Arthur Christmas

Play trailer

2:26

Arthur Christmas

PG

2011

1h 40m

Kids & Family

Holiday

Comedy

Fantasy

Drama

Animation

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

93%

Tomatometer

167 Reviews

77%

Popcornmeter

10,000+ Ratings

Everyone knows that, each Christmas, Santa Claus delivers presents to every last child on Earth. What everyone doesn't know is that Santa accomplishes the feat with a very high-tech operation beneath the North Pole. But when the unthinkable happens, and Santa misses one child out of hundreds of millions, someone has to save the day. It's up to Arthur (James McAvoy), Santa's youngest son, to deliver a present to the forgotten tyke before Christmas morning dawns.

Critics Consensus

Aardman Animations broadens their humor a bit for Arthur Christmas, a clever and earnest holiday film with surprising emotional strength.

Read Critics Reviews

Jake Wilson

Sydney Morning Herald

12/14/2014

3/5

Parents may shed a nostalgic tear or two, while their children can enjoy spotting all the witty visual details.

Go to Full Review

Wendy Ide

The Times (UK)

12/14/2014

4/5

It's disarming, imaginative and genuinely funny.

Go to Full Review

Scott Marks

San Diego Reader

12/14/2014

3/5

This witty, handsomely appointed 3-D animated feature is the most delightful Santa biopic since Edmund Gwenn donned the fat suit.

Go to Full Review

Joseph Tomastik

Loud and Clear Reviews

12/20/2024

4/5

Every clever, creative piece just keeps building on top of one another until you’ve got an infectiously sweet Christmas comedy and, even more surprisingly, a timelessly relevant look at adapting to and living with changing times.

Go to Full Review

Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

03/06/2023

3/4

It softens your heart, makes you laugh, and provides a lighthearted time at the movies.

Go to Full Review

Charlotte Harrison

Charlotte Sometimes Goes to the Movies

12/12/2020

A sweet and heart-warming tale, with some inventive animation and charming voice cast.

Go to Full Review

Read all reviews

Joshua

12/02/2023

I absolutely loved this movie

See more

CadeandKit R

@CadeandKit Mar 23

Santa's dorky youngest son goes on an adventure to get a missing present to a child - sprinkled with misogynistic and ageist jokes while pointing out the worst parts of family dynamics. Doesn't land.

See more

vanessa R

@RT58567972 Mar 15

Muy bien película navideña donde ver : Claro Video, Sony One Clasificación G

See more

Sam S

@MovieExpertSam_182 Mar 7

A fun, jolly and underrated Christmas movie that is from my childhood. Enjoyed rewatching this movie Christmas 2025.

See more

Kellen L

@Kellmell Jan 4

Arthur Christmas is an upbeat, funny Christmas movie that presents (pun intended) a new spin on the Christmas movie format, focusing on the premise of forgetting to give a child a present on Christmas, leading to many wacky antics, ultimately ending with all of the Santa’s experiencing the true joy of making a child happy on Christmas.

See more

Petros T

@PetrosTserpelis Jan 3

"Arthur Christmas" is a pleasant family film not bereft of a couple of laugh-out-loud as well as moving moments. It boasts an all-star British voice cast, and I especially enjoyed the "Mission: Impossible"-style action film take on Christmas at the beginning. In fact, I'd rather the whole film had stuck with that idea and capitalized on it instead of going down the more familiar underdog plot. As it is, it's an amusing movie but doesn't stand out as something all that original on the whole.

See more

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

POST RATING

Sarah Smith

Director

James McAvoy

Arthur

Hugh Laurie

Steve

Bill Nighy

Grandsanta

Jim Broadbent

Santa

Imelda Staunton

Mrs. Santa

Arthur Christmas: Official Clip - Risk of Mooing: 98 Percent

2:59

Arthur Christmas: Official Clip - Nice Kitties

2:42

Arthur Christmas: Official Clip - The Elf Battalion

3:00

Arthur Christmas: Official Clip - Man-Eating Lions

2:35

Arthur Christmas: Official Clip - Going Through Canada

2:07

Arthur Christmas: Official Clip - All the Santas

2:21

Arthur Christmas: Official Clip - Dash Away!

3:00

Arthur Christmas: Official Clip - Operation Santa Claus Is Coming to Town

2:46

Arthur Christmas: Official Clip - Season's Greetings From Mankind

2:58

Arthur Christmas: Official Clip - Scared of Everything

3:23

View more videos

Hotel Transylvania

45%

72%

Hotel Transylvania

Watchlist

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

85%

72%

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

Disney's A Christmas Carol

52%

58%

Disney's A Christmas Carol

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Disney's A Christmas Carol

Hotel Transylvania 2

57%

64%

Hotel Transylvania 2

Watchlist

Elliot: The Littlest Reindeer

30%

28%

Elliot: The Littlest Reindeer

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Elliot: The Littlest Reindeer

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

Arthur Christmas: Trailer 1

2:26

Arthur Christmas: Arthur Christmas - Best Scenes

9:57

View more videos

View more photos

Synopsis

Everyone knows that, each Christmas, Santa Claus delivers presents to every last child on Earth. What everyone doesn't know is that Santa accomplishes the feat with a very high-tech operation beneath the North Pole. But when the unthinkable happens, and Santa misses one child out of hundreds of millions, someone has to save the day. It's up to Arthur (James McAvoy), Santa's youngest son, to deliver a present to the forgotten tyke before Christmas morning dawns.

Director: Sarah Smith
Producer: Peter Lord, David Sproxton, Carla Shelley, Steve Pegram
Screenwriter: Peter Baynham, Sarah Smith
Distributor: Sony Pictures Entertainment
Production Co: Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation, Aardman Animations
Rating: PG (Some Mild Rude Humor)
Genre: Kids & Family, Holiday, Comedy, Fantasy, Drama, Animation
Original Language: British English
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 23, 2011, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 6, 2012
Box Office (Gross USA): $46.4M
Runtime: 1h 40m
Sound Mix: SDDS, Dolby Digital