"Learning to Love the Least of These"
None | Light | Moderate | Heavy | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Language | ||||
Violence | ||||
Sex | ||||
Nudity |
What You Need To Know:
The story in ARTHUR CHRISTMAS is a little convoluted, with a lot going on all the time. However, it has some heartwarming scenes of a family learning to stick together. It also has many funny, adorable, and playful moments. ARTHUR CHRISTMAS emphasizes the importance of each child. Caution is advised, however, due to an emphasis on believing the “magic” of Christmas, with no clear reference to the real reason for Christmas – Jesus Christ. That said, ARTHUR CHRISTMAS does have references to Christmas carols and to church.
Content:
(BBB, CC, FR, L, V, A, M) Very strong moral worldview supporting family and the value of children, with some Christian content including “Silent Night” is sung and other Christian Christmas songs are heard, St. Nicholas is mentioned, and there’s a church at the center of town, marred by some superstitious elements such as emphasis of belief in Santa Claus and magic, but the magic is not nominalistic; one obscenity, plus some scatological, crude humor; light cartoon violence as man slips down ice and runs into elves, and man shoots gun at characters; no sexual content, just one kiss between a married couple; no nudity; grandfather drinks and has alcohol around; no smoking or illegal drugs; and, stealing, mentions of aliens, homogenous elves with piercings, and family competes against each other but is brought together at the end.
More Detail:
ARTHUR CHRISTMAS tries to show just how Santa Claus gets all those gifts to the children on Christmas Eve. In the process, ARTHUR CHRISTMAS stresses that every child is valuable. It has a moral worldview and shows that even several generations of Santa Claus must humble themselves to love the least of these children, although it also has an emphasis of believing in Santa and the “magic” of Christmas.
Arthur is the youngest son of Santa Claus. Even though Arthur loves Christmas, he’s very clumsy and awkward. So, his brother, Steve, is the one who is next in line to succeed his father to be Santa Claus. On the night of the big day, Steve has almost taken over every aspect of getting the gifts to the children through an intense use of new technology, but there is one big flaw: one child never gets her present.
Distraught, Arthur tells Steve and Santa Claus Malcolm that one child did not get her present, but thinking it too late, they ignore him. Arthur goes to his grandfather, Grandsanta, who has served as Santa before. Grandsanta is over the hill and a little senile, but is excited to get out the old sleigh, strap up the reindeer, and bring along Arthur to give the gift to the forgotten child.
Adventure begins as Arthur and Grandsanta lose some Reindeer, head in the wrong direction, and are seen by humans! Almost doing everything wrong, turning so far in the wrong direction that they reach Africa and are attacked by lions, Grandsanta and Arthur fight all odds to try to get to the child before she wakes up for Christmas.
All the while, back at the North Pole, all the elves find out that one child did not get a gift. They are very upset and start to question the whole, high-tech operation. Looking toward Santa, they begin to ask the importance of Christmas and children, but then the elves see that Arthur is fighting against all odds to deliver the gift. The problem is, the elves aren’t the only ones who have spotted Arthur, Grandsanta and the old sleigh. The whole world has!
ARTHUR CHRISTMAS has a bit of a convoluted story line with a lot happening amost all the time, but there are heartwarming scenes of a family learning to stick together to love every last child. Thus, ARTHUR CHRISTMAS stresses the importance of each child. The movie also teaches that each Santa must give up his pride to do the right thing and learn to put others first. Finally, the movie shows you can’t judge a potential Santa like Arthur by his clumsiness.
Caution is advised for ARTHUR CHRISTMAS due to the emphasis of believing in Santa Claus and the “magic” of Christmas, with no clear reference to the real reason of Christmas — Jesus Christ. In fact, the movie at several points asks the characters if they believe in Santa. That said, Silent Night is sung in a worshipful manner along with some other Christmas songs, including one sung by Justin Bieber. Also, there’s a church in the center of town, St. Nicholas is mentioned, and there are references to the “gift” of the world.