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Alynda Wheat, People: OUTSTANDING (cg) "Funny, warm and sometimes too clever by half... the latest from the folks behind 'Wallace & Gromit,' who know well what kids like. The fun use of 3D and a deep bench of terrific actors should also charm adults." (Read the full review...) 104 words, 11/24/11 Mary Pols, Time: GOOD "...both more refined and less distinctive [than other Aardman movies]... it comes together sweetly and rather movingly at the end... [Still,] it's a little sad to foster a vision of [Christmas] as a Federal Express operation staffed by elves with Tom Cruise moves." (Read the full review...) 915 words, 11/25/11 David Germain, Associated Press: VERY GOOD (cg) "...has the old-fashioned spirit of Christmas at heart, spinning a snowflake-light tale with warmth, energy and goofy humor.... the visual gags will carry youngsters along, while there are plenty of clever wisecracks to keep their parents occupied." (Read the full review...) 709 words, 11/17/11 Keith Staskiewicz, Entertainment Weekly: EXCELLENT (cg) "...more clever than outright funny, but it's also genuinely sweet, and the complicated relations among Santa's clan are surprisingly believable.... In the end, the film really nails the trickiest knot of tangled multicolored lights: family." (Read the full review...) 249 words, 11/25/11 Scott Bowles, USA Today: VERY GOOD (cg) "...holds firm to the idea that holiday spirit is only as strong as family spirit. There's nary a disingenuous bone in 'Arthur'..." (Read the full review...) 439 words, 11/23/11 Kat Murphy, MSN Movies: EXCELLENT (cg) "This bright, shiny yuletide gift from Aardman Animation ('Wallace & Gromit') is a joy for the eye, mind and heart -- not to mention funny bone." (Read the full review...) 802 words, 11/21/11 James Berardinelli, Reel Views: VERY GOOD (cg) "When my son is old enough to appreciate Christmas movies, 'Arthur Christmas' will be among those I plan to show him." (Read the full review...) 780 words, 11/23/11
Neil Genzlinger, New York Times: VERY GOOD "...scrappy, smart... The plot may be a little too cluttered for the toddler crowd to follow, but the next age group up should be amused... the script by Peter Baynham and Sarah Smith has plenty of sly jokes for grown-ups." (Read the full review...) 354 words, 11/23/11 Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "...charming... fast and funny..." (Read the full review...) 339 words, 11/23/11 Michael Phillips, Los Angeles Times/Chicago Tribune: VERY GOOD "...a much better film [than Aardman's earlier 'Flushed Away']." (Read the full review...) 459 words, 11/23/11 Kyle Smith, New York Post: POOR (cg) "Ho-ho-huh?... an animated kiddie comedy that delivers all the wonder you'd expect in a movie about a guy delivering one package. Maybe they should have called it 'UPS Man: The Movie.' " (Read the full review...) 206 words, 11/23/11 John Anderson, New York Newsday: VERY GOOD (cg) "...not only funny and fresh, but represent[s] a new way of tackling the whole yuletide paradigm: Santa as a high-tech hereditary monarchy." (Read the full review...) 325 words, 11/23/11 Nell Minow, Chicago Sun-Times: VERY GOOD (cg) "...a holiday charmer that shows us how imperfect families can still feel just right." (Read the full review...) 522 words, 11/23/11 Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice/LA Weekly: VERY GOOD "...it's a lovely bit of work, only marred by the completely cynical, cranked-out Justin Bieber video of 'Santa Claus Is Coming to Town' tacked on the front for what can only be demo marketing." (Read the full review...) 236 words, 11/23/11 Bruce DeMara, Toronto Star: OUTSTANDING (cg) "...hilarious, fast-paced and superbly entertaining." (Read the full review...) 527 words, 11/23/11 Rick Groen, Toronto Globe & Mail: VERY GOOD (cg) "...a cultural merger, with the Brits at Aardman Productions (best known for the 'Wallace & Gromit' series) providing the idiosyncratic content and the Yanks at Sony Pictures Animation offering the 3-D, computer-generated style." (Read the full review...) 500 words, 11/23/11 Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: EXCELLENT (cg) "Aardman's animators lure us in with clever jokes and ingenious visuals, and then sucker-punch us by revealing unexpected emotional depths. And then there's Bryony the wrapping elf, who deserves her own sequel." (Read the full review...) 179 words, 11/24/11
Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: VERY GOOD (cg) "...an improbably charming story about an improbable hero.... Arthur Christmas may be an inept bumbler, but the movie that bears his name (and that shares his big heart) sure isn't." (Read the full review...) 428 words, 11/23/11 Scott Mervis, Philadelphia Inquirer: OUTSTANDING (cg) "...a delightful new entry on the list of holiday-season films, a vision of Christmas that we haven't seen before." (Read the full review...) 495 words, 11/23/11 Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: VERY GOOD (cg) "...a spirited, comically chaotic and adorably anarchic addition to the world's over-supply of holiday cartoons.... The Aardman animators know a thing or three about sight gags and throw-away lines, and they pile up quickly..." (Read the full review...) 559 words, 11/23/11 Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star-Tribune: OUTSTANDING (cg) "If 'Arthur Christmas' doesn't make you happy, I honestly don't know what's wrong with you." (Read the full review...) 390 words, 11/23/11 Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: EXCELLENT (cg) "It's really funny.... Maybe 'Arthur Christmas' won't be for everybody. But that doesn't make it any less funny -- or any less worthy." (Read the full review...) 450 words, 11/23/11 Tom Russo, Boston Globe: VERY GOOD (cg) "...the film's indefatigable holiday spirit is infectious..." (Read the full review...) 446 words, 11/23/11 Amy Biancolli, San Francisco Chronicle: VERY GOOD (cg) "...as bright and twinkling as a Christmas tree, decked with warmth and humor." (Read the full review...) 376 words, 11/23/11 John Hartl, Seattle Times: OUTSTANDING (cg) "...dense with witty visual detail that helps to distract from the somewhat trumped-up moral dilemma at its center." (Read the full review...) 360 words, 11/23/11 Mike Russell, Portland Oregonian: VERY GOOD (cg) "Arthur is sort of a dull hero, but the grandfather is classic, hilarious Aardman -- a thoroughly British eccentric prone to weird nostalgic/fatalistic utterances." (Read the full review...) 243 words, 11/23/11 Jody Mitori, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: VERY GOOD (cg) "...stays sweet without becoming overly sentimental and is filled with sly details and smart action sequences." (Read the full review...) 404 words, 11/23/11 Tom Long, Detroit News: VERY GOOD (cg) "...should be one of those holiday films kids watch for years to come. Good for the kids, good for the parents, and good for Christmas." (Read the full review...) 368 words, 11/23/11 Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: MODERATE (cg) "...the picture's attempt to turn the dysfunction in Santa's family into a relatable fairytale about the importance of getting along falls flat; the constant yelling and shrieking by everyone grows tiresome; and the story's narrow premise is too thin..." (Read the full review...) 447 words, 11/23/11
Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice/LA Weekly: VERY GOOD "...it's a lovely bit of work, only marred by the completely cynical, cranked-out Justin Bieber video of 'Santa Claus Is Coming to Town' tacked on the front for what can only be demo marketing." (Read the full review...) 236 words, 11/23/11 Katey Rich, Cinema Blend: EXCELLENT (cg) "...isn't cynical or hip in the way you might fear, eschewing pop culture references for good old-fashioned silliness and leaning on the rigorously tight screenplay by Peter Baynham and Sarah Smith (who also directed)..." (Read the full review...) 610 words, 11/21/11 Peter Keough, Boston Phoenix: VERY GOOD (cg) "...vindicate[s] the old-fashioned ways of reindeer and sleigh, as well as the traditional Aardman style of witty, detailed, and ingeniously designed storytelling." (Read the full review...) 142 words, 11/24/11 Nathan Rabin, AV Club: EXCELLENT (cg) "...gets a little sappy toward the end -- it is a Christmas movie, after all -- but it otherwise strikes just the right combination of naughty and nice, reverent and irrelevant, holiday-sweet and Aardman dry." (Read the full review...) 363 words, 11/22/11 Michelle Orange, Movieline: EXCELLENT (cg) "The velocity of the visuals matches the almost vaudevillian pace of the script -- no detail is unturned or punchline passed by -- and the 3D offers mild, if somewhat superfluous, enhancement to an already engrossing trip." (Read the full review...) 663 words, 11/22/11 Nick Schager, Slant: VERY GOOD (cg) "...a holiday saga perched gracefully on the dividing line between silliness and sappiness, a balancing act all the more delightful for its refusal to indulge in the very fart and poop jokes that curdle the mood of so many modern kids' films." (Read the full review...) 610 words, 11/19/11 Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: EXCELLENT (cg) "Aardman's animators lure us in with clever jokes and ingenious visuals, and then sucker-punch us by revealing unexpected emotional depths. And then there's Bryony the wrapping elf, who deserves her own sequel." (Read the full review...) 179 words, 11/24/11 Curt Holman, Atlanta Creative Loafing: GOOD (NOT GREAT) (cg) "...a Christmas feast of funny gags and a surprisingly complex approach to family dynamics and the tension between cutting edge and old-school holidays." (Read the full review...) 535 words, 11/23/11 MaryAnn Johanson, Flick Filosopher: OUTSTANDING (cg) "...sometimes wicked, sometimes manic, often hysterical, always clever funny. And a whole lotta poignant, too.... harnesses its own exasperation with the derailing of a holiday to reclaim it by bringing the fantasy of it into the modern world... Ho-ho-hooray." (Read the full review...) 964 words, 11/10/11
Neil Genzlinger, New York Times: VERY GOOD "...scrappy, smart... The plot may be a little too cluttered for the toddler crowd to follow, but the next age group up should be amused... the script by Peter Baynham and Sarah Smith has plenty of sly jokes for grown-ups." (Read the full review...) 354 words, 11/23/11 Trey Graham, NPR: EXCELLENT "...a sharp, savvy holiday comedy that doesn't get its laughs at the expense of those who start to glow in the early days of December. It's a most entertaining package indeed." (Read the full review...) 669 words, 11/22/11 Michael Phillips, Los Angeles Times: VERY GOOD "...a much better film [than Aardman's earlier 'Flushed Away']." (Read the full review...) 459 words, 11/23/11
Peter Debruge, Daily Variety: EXCELLENT "...a brisk computer-animated adventure clever enough to become essential yuletide viewing.... As endearing as Aardman's stop-motion efforts have been before, only computer animation could do the scope of this pic justice..." (Read the full review...) 1,035 words, 11/10/11 Michael Rechtshaffen, Hollywood Reporter: OUTSTANDING "...sparkling, inventive... bring[s] a delightful blast of fresh air to the conventional Christmas genre.... endlessly amusing..." (Read the full review...) 674 words, 11/09/11 Michael Phillips, Los Angeles Times: VERY GOOD "...a much better film [than Aardman's earlier 'Flushed Away']." (Read the full review...) 459 words, 11/23/11 Emanuel Levy, Cinema 24/7: OUTSTANDING (cg) "...a superior family entertainment... one of the better Christmas-themed films in a long while. Only Scrooge could remain unmoved." (Read the full review...) 690 words, 11/21/11 Neil Genzlinger, New York Times: VERY GOOD "...scrappy, smart... The plot may be a little too cluttered for the toddler crowd to follow, but the next age group up should be amused... the script by Peter Baynham and Sarah Smith has plenty of sly jokes for grown-ups." (Read the full review...) 354 words, 11/23/11
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