Arthur Christmas
(2011)
At one point in Arthur Christmas, Grandsanta (Bill Nighy) commiserates regarding
the way Christmas has been slicked up and polished; “Reindeer, that’s what kids want, not some spaceship!” One might suggest
the same of this Sony-produced Aardman picture; “Traditional stop motion
animation, that’s what viewers want, not some CGI approximation”. Arthur Christmas is inoffensive, jolly
(jingling) Christmas fare with a commendable message about the importance of
family and how everyone matters, but it lacks that handmade touch.
It’s probably no coincidence that another
lesser Aardman feature, Flushed Away,
also went down the CGI route, and that both cost so much more than their stop
motion fellows, they failed to justify themselves at the box office. There’s
something about the Aardman signature style that is cheerfully unsophisticated
in physical form but looks derivative and over-familiar when computer rendered.
Which applies to this new take on the Santa
mythos also, whereby generations of Clauses have assumed the Santa mantle, and
the enterprise has burgeoned into a hi-tech, precision-run operation, directed
by son Steve (Hugh Laurie) and nominally presided over by the incumbent Santa,
Malcolm (Jim Broadbent). Arthur (James McAvoy), the youngest son, works in the
mail room due to being a bit of a klutz, but it’s his devotion to the magic of
the season that leads to a last moment attempted deliver, to furnish the one
forgotten child with her requested bike. For which, Nighy’s 136-year old
Grandsanta is on hand with a trad-style sleigh and reindeer.
Grandsanta is the most memorable character
in the mix, given a suitably acerbic bent (“You’re
a postman with a spaceship!”) and look that breaks from the formula. Also,
something that grates now animation houses seem obsessed with casting big names
rather than vocal artists, Nighy gives a proper performance, one that doesn’t just
sound like Nighy in a recording booth. Grandsanta pronounces the joys of
yesteryear, when prying young eyes would be greeted with a sockful of sand, and
mocks the ambitions of Steve (“You’ll
never get to be Santa unless you knock him off”).
Arthur, who bears a passing resemblance to
Muriel Gray, is only ever rather wet, and, while McAvoy delivers the message
about remembering what Christmas is all about with sincerity, the plotline
about who should take over as Santa is only so-so. It seems Arthur, despite
being hopelessly inept, is the ideal candidate because he cares, while his
brother and father see the girl as merely a statistic (“I mean, who cares about one single, tiny child?”)
There’s definitely an irony to a picture
extoling the virtues of the human touch that reveals itself to be so
manufactured and lacking in individuality. I’m assuming Barry Cook’s involvement
as co-director (with Sarah Smith) was a result of a Sony edict (he also
co-directed Mulan), and a concordant reluctance
to let Aardman get on with their own thing; the following year’s The Pirates! In an Adventure with
Scientists! was a wholly superior (stop motion) collaboration, but it’s
easy to see why Nick Park’s company has moved onto a partnership with
StudioCanal.
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