The new film by Aardman Animations (the studio which gave the world Wallace and Gromit); Arthur Christmas; will be attempting to answer two questions children have been asking since the dawn of time; how does Santa deliver all those presents in one night? and if Father Christmas ever had an overly excitable, utterly naive, and slightly backward, jumper-wearing son, what would he get up to?
The recently released teaser trailer for Arthur Christmas (which can be seen below), gives hints to the answers, and introduces viewers to the central character, Arthur; one of Santa’s two sons (the good-natured yet clumsy one); and shows that Santa’s massive operation takes place underneath the North Pole, and is now extremely technologically advanced.
Introducing the Santas as a somewhat dysfunctional and disgruntled family, Arthur is the only one who still loves Christmas; unlike his father (who has become more of a figurehead now that the operation has outgrown him), his super-efficient brother Steve (the heir to the entire enterprise, and the person who took the business in its new technological direction), and the cranky Grandsanta, who refers to Steve as “a postman with a spaceship”, and insists that Christmas was better in his day.
James McAvoy (Wanted) leads the voice cast as Arthur, with Hugh Laurie (House) providing the voice of Steve; the one behind the adoption of the flying sleigh seen in the trailer (which, like the poster, looks suspiciously like it was plucked from Close Encounters of the Third Kind); Jim Broadbent (Moulin Rouge!) playing Father Christmas, Bill Nighy (Love Actually) as Grandsanta, and Imedla Staunton (Vera Drake) as Mrs Christmas, with Ashley Jensen (Extras) voicing a lovable Elf named Bryony; who’s obsessed with bows and wrapping.
And while December 7th may seem a little late to be releasing the first teaser trailer for a Christmas movie, it’s not when you realize that Arthur Christmas won’t be released until November 23rd 2011; something which will give Santa’s 1.6 million elves, plenty of time to look their best in 3D, and get the year’s 2 billion gifts ready to be delivered, and also time for the movie-going public to wonder how more than 4.5 billion people have been naughty enough not to warrant a gift.
