Arthur Christmas ~ A fresh, funny and fantastic modern Christmas classic

I don't know about you, but I love a good Christmas film me. Still to this day, even when it comes to more childish and innocent films which some (*cough* non-believers!) might say I'm too old for; if it's done well, I feel a Christmas film can be the great cinematic equalizer for people of all ages. This week, as its main film, Sky Movies Premiere has brought Arthur Christmas to my attention, and I loved it. For some years now, I have felt there has been a bit of a gap between "the classics" in terms of festive films (ranging from anywhere between It's A Wonderful Life, various Christmas Carols, and films like the Grinch and Santa Clause) and more modern films where you know there will be generations to come digging them out for decades. There have been a couple don't get me wrong, the early noughties gave us things like Love Actually and The Holiday; lovely films I think. But in the last two or three years, I feel films like this have been lacking. Now however, I see that there is at least one new one to come blistering into the ranks.

Arthur Christmas is a brilliant watch from start to finish. The animation is charming and crisp, yet has airs of the traditional, the score (written by legend Harry Gregson-Williams) is superb, and the story is a marvel. It answers and revamps some classic elements to the Santa story, quickly setting up the idea of the business of toy-delivering as now a modern, slick, speedy and technological affair, with dazzling effects and images to delight. What's more, it adds a clever and wonderful twist to the Santa canon - generations of the Claus family who hand the hat and red coat from father to son.
Consequentially, we see in the marvelous cast, the latest in a generation of Santas, which already makes for a great story.  As well as a greatly executed story, and all other aspects mentioned above, I do feel that the stellar cast is a big part of why Arthur Christmas is so wonderful. So, reverse chronologically I think, let's meet the Claus family!

The film's lead character; Arthur Christmas/Claus himself, is voiced by James McAvoy. Arthur is the impressionable youngest son of the current Santa. He is earnest and passionately devoted to all things Christmas, which without wishing to invoke spoilers, is one of the main driving forces of the story. Though slightly clumsy and seemingly naive, his loyalty and determination are truly touching and admirable, making him very watchable. James McAvoy does a sterling job voicing him; there are many moments and lines which could come off as over the top and corny, yet he enables the purity, comedy and like-ability of Arthur to shine through.
Arthur's older brother, the affable, ambitious, modern, slick and stylish Steve, is naturally voiced by Hugh Laurie. Again there are many moments for this character that could venture into the cliche, but the writing and Laurie's voice make Steve just right. He is the closest we get to a villain, but at no point do we see him as evil, just a character of opposing force to Arthur. Trust me when I say - Hugh Laurie's voice is perfect for Steve.

One generation up and we have Malcolm, a.k.a the current Santa. This like-able, slightly dithering but essentially incompetent man at the top is voiced by the legendary Jim Broadbent. Though being Santa, in theory the top man of the North Pole, Broadbent's character does seem to get swept up in all the action, often staring wide-eyed as other characters crack on. But he does it brilliantly. Yet another case where Jim Broadbent's fantastic voice is integral to Malcolm. Standing by his side is the equally legendary and talented Margaret Claus, voiced by the incomparable Imelda Staunton. Despite sometimes having to stand back with her husband, Margaret brings the real sense of family and unflinching love to this rather dis-functional but incredible Claus family.
The eldest generation portrayed is Grand-Santa; Malcom's father, Arthur and Steve's grandfather; cranky and cantankerous at times, but with a good heart, and still aching to prove he can still cut it as Santa in an all new world. He is voiced by the wonderful Bill Nighy. If I had to pick a stand-out performance, this would be it. Again, not only is the animation of Grand-Santa incredible, but almost every word out of his mouth is ridiculously hilarious. Seriously, you should watch this film just for Bill Nighy's Grand-Santa if nothing else. Not only that, but through voice and animation both, Grand-Santa oddly came off to me as the most warming and festive character. I think it's because he seems to be the most pure and unabashed. A simple old man in a modern world. But we never forget that this simple old man, like all the other men of his family, is Santa Claus.

So yes, we get a cracking cast of Clauses in Arthur Christmas, as well as a wonderful set of fellow cast-members too. The lovely Ashley Jensen plays the lovely elf Bryony, who leads an elf cast that is remarkable all on it's own; including names like Jane Horrocks, Andy Serkis, Joan Cusack, Robbie Coltrane and Michael Palin. We even get a turn from Eva Longoria and Laura Linney.
I really do feel, that for a whole host of reasons, Arthur Christmas is a wonderfully watchable film, and I have no doubt that it will go on to become a Christmas classic.

The Waddington Arms ~ How a rural pub was, and how it should be

This is really back to basics stuff, but I find the Waddington Arms, situated in the prolific Ribble Valley, does it exceedingly well. My lunchtime visit with family today was not the first time I had entered this quaint but pleasurable place, nor will it be my last I think, however it was very good indeed.
When someone says "a traditional pