Many of the most memorable jokes come from Grandsanta, whose offhand comments (including one implying he was involved in the Cuban Missile Crisis) are brought to life through Nighy’s hysterical voice work and tend to suggest stories that could easily sustain their own movies.

Arthur Christmas, meanwhile, finds more specific and dialogue-driven means of getting people to giggle.

Typical computer-animated kids fare (including some efforts from Sony Pictures Animation) concerns itself with generic pop culture references and bathroom jokes to generate laughs. Though the characters don’t have the overbite and eyeballs that one associates with the stop-motion figures seen in Wallace and Gromit, the classic Aardman humor has remained consistent. It’s a straightforward premise that makes plenty of room for, among other enjoyable qualities, the kind of clever wit that has dominated Aardman’s projects. This directorial effort from Sarah Smith tells the story of Santa’s ( Jim Broadbent) clumsy son, Arthur ( James McAvoy), who sets out to work with his Grandsanta ( Bill Nighy) to deliver a present to a young girl who was missed during Santa’s Christmas Eve delivery of presents. Arthur Christmas is just the kind of Yuletide feature that should be an automatic fixture of holiday viewing. However, that shouldn’t be seen as a sign of it being an inherently inferior project. Its financial shortcomings were especially apparent when compared to all of the other family movies it competed against in its original release. Such notable qualities weren’t enough to attract moviegoers as Arthur Christmas ended up with a meager box office run. It was also the first result of the outfit’s brief collaboration with Sony Pictures Animation. RELATED: Why Aardman Animation Still Has a Leg Up on PixarĪrthur Christmas was only the second computer-animated title from Aardman Animations. But another children's film that got thrown into the mix here, Arthur Christmas, and ten years later, it deserves to be recognized for what it is: A true Christmas classic. Between The Muppets and Hugo, not to mention all the other holdovers in the November 2011 landscape, it was easy to lose track of what kid-oriented films were playing in movie theaters. Then came Thanksgiving 2011, which saw three separate PG-rated movies bowing in wide theatrical. Jack and Jill and Happy Feet Two both debuted within the first three weeks of the month, while Puss in Boots, which opened in the last four days of October 2011, was also still a priority viewing for many adolescent moviegoers. November 2011 was jam-packed with family movies.

Christmas anime images