Arthur Christmas (U)

Welcome back to Aardman Animations and Sony Pictures Animation teamwork on this whimsical, and fabulous festive tale of the ‘Family Christmas’. It’s the night before Christmas, and the logistical complexity of Father Christmas’ (Jim Broadbent) annual trek is laid bare. How DOES he get all those presents to all those children all over the world? Ah ha… His eldest son, technocrat Steve (Hugh Lawrie), runs the entire operation with military precision and a covert army of elves equipped with much high-tech gadgetry. When one present goes astray, youngest son Arthur (James McAvoy) takes it upon himself to ensure that one little girl is not left out on Christmas morning… Masterfully written by Peter Baynham and Sarah Smith, and fantastically rendered, Arthur Christmas has much to delight the tiniest and the eldest. “It's playful, observant, sentimental without being slushy, and boasts the kind of jokes that will still sound funny when your children quote them in April.” (Telegraph) “Aardman films' yuletide offering is both a heartwarmer and a sly dig at the gospel of family togetherness, a witty wonder of invention.” (Independent). Watch the elves spring into Mission Impossible stuntmen as a child begins to wake, and note Steve Christmas’s ‘ridic’ festive goatee.