"Arthur Christmas" review: crazy-cool, fun-filled and inventive!

First off, "Arthur Christmas" is produced by Aardman Animations who brought us the fantastically funny "Wallace and Gromit" Oscar nominated shorts. That flair for comedy and style is evident in every frame of this serously fun holiday movie about how Santa Claus is actually a family name passed down from generation to generation starting with the very first St. Nicholas.

The current Santa, wonderfully voiced by Jim Broadbent, is a WWII-era Claus right down to his British grenadiers-like uniform and English round-faced Mrs. Claus. The next in line for the red suit is son Steve (Hugh Laurie) whose complete technically-assisted Christmas Eve control center is a miracle to behold. There's so much to see as thousands of commando-like elves descend from a super charged Santa sleigh that looks more like an alien spacecraft to precisely deliver gifts to 9 million children in one night. In fact these scenes are one of several reasons we want to go back and see it a second time in 3D (remember we're kinda done with the format).

Steve's mentality is to get the job done efficiently with zero mistakes. But the one thing he's missing is heart. That's where Arthur (James McAvoy) comes in, the second son of the current Claus, whose in charge of letters sent to Santa by all the children of the world. Finding that a child has been missed when it comes to delivering a very special bike, Arthur takes it upon himself to get that child her gift with the help of the previous, now grandpa Santa Claus who stays at home and watches the entire operation on TV. He's one of the funniest characters in the movie and is comedically voiced by the always fun to watch and hear Bill Nighy.

The animation is amazing, the story is fresh and the characters endearing, right down to the young faux hawk-haired, gift wrapping specialist female elf whose motto is 'it's never too late to wrap a package'. This is an epic adventure and a unique tale of how Santa and his elves take on the world on Christmas Eve. Definitely see it in the theatre and I wanna say, even before we do, you should check this one out in 3D!