Arthur Christmas

"I'm telling you it can't be done"

"Nonsense. That's what they use to say about teaching women to read."

I love Thanksgiving time for many reasons: The food, family, friends, starting of Christmas music and the release of seasonal movies. Like many fathers I was ordered to get the kids out of the house so mom could get some things done. What better way to get the kids out than to go see a movie, or two. So that's what we did. We hit our fist movie at 10 a.m. Arthur Christmas.

What a surprise this movie was. I figured this would be a typical Hallmark movie made into a cartoon. Santa's son needs to take over the family business blah blah blah and falls in love with the lonely widow with the adorable child. Well it kind of was, minus the widow part. Arthur is a young man who adores his father who happens to be Santa Clause. He works in the Letter dept. at the North Pole. He responds to the letters that children write to Santa. He loves his job and the whole Christmas scene.

Arthur has a brother named Steve who is next in line to be Santa. He is bigger, smarter and seems to do everything right. He has developed a new way to deliver presents. I loved the first 20 minutes of the movie when we see Steve spearhead the Christmas present delivery operation. It was genius. I was grinning from ear to ear. With all the success of the mission they find that one of the children had been missed. Arthur can not stand the though that a child could wake up on Christmas morning with out a present from Santa. Steve seems to be OK with his success and this small margin of error. Santa who is getting a bit older just goes along with Steve.

Arthur decides to tell his grandfather, Grandsanta, about it and they decide to take matters into their own hands. They break out the old sleigh and enlist the help of a new generation of reindeer. They set off to deliver the missed present with the help of a stow-away elf who specializes in wrapping that is determined to make sure the present is wrapped perfectly upon delivery.

Their journey turns into a comedy of errors. Grandsanta is a bit old and crazy which makes the ride more enjoyable. I really enjoyed this film. I would have to say that it is probably the second best film I've seen this year, following behind Super 8. It was fun and emotional. I would recommend it to anyone.

9 out of 10