Why is Arthur Christmas a Masterpiece? 

it's a small joke that can be easily lost in the speed of the first delivery scene, but I liked when the elf scans a kid, gets naughty, and then scans himself to trick the scanner into letting him deliver presents

That last moment with the Santas was really heartwarming. Watching Steve sacrifice his opportunity to be Santa for Arthur and having them all there to discover the real magic of Christmas was such a wonder moment :')

Never noticed the tougher brother's beard is a Christmas Tree.

I love how the plot isn't about saving Christmas or the world or whatever, they're going on this whole adventure, for one child. Just shows how they much they care.

Rewatched this film today and came to the conclusion that, PERSONALLY, this is my favourite Christmas movie. I love the characters and all the subtleties.

I just love the idea of Santa being a title/status than an actual person ^^

I saw this movie in theatres, and I instantly fell in love with it! Other people had said it was a bit boring, but I legitimately loved this movie. The animation, the humour, the story...everything was so WONDERFUL! And so perfect for Christmas. No one was in the wrong, so it was something we can all relate to, no matter what side we're on. We can learn from this, and as an animation student, I was mesmerized by the beautiful animation and the gorgeous style/rendering.

This film is bloody excellent, I watch it every Christmas Eve, which is tomorrow actually...

I absolutely loved this movie when it came out. There is a lot to it to like about it.

This is a criminally underrated Christmas movie. I used to think I was the only one who considered this a modern Christmas classic!

I think one of the reasons Arthur Christmas wasn’t very popular, is because of the advertisements. I remember seeing ads for this movie when it came out, and all they advertised is that Justin Bieber was singing “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”. Hardly ANYTHING was said about the movie - not the actors, not the characters, barely even the STORY was mentioned. Just that Justin Bieber was singing “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”. So, people who hated Bieber, didn’t see the movie, and people who liked, or just didn’t care about Bieber, didn’t know anything about the movie, and didn’t see it. A few Christmases ago, I watched this video, and thought, REALLY!? THAT MOVIE?! WITH THE BIEBER GIMMIC!? When I saw Arthur Christmas on TV, I thought, ‘Why not? Nothing else is on…’ So, I watched it, and…was pleasantly surprised. ‘This movie is actually good, great even!’ Wanna know the kicker? Justin Bieber doesn’t EVEN SING IN THE ACTUAL MOVIE! He sings in the end credits sequence. So, not only were those ads a RIP-OFF, for people who like Bieber, but they also deterred Bieber haters from seeing the movie. I wouldn’t quite call Arthur Christmas a masterpiece, however I do LOVE the Christmas cookies out of this movie.

I thought January was arnold schwarzenegger month. *PUT. THAT. COOKIE. DOWN. NOW!*

Still the best Christmas movie I've ever seen. It's a must watch every holiday season.

I think this movie has my favorite interpretation of Santa and how all the Christmas presents are delivered. Maybe it's just me, but I love how here the presents don't just "magically appear" in every house, instead you see hundreds of elves grappling down from a massive flying sled-shapped space ship, and they show exactly how they're all able to complete an entire city in minutes. Christmas is made out to be this incredibly massive yearly undertaking done by the Santas along with thousands of elves, and I just found that to be a lot more interesting than the usual stories.

One of the most underrated Christmas movies of ALL time.

The technological elves remind me of the book series Artemis Fowl and that's why I liked it so much when it first came out, although I can appreciate it for what it is now.

This movie never interested me but now I want to watch it, thanks for showing NC :)

"There's no time for a bow!" "There's always time for a bow!"

This is like one of the only christmas movies that isnt over the top about christmas. Well, mostly.

The thing about this movie I really love is that there’s ultimately 3 different generations of Santas in this movie but it doesn’t make it where 1 is always right and the others are always wrong, it shows that sometimes the best thing to do is compromise, using both the old and new elements of the world in order to get things done efficiently, it’s not like this movie’s message is just a big fuck you to progress and telling you that the old ways are always better, no, in the climax you see all 3 generations make a contribution to the scenario that ultimately helps get the present delivered, it would’ve been so easy to just make this movie’s message “New bad, old good” But like I said it’s not, it’s saying it’s all about compromises, which is why the message is so spectacular

Every year we watch this, and every year it moves up my list of favourite Christmas films. It’s just so damn good.

It’s so weird that films like this can be so good yet so buried to time.

I'm actually really glad he's getting the word out about this. I watch this every year, it's become a classic in our house, and I feared that nobody else gave this a chance. I appreciate what he's doing for this, hopefully spreading it's fame

I ADORED THIS MOVIE IT STILL IS MY FAVOURITE MOVIE!!!!!!!!!

I watched Arthur Christmas last night. Can confirm everything 100%. Excellent movie with no villains, just people put under pressure, and it's all about finding compromise. A beautiful addition to Christmas.

Arthur Christmas is such an underrated Christmas classic. I love the final line of the film when it's speaking about what all the characters are doing and for Arthur it says; and at the helm Arthur Christmas who made everybody happy. Its so great and so true too Arthur did make everyone happy but they were just too busy to notice.

