël - Les aventures de la famille Noël

"A lovely thing about Christmas is that it's compulsory, like a thunderstorm, and we all go through it together." Garrison Keillor

Where I live, too many Christmas Carol adaptations take the place of imaginative theater productions that could celebrate the holidays without the requisite Scrooge redemption. Arthur Christmas is a refreshing new take on the countless Santa stories, notwithstanding my favorite: Bad Santa, which satisfies my need for the new and irreverent.

Arthur (James McAvoy) is one of Santa's two sons, a bungler with a big heart. He takes it on his own to bring a present to the one girl in all the land whose present was not delivered. His technocrat brother, Steve (Hugh Laurie), has been responsible for the mis-delivery, although his array of laptops for elves and computerized delivery system is impressive. The head versus the heart forms the central conflict, providing laughs and groans but never in a mean way as in Bad Santa.

Aardman CG works its animation magic to create big-nosed, elongated-faced characters like GrandSanta (Bill Nighy), Santa (Jim Broadbent), and Mrs. Santa (Imelda Staunton), all of whom are fleshed out as loving characters with quirks just right for their roles.

In regard to developing character, Aardman goes nose to nose with Pixar. The use of 3-D is unobtrusive as it is in Martin Scorsese's Hugo with the process useful to give flights of the sleighs a grand feel, swooping in and out of perspective. Yet, in the end, regardless of the jazzy visuals, it's a lovely and exciting story for the holidays. As soon as the younger audience adjusts to the Brit accents, and that doesn't take long, they will enjoy the high spirits, good will, dry humor, and imagination they deserve and should expect from the masters of unique animation.

It's wonderful filmmaking that touches the heart with affectionate Brit humor.

Arthur Christmas is a lovely family fun film that delivers that feel good factor together with good humor. It has that balance between kid movie and adult friendly atmosphere too. The premise of the movie is how Christmas has changed over the years but after all those changes some of the values of Christmas have been forgotten. Arthur(James Mcavoy)is a goofy but altogether lovable character, Bill Nighy as grandsanta delivers punchlines and old school views which lighten the movie greatly. Hugh Laurie is also brilliant as Steve. the cast was great and the story heartwarming. i would definitely recommend this movie for anyone with a sense of humor, it'll surely be a hit with the kids,both small and large.

Arthur Christmas is one of those rare computer generated films which is lucky enough to have things in common with such greats as Toy Story and Shrek, i.e. it can be watched on many levels and therefore enjoyed by both adults and children.

It tells the (very British) story of Father Christmas' operation and how he, and his family, plus an army of highly-trained elves, delivers presents to all the boys and girls on one night. However, his family-run business hits a rocky patch when one little girl is accidentally missed out, threatening to ruin Father Christmas' good name in the process. Step up Arthur (youngest son of Father) Christmas, who with the help of an elf with an obsession of wrapping things in pretty paper and bows, plus his aging (and slightly senile) Grandfather (aka 'Grand Santa') set about making the one last drop on Christmas Eve in which to get the present to the girl before she wakes up and thinks Father Christmas has forgotten about her.

It's not a particularly complicated story and, on hearing about it, I first wondered how much mileage could be made out of it. The trailer looks impressive, but sometimes they squeeze all the best gags into the ninety second trailer and there's nothing left for the film itself. Luckily, this is not the case. The story is truly charming. It highlights the best of British (vocal) acting talent and weaves it into a heartfelt story about family at Christmas with jokes that will make children chuckle, while others will go straight over their heads for 'parents only' to enjoy.

I'm no fan of Christmas. I think it's over-hyped, expensive and too commercial. Many a Christmas ever I've locked out the three well-meaning ghosts, but Arthur Christmas even managed to make me feel almost festive - an emotion that Dudley Moore couldn't even manage in his Father Christmas movie. That's how good Arthur Christmas really is (unless I'm experiencing a mid life crisis a few years early).

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.

I want to give this a 7, but its originality boosts it to an 8.

The story is predictable, but fun, but the tri-planar nature (Father-Father-Son) of the piece with off shoots of wife, mother, brother and friend, mean this is truly a film about a family Christmas.

Nothing unexpected happens, but I found myself laughing and egging Arthur on all the way! A film that succeeds in entertaining children and, in making the older viewers feel the onset of rosy and sometimes, emotional family nostalgia.

A more original plot may have blunted the message, but would also have engaged my brain.

Regardless, well done! A good Christmas film to add to the ranks.