Benjamin-M-Weilert

There are plenty of Christmas movies out there that explore the different aspects of Santa in lots of different ways. Whether it's the "origin story" of Klaus (2019) or the "legal magic" of The Santa Clause (1994), there are many different interpretations of the magical main character of the holiday season. The one that does its best to modernize and show the logistical challenge of delivering presents to every kid on Earth in one night is none other than Arthur Christmas (2011).

I've always loved Aardman animation, so it felt a little weird to me to see them work their family-friendly magic in this movie with a visual style that did not fit most of their previous work (like Wallace & Gromit). Still, their standard British humor shines through here while also managing to be a heartwarming story of family and legacy. If anything, their version of the Santa Claus mythos makes the most sense with as little magic introduced into the formula as possible (although, most advanced military technologies could be considered magic anyway).

The interesting thing about Arthur Christmas is that it's really about different approaches to the same problem (the logistics of a one-night present delivery service) while forgetting the most important reason it was being done in the first place. That there are several generations of "Santa," each of whom has a different idea on how to accomplish this task, is an interesting twist on the formula. The heart of the story, though, isn't about how traditional or fast this feat is accomplished, but about the recipients on the other end. Kids don't care how they get their presents, only that someone cared enough to listen to them.

Aardman's take on the Santa story via military-level logistics, I give Arthur Christmas 4.0 stars out of 5.

There's a trend in quite a few sequels that follow "coming-of-age" stories where the main character must then step into a leadership position now that they've figured out who they are. How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014) did this, and Moana 2 (2024) also followed this formula. While the first movie usually does a great job of having the main character overcome an obstacle to achieve their goal, leadership is often much more complicated to convey and requires more moving pieces.

While rounding out the group dynamic for these kinds of movies is fine for providing a wider range of talents to pull from, with Moana 2, most of these characters felt one-dimensional because they had almost no presence in the previous film to establish their core abilities. The only one that had any previous background was the foe-to-friend Kakamora. And while Moana (Auli'I Cravalho) learned her lesson that she doesn't have to do everything by herself, there's also the problem that Maui (Dwayne Johnson) is off doing his own similar thing-which feels like a duplication of effort.

When comparing to the original Moana (2016), it's hard not to notice that the songs aren't as catchy or memorable. I also worry that the mid-credits scene here requires a third movie to complete this story (or the "Trilogy Conundrum" I often point to in these situations). And while the visuals look great, there's almost a weird lack of a sense of space to know where anything is or where anything is happening. But if you're like me and just watching it with your kids, your kids will probably enjoy it for what it is.

An OK sequel with a few too many moving pieces, I give Moana 2 3.0 stars out of 5.

It's funny how your perspective on movies changes as you shift into new life stages. Growing up, Finding Nemo (2003) was entertaining because of the adventure Marlin (Albert Brooks) went on to save his son. Decades later, I can resonate with Marlin's desire to save his child because I now have children of my own. Of course, this still doesn't change the core lesson that Marlin learns, which is to not be quite the helicopter parent and let Nemo (Alexander Gould) explore the world on his own.

As with most Pixar films from their early era, Finding Nemo looks great. It has a fine balance between being "cartoonish" and the realism that computers could produce. Taking a break from Randy Newman soundtracks did this movie a great service, as his cousin Thomas Newman's score fits so well with the otherworldly ocean atmosphere. The variety of characters and voice actors fit their roles in the story superbly well, and it was fun to see the contrast between creatures in the ocean compared to the ones kept in a dentist office's fish tank.

Perhaps my only qualm with the movie comes from my perspective as a parent. While Marin isn't necessarily right for controlling so much of Nemo's life, parents put boundaries on their children to protect them. Fortunately, Nemo also figures this out by the end of the movie as both clownfish grow either less protective or more trusting of the boundaries, respectively. It's great that Marlin would go to such lengths for his only son, but it also would have been a much shorter movie if Nemo had understood some rules were there for his safety.

A visually fantastic film with lessons for parents and kids, I give Finding Nemo 4.5 stars out of 5.