I must confess that this was not a film I had originally intended to see, since stories about Santa Claus and the North Pole are not really my cup of tea. However, it was "showing" at Hannah's family's place when we visited them in Melbourne last month, so I gave it a watch, and was very pleasantly surprised. The fact it is done by Aardman Studios, the makers of Wallace & Gromit, is already a good sign.
The basic plot of the film is as follows: Santa now uses a high-tech sleigh spaceship filled with commando elves to deliver all the world's Christmas presents in a single night. The whole operation is overseen by Santa's ultra-efficient elder son Steve, who hopes that Santa will retire this year and give him the job. When Santa's awkward but kind-hearted younger son Arthur discovers that one little girl has accidentally missed getting her present, Steve and Santa seem unconcerned, pointing out this is a minuscule margin of error. However, Arthur will not settle for even one kid being missed out, and sets off with Grandsanta and his old-fashioned sled pulled by reindeer to deliver the present the traditional way.
I felt there were a couple of things that made this stand out as a great film. One was the array of clever ideas regarding how Santa's high-tech present operation would work, mixing traditional Christmas legend with secret agent-style adventure. Another high point was the clever humour and well-crafted dialogue. Our personal favourite moment is when Grandsanta tries to call his reindeer's names... but I won't spoil that one for you.
All in all, a movie very much worth watching. Here is the trailer:
Until next time :)
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