Blu-ray Review – Arthur Christmas 3D

The guys responsible for ‘Chicken Run’, ‘Flushed Away’ and of course the British legend that is ‘Wallace and Gromit’, Aardman Animations decided for their latest CGI based film to delve into the Christmas market with Arthur Christmas. It is fun in places and the pompous but hilarious British cast featuring James McAvoy, Jim Broadbent and Bill Nighy breath charm that is genuine in this family friendly storyline.

Arthur is the sensitive and clumsy son of Santa. He is in love with all things Christmas. The problem is that to the Christmas family and to the elves working in the North Pole Arthur is a bit of a joke. He is always causing a kerfuffle wherever he goes, and accidents seem to always happen to him.

Arthur’s older brother, Steve with the aid of caffeine has turned Christmas into an extremely high-tech affair, with the delivery of presents a loveless but extremely efficient machine. But when an apparent blunder happens with in this well oiled Christmas machine, it falls at the feet of Arthur and his love for the season and Grandsanta who can’t let go of the past, to save the day.

The characters within Arthur Christmas are all extremely well fluffed out and make the film a lot of fun to watch. Jim Broadbent was born to play Santa, James McAvoy is funny and quirky as Arthur, but my favourite was  Ashley Jenson as the efficient and cute elf Bryony. The running time is just right for those with kids, never over staying its welcome, with a number of action set-pieces that keep everyone entertained.

It is nice to see that the observational comedy and characterization that has made Aardman Animation famous has been transferred here. Watch out for some excellent ‘Easter Eggs’ dotted about the scenery too!!

As always the best 3D blu-rays are often Animation film, and Arthur Christmas is extremely well presented. Rather than opting for showcasing pop out 3D, this film takes the more intellectual route and offers a great amount of depth through negative space. One scene in particular where the Christmas family are sitting for a festive meal around a table looked positively real and felt like you could step inside the screen.

Arthur Christmas is a little different to the normal run of the mill family Christmas movie. It is fun and well written with some brilliant animation to boot.