Hello there and welcome to Holiday-Palooza 2025!

Yes, this has become a tradition over here at 3rd World Geeks when we devote the entire December to reviewing holiday media. This is a great time to take a look at current Christmas movies and television specials as well as some from the past.

For the first entry of Holiday-Palooza 2025, I’ve decided to take a look at a Christmas movie I totally avoided when it was released: Arthur Christmas. There are a couple of reasons why I did that. For one thing, it was from Sony Pictures Animation. They were a relatively new studio but, from the few animated features they’ve released, I just felt they were pandering to kids. By the time Sony Pictures Animation released Arthur Christmas, they only had a few films under their belt, such as the Open Season films and *shudder* the “live-action” Smurfs film. Sure, the movie was actually made by Aardman Animations. But if Sony Pictures animation was releasing such kiddie fare, why would Arthur Christmas be different?

Well, Sony Pictures Animation has certainly changed quite a bit since then. Now, they can be considered rather heavy hitters, with films geared towards somewhat older folks like the Spider-Verse series and, yes, K-Pop Demon Hunters. So, maybe I was missing out. Well, now that it’s Holiday-Palooza, this was my chance to see if I was or not!

By the way, even though Arthur Christmas was released over a decade ago, I’m still going to make this a SPOILER FREE review. I’m just assuming there are going to be folks like me who dismissed it when it was showing in theaters. So, yeah. SPOILER FREE review.

Arthur Christmas follow Arthur Claus, the clumsy, sheltered, neurotic, youngest son of Santa Claus. After the mad rush of delivering presents to all the good boys and girls of the world, it’s discovered they missed out on one child. Steve, the head of operations and Arthur’s older brother, convinces Santa Claus that it’s fine as they mostly succeeded with their mission. However, Arthur is not convinced and vows to find a way to deliver the present to the child before Christmas morning.

Let me start by saying I really like the premise and the message of Arthur Christmas. I guess it’s not so special to have someone go on a hero’s journey in a children’s movie. You know, the unlikely hero who summons the courage to go on a quest to do what’s right. But what makes Arthur Christmas is there isn’t really a villain or a great evil to vanquish. No, the quest is all about ensuring no one gets left behind or is treated as if they’re just a number.

It is a nice twist to see how Steve, the one who’s actually coordinating Santa Claus’ deliveries is more concerned with the “how” they manage to give gifts to all the good little boys and girls but he’s forgotten the “why” they do it in the first place. This is something a lot of adults do feel during the holidays. They give gifts to people just because it’s more like an obligation and forget about the joy it’s supposed to bring. So, there is kind of a message for adults here hidden in this children’s movie.

Sadly, there really isn’t all that much to hold an adult’s attention throughout Arthur Christmas’ 97-minute runtime. There are maybe one or two clever gags here that may draw a smile or a little chuckle from older viewers. But that’s essentially it. At least it’s not painful to watch. Sure, a lot of the gags are geared towards kids but there isn’t anything that’s groan-worthy as well. And there are a lot of gags that kids will enjoy and adults will… not really find funny. I guess what I’m saying here is, if you’re a parent or an adult who has to watch Arthur Christmas with a child, you’re not going to try to gouge your eyes out.

I will say the animation is mostly okay. There is a certain generic-ness to the character designs but, considering it was Aardman Productions’ only second foray into CGI animation, I do think they did a passable job. Things are generally bright and colorful, adding to the feeling that this is a Christmas movie. And it is rather impressive how there are some scenes where they fill the screen with characters and still manage to keep things moving smoothly.

The voice acting here is pretty good overall. Arthur Christmas does have a few big names here, such as James McAvoy and Hugh Laurie as Arthur and Steve, respectively. I did enjoy Hugh Laurie’s performance as the very serious and business-like Steve. However, James McAvoy really surprised me as Arthur. He does a really good job of conveying the personality of a very nervous and naive person. Heck, I don’t think I would’ve recognized him if I didn’t see his name in the credits!

I will say I did find a couple of characters pretty annoying and, unfortunately, you’re kind of stuck with them for a lot of the film. Grandsanta got rather grating to me because he was the stereotypical “when I was your age” kind of old person. He’s there to be the comic relief and to get into “hilarious” situations. His schtick got old real fast for me. The other is Bryony Shelfley, the gift wrapping elf. I really disliked this character because she’s, well, annoying. Her only real trait is she’s good at gift wrapping stuff so there’s nothing really to her for me to latch onto.

Thankfully, a lot of those problems are only evident during the first half of Arthur Christmas. During that portion of the film, I was just watching it. Not really bored but uninterested. Things do get better at around the midway point when Grandsanta’s motivations for helping Arthur deliver the present is revealed. I can’t really say what it is because this is a SPOILER FREE review. But it did add an interesting layer and, after that, I was a little more invested in Arthur’s adventure.

In the end, I can’t say Arthur Christmas is a great Christmas movie. But I also can’t say it’s a bad Christmas movie. I guess it’s something you can turn on for the kids to watch while the grown ups do their own thing. And, if you do get roped up into watching it with children, you won’t be pulling your hair out. It’s just okay.

Have you seen Arthur Christmas? What did you think of it? Let me know in the comments section below!