Arthur Christmas (3D)

How Do They Do It?

Director: Sarah Smith

Writers: Peter Baynham, Sarah Smith
Cast: James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, Bill Nighy, Jim Broadbent, Imelda Staunton, Ashley Jensen, Marc Wootton, Laura Linney, Eva Longoria, Ramona Marquez, Michael Palin, Robbie Coltrane, Joan Cusack

SYNOPSIS: The youngest of two sons of the current Santa Claus finds out that one child has not received a present for Christmas, spurring him on an adventure to deliver that present to her before she wakes up.

REVIEW: What happens when you mix any number of Christmas adventures with the hi-technology of Mission: Impossible? You get the new 3D holiday animation from the minds of writer/director Sarah Smith (TV mini-series Thin Ice) and fellow screenwriter Peter Baynham (Arthur (2011)). Together, they bring a new twist on a holiday tale that revolves around Claus and his family, from The Santa Clause to Fred Claus.

Arthur Claus (voiced by James McAvoy, X-Men: First Class) is the youngest of the Santa Claus children. While Arthur is relegated to responding to Christmas letters, his older brother Steven (voiced by Hugh Laurie, House) runs the yearly operations from the North Pole command center with his father Malcolm (voiced by Jim Broadbent, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2), the current Santa Claus, delivering christmas presents around the world with battalions of elves and impressive technology in support. When the latest Christmas Eve is a complete success, except for one wrapped pink bike undelivered to a young girl Gwen (voiced by Ramona Marquez) in a small town in England, Arthu, aided by his Grandsanta (voiced by Bill Nighy, Pirate Radio), goes against his dad, brother and his own phobias in an attempt to deliver the present.

A cross between The Santa Clause and Mission: Impossible, Arthur Christmas delves deep into the mechanics of the festive holiday. Like NASA, Santa Claus is supported by a North Pole mission control center manned by hundreds, if not thousands, of elves. And from the deck of the mammoth S-1 sleigh-craft carrier, complete with holographic camouflage under panels, specialized gift delivery elf battalions repel from the hovering craft into every home that celebrates Christmas. Santa himself is now more of a figurehead than the man who travels the world in one night.

Beyond the technology that the Spirit of Christmas must employ to counter the logistics of the holiday, Arthur Christmas deals with the succession of the man who is Claus. Arthur is filled with the spirit of the season, joyful of who his father is and what Santa Claus means to the waking children around the globe. His brother Steven, on the other hand, has developed and run the Christmas delivery operations for some time and now believes it is his turn to take the reigns over for the Claus vestige and have his father retire. At the other end of the spectrum is Grandsanta who wishes Arthur to learn of simpler ways of handling the Christmas responsibilities without modern technologies and manpower. I am sure most can remember a "In my day,...!" speech.

Arthur Christmas is a wonderful story of the spirit of Christmas, and what the season truly means. Arthur represents the wide-eyed innocence that all of us revel in when we see children opening presents from the Big Red Guy! And as much as the film is touching, it is funny. Just seeing an aging reindeer with a broken antler and an Elizabethan collar hanging its head out the side of a classic Santa's sleigh will make you smile.

Heartfelt and fast-paced, this 3D adventure has what every Christmas film needs to get you in the holiday spirit. Filled with good tidings, and additional cameo voice talent like Joan Cusack, Eva Longoria, Robbie Coltrane and Laura Linny, Arthur Christmas will make your heart three times too big.

WORTH: Matinee and DVD

Hop

Here Comes Peter Cottontail

Director: Tim Hill

Writer: Cinco Paul, Ken Daurio, Brian Lynch

Stars: James Marsden, Russell Brand, Kaley Cuoco, Hank Azaria, Gary Cole, Elizabeth Perkins, Hugh Laurie

RANT: Remember my rant about making choices about what movies to see? Now, a decision was made for me! Off I go to the movies to see Hop, functioning as an honorary uncle and grandfather! We will see how will behaved they all are. And, of course, I will be sure to not sit in front of any of them!

SYNOPSIS: E.B., the Easter Bunny's son, heads out to Hollywood to break in the rock 'n' roll biz as a drummer, abandoning his father's hope to pass on the tradition of Easter Bunny to him.

Filling a holiday season movie void, director Tim Hill takes on a "tale" of the Easter Bunny legacy. But when E.B., the next in line to the Easter Bunny mantle, decides that he does not have the right stuff to be the big bunny, he instead tries to live his dreams of being a rock 'n' roll drummer in the non-magical world. Along the way, he shacks up with a slacker, Fred, who is also trying to get his life in order. All the while, both Fred and E.B. live under the shadow of fathers who expect big things from their sons. Finally, toss in a second-in-command chick with plans to overthrow bunnies as the distributors of holiday candy, and you have a recipe for some kid-friendly fun.

Not as engrossing for kids of all ages, Hop, from the studio that brought us the wildly successful Despicable Me, still delivers laughs and tears to those of us with the heart of a child (or at least the mentality, like me). Russell Brand reels his manic side back in as a voice over talent, to delightful results. You can still hear the wild man trying to get out, but we are treated with enough Brand-iose mannerisms to appeal to all. James Marsden returns to the live action/animated genre as Fred, still able to interact with the imaginary critters set before him. He is not as gallant as he was in Enchanted, but since he is a slacker with daddy issues, its hard to compare the two roles. The Big Bang Theory's Kaley Cuoco comes in as Fred's sister, Sam. Gary Cole is Fred's father, Henry, and Elizabeth Perkins is his mother, Bonnie. Hank Azaria rounds out the cast as the frustrated, scheming chick, Carlos, bent on ousting the bunnies as the prime Easter Bunny representatives.

There is plenty for the kids, from the Pink Beret Royal Easter Bunny guard bunnies tasked to find E.B., to pratfalls with large dogs, to pooping out jelly beans, to a chick that can't stopping dancing when the music plays, to multiple scenes with E.B. banging out some sweet thumps on a drum kit. But for every good scene, there are some lulls that parents will be bored with. Even some of the kids may find themselves distracted from the kaleidoscope of color on the silver screen. Maybe Russell Brand's E.B. is still too kinetic, cause when he isn't in the scene, there seems to be a vacuum.

Sporting a Santa Clause-inspired ending, the kids will enjoy Hop. But parents may hope for Easter Sunday to come ad go. I give Hop a 3.5 for the kids, and 2.5 for the adults.

WORTH: Matinee or DVD