The diametric opposite of the Antarctica-set Happy Feet Two, or at least geographically, Sarah Smith's revisionist Santa Claus tale still delivers the same kind of offbeat holiday animation. It starts slowly, for which you can blame Steve (Hugh Laurie), Santa's son and heir apparent, who has relegated dad (Jim Broadbent) to figurehead status and updated the old delivery system with computers and a vessel that looks like the Starship Enterprise. His operation may be dull, but it's as slick as a commando raid; nonetheless, it has missed a little girl in Wales. This gives Santa's idealistic younger son, bumbling Arthur (James McAvoy), along with Grandsanta (Bill Nighy) and punky Bryony (Ashley Jensen), the Lisbeth Salander of elves, a chance to vindicate the old-fashioned ways of reindeer and sleigh, as well as the traditional Aardman style of witty, detailed, and ingeniously designed storytelling.