One of my favorite Christmas movies. I never saw it in the cinema but when it first launched on dvd I believe. Loved it ever since.

0:29 And can we just appreciate how good the music is? Because honestly the soundtrack is better than it has any right to be.

I saw this in theatres. I loved it.

hot fuzz is the reason im proud to be british

Almost no one talks about this movie, I love this movie!

That girls's room in the background as Arthur is putting in the card has a Chop Socky Chooks poster. Anybody else remember this show?

i watched this movie so many times when it came out omg, the scene where the grandpa delivers trash as presents made laugh until i cried

Watched this for the first time yesterday due to your review. Very good film. Thanks for the recommendation. It’s VERY British but I feel that’s part of the charm.

Why is it a masterpiece? It is about Christmas, it is about Santa Claus, it is a hectic comedy with characters who _should_ be annoying, yet I like it and would recommend it to my friends and family. Making me like something even though I should hate it deserves a price. (Same goes for Kill La Kill.)

Upon watching your initial review,I decided to give this a chance...and now I'm kicking myself for deliberately shunning this when it was in theaters. When it comes to CGI features,I tend to look down on anything not made by Pixar (or,in the last few years,Disney)...blame Dreamworks for making their first such feature a ridiculously blatant attempt to steal thunder from a Disney/Pixar feature released about a month later.Add to that the fact I loved Aardman's stop-motion feature work,and I mistakenly believed that,like Hollywood,they'd forsaken it and all other forms of animation for CGI (at the time,I was unaware of the fire at their studios that destroyed their claymation facilities,and it would take several years to restore,thus making the presumably temporary switch to CGI necessary).More still,in the initial trailer for *Arthur Christmas*,the emphasis was on the elves and their militaristic precision of readying homes for Santa...to me,this looked like they were ripping off the *Prep And Landing* specials,the first of which was made two years before. The Critic is right...this is a great pick for the holiday season,and hopefully over time, it will join the ranks of the Grinch,Rudolph and Charlie Brown as beloved Christmas entertainment.

most underrated christmas movies: Tokyo Godfathers and Arthur Christmas.

I watched Arthur Christmas for the first time after watching this review last year, and I am so, so glad that I did. It's my new favorite Christmas movie- if not my favorite movie in general. Thanks Doug!

"Christmas 1941, World War II, I did the whole thing with six reindeer and a drunken elf! I was shot at, Arthur! Took twelve direct hits! Lost three reindeer!" "What happened to the elf?" "Fell out of the sleigh over Lake Geneva. Never saw him again."

I had no idea this movie existed. Now it's my fav. christmas movie

So my town had a free screening of it this year, and I'd never seen it before. I was expecting a kitschy flick manufactured to babysit for an hour and a half, but I obnoxiously belly laughed through the whole thing. It was MUCH better than I was expecting for a free Christmas movie, especially one made at the beginning of the "movies aren't being made to have a lot of rewatch value, just give us our box office profit and get the hell out" era of modern cinema that bothers me so much nowadays.

I watch Arthur Christmas every Christmas eve

I just watched this movie and it was amazing. I will definitely show this to my sis and niece.

I was 8 I think when I saw this movie in theaters. I was too young to understand how great it was!

I’m not gonna lie, Arthur’s Perfect Christmas is actually one of my favorites. It blends together all of the holidays in a very nice way.

I saw this in the cinema and I loved it, it's seriously one of the best.

I watched this movie in the theaters and it was amazing so happy it’s getting more attention

I saw this in the cinema I loved it, it's seriously one of the best.

have seen this movie once, sadly they wont show it anymore in TV.I loved it it was so fun in modern and heart warming way.Also my dad loved it who normal wont like this kind of movies.I also noticed a lot of insider jokes

Thank goodness, I thought I was the only one! This film deserves way more credit than it's getting as of late. It's been a tradition of mine to watch it every year since the release date, and I'm *still* picking up stuff that I hadn't noticed before. I even saw something in this review that I never saw. Can't wait for next Christmas!

Arthur Christmas and How To Train Your Dragon are two animated movies that perfectly showcase you don't need a villain (per se) to write an engaging conflict and even more engaging story.

I couldn't agree more, Mr. Critic.

This is one of my favorite Christmas films!

My favorite scene is the elf’s singing about all the Santas bringing the toy 😂

At least doug gets our british humour yayy

I actually just watched this movie earlier today, It was really damn good.

I literally just found out about Arthur Christmas, because Netflix, and the movie genuinely brought tears to my eyes

I love this flick!

This came out when I was a kid. I'm 16 now and it's still my favourite Christmas movie ever. And can I just say the music you used in this video just proves how good the music from that film is!

What impressed me is the fact that the movie is so sincere, so genuine, so un-cynical in its humor. Christmas and every element thereof is treated with so much respect and love. It is one of the least mean-spirited films I've ever seen.

This movie really captures the spirit of christmas.

I just finally watched this last night, thanks to your top whatever Christmas specials list it was on. Thank you.

