My Favourite Christmas Movie and why I’m Right

As another Christmas season comes to a close, I think it only right to prove my take on the best Christmas movie of all time. You listen around to hear Home Alone, It’s a Wonderful Life, Die Hard (is it a Christmas film, really?) and I’m here to argue my case that Arthur Christmas is the best Christmas movie of all time. Hear me out! I know I’m an eighteen year old writing about how a 10 year old kids film is the best holiday film to come from British and world cinema alike; and no it’s not just because James McAvoy voices Arthur and I’m deeply in love with him.

Let’s start with the fact it’s a proper Christmas film. If you haven’t seen it, Arthur Christmas centres around the youngest son of the current Santa, Arthur. In short he’s a clumsy, incompetent descendant of the Father Christmas lineage so he’s put in charge of letters, the one department that his family are sure he cannot mess up. After a successful Christmas evening, it’s found that Santa missed a kid, so Arthur takes it on himself to deliver this present to the missed child. He faces his fair share of trials and tribulations, loses hope in Christmas but eventually becomes the only right choice to be the next Santa Claus. Unlike Die Hard or Iron Man 3, Arthur Christmas is a pure festive movie, focusing on Santa, shares a different but wonderful take on elves and how presents are delivered to kids all over the world so quickly while maintaining the tradition of the reindeer and the sleigh.

The film is humorous in a way that doesn’t make your face scrunch up like films like Elf does. There’s elements of self-deprication and sarcasm that catch you off guard. It’s self aware and utterly adorable. It combines the good old jolly cartoon with documentary elements (namely the end credits) that adds another layer of pure happiness.

Let’s not forget the star quality of the cast. James McAvoy, Jim Broadbent, Ashley Jensen. Only a few of the UK’s best and most loved actors of that decade. Almost all have been in other incredibly successful Christmas movies: Nativity to name but one.

I also think the depiction of elves in Christmas movies are quite hit and miss, some are too normal, some are too creepy, some are plain boring. I think Arthur Christmas does well to make every elf stand out from each other rather than making them literally Santa’s slaves. Not only that but Brynony exudes pure excitement and dedication to her job, traits that start to get boring in other films but adds to the charm in this one.

Maybe it’s because I grew up with it, maybe it’s because we’ve watched it every year on Christmas Eve without fail since it was released. Maybe it actually is my undying love for James McAvoy, but Arthur Christmas is the thing that makes Christmas really feel like Christmas even as an adult who’s starting to lose the magic of the holidays. It’s an hour and a half of pure happiness, and I’ll be damned if my future family despise it. To me, Arthur Christmas simply makes Christmas.