Fridae

Aardman Studios has a unique spin on the Yuletide film with Arthur Christmas. In the world of the film, the post of Santa Claus is passed from father to son in the Christmas family upon retirement of the incumbent at 70. Young Arthur (voiced by a cheery and spirited James McAvoy) may be a complete klutz but he's well-meaning, sincere and enthusiastic about Christmas – in short, destined for greatness if his technocratic, hyper-efficient, bean-counting brother Steve (Hugh Laurie) weren't already the heir apparent by virtue of transforming Christmas into a global high-tech gift-delivery enterprise. After all, you'd want as the next CEO of Christmas Inc. the man who built an Enterprise class spaceship that replaced the old trusty Santa sleigh. Right?

And yet when a doddering Santa (Jim Broadbent) misses a delivery to a child one Christmas Eve, the stage is set for an adventure as Arthur making a very special rush delivery to the forgotten child, together with his cranky grandpa (Bill Nighy playing a geriatric Santa chaffing at being mothballed by modernisation) and the original magic sleigh.

The genre-savvy among you will of course expect Arthur to triumph while showing everyone the real meaning of Christmas, which has been forgotten in the midst of all the very impressive and entertaining sequences involving the goal-oriented high-tech operations at the North Pole. Yet Aardman Studios delivers much more than that. The humour in this film is pure Aardman whimsy, combining visual comedy, madcap capers, and that typically English wit.

For me, Aardman Studios is virtually synonymous with claymation. As its second pure CGI animated feature, the character and set design this time round evokes the feel, texture, and uneven look of claymation. The result is an animated film that has far more character and evokes far more whimsy and fascination than your standard-issue CGI animated film.