Two days after christmas, and I just watched this movie for about the third time. Smart and funny.

Hey Doug thank you so much for doing this review. This has become one of my all time favourite Christmas movies and is one of the only ones I have seen the capture the spirit that I feel every year. Thank you so much and Merry Christmas!!!!!!!

You convinced me to show this to my family and watch it this Christmas, and none of us were disappointed. Thank you for the recommendation!

13 years old and still my favourite movie, past 4 years I watch it every year on Christmas eve

I love this movie because it's just so Christmas

It's a good movie, I bought it last December after watching it on RU-vid and quite enjoyed it, looking forward to seeing it again on Christmas Eve when I do a Christmas movie marathon for this year. People really should give it a try, they might like it.

Welcome to the UK everyone! Basically all of our films are like this!

I loved this movie

Did you know that the older brothers beard is shaped like a Christmas tree?

THANK YOU CRITIC. This movie really brings back the FEEL of chrismass into my heart.

This is in my opinion one of the best Christmas movies

My family loves this movie; it's become one of our yearly must watch traditions :)

New Xmas classic indeed. Watch it every year!

I really wish Hollywood (and audiences) took the message of this movie to heart. There doesn’t always have to be a ‘villain.’ Things don’t have to be perfect in order to be wholesome and worthy of respect. I’ve seen so many movies lose their audience in an effort to have a perfect, victimized protagonist and a straw-man villain (hint: the ‘twist’ villains in Frozen.)

Mr. Walker, you are fantastic. This is by far the best Arthur Christmas review I've seen. I love how you mention that, though it would've been the easy thing to do, no one's a villain in this movie, not even Steve (whom I can't help but think about as Hugh Laurie). You're smart, you're awesome and I sort of love you. That's all I needed to say.

I still watch this movie all year long. Still and it's now 2021

I loved this movie and I loved seeing it every Christmas

Thanks for the recmendation saw it and loved it

This movie is my second favorite Christmas movie. (Nothing is gonna top Muppet Christmas Carol.) But I've always loved how this movie isn't what you usually expect. There's no actual villain, and everyone is kinda selfish and petty in their own way. Arthur, while a great clumsy dork who many can relate to, risked a lot to get the gift to one little girl. Steve points out that yes, one child was missed, but they delivered 1,999,999 others to the rest of the world. That's still impressive. Santa is having a mid-life crisis, and Mrs Claus even seems eager for her husband to retire. Grandsanta wants to essentially prove that his traditional ways are the best. But at the same time, they're still flawed, imperfect human beings, and they are still a family that does love and care about each other, and their jobs of bringing Christmas to the world. Which is why I usually get annoyed that a small epilogue is usually cut out of broadcast versions, showing how by the next year, everyone is actually happy.

I remember watching this on christmas day 2013 with me, my dad and my sister We were literally the only people in the cinema

I checked it out THIS Christmas. And it was great! :)

When Grandpa Christmas empties the trash bag.

6:14 I regitemetly said out loud "dreamworksuary" then facepalmed, I want a dreamworksuary version of httyd 2

When this movie came out, I was genuinely excited to see it! I had seen the little shorts and played the little games on Disneychannel.com, and it looked like it was gonna be a fun movie. Unfortunately, my family and I never got around to watching it, so I just kinda forgot about until this video. Thanks for reminding me of it! Despite the fact that it's September, I've been on a kind of Christmas fix today, so I'm gonna see if I can't go watch it right now!

I generally dislike Christmas specials, but you sold me on this one. Good storytelling and jokes!

I discovered this gem last Christmas and I was truly surprised how entertaining and clever it was. :)

I was lucky enough to convince my parents to see this in the theatres when it first came out....neither was really looking forward to it but it had all of us laughing and at the end shamelessly crying...Arthur Christmas is my favorite Christmas flick and I swear every time I watch it I find at least three new details. Like how when Steve and Grandsanta are arguing at the dinner table there is a painting behind them that shows two reindeer young and old butting heads. Or how when Malcolm (the current Santa) is questioning who he'll be if he's not "Santa" His "Ho-ho" (cellphone) goes off and says "please state your identity"

I remember this movie, gotta give it a watch again this year!

The scene shown at 4:07 was so heart-filled. I loved this movie.

This movie grew on me and I really love the family aspect which no other Christmas movie had gotten into when this movie was released.

I remember when I was 6 seeing this at the movies and loving it. NOSTALGIA.

I think next January should be Sandler Month!!

i had never head of this movie until i saw nostalgia critics review of it about 4 years ago. and i straight up LOVED it when i first saw it. the creativity, the dialogue, and above all the heart with the ending pretty much had me in tears of joy. such a dang good movie and i try to share it with a few people every year.

this my god will be a classic...longtime since I saw a new christmas movie done right! I straight out cried at some of the scenes!

I've never even heard of this movie. It may be because I don't have kids but this movie never crossed my radar.

I love this movie! I always watched it on Christmas with my family EVERY year!! It's awesome ^^

I watch this every Christmas!

I'm British and I watch this movie every year, it's already a classic in England(at least in my household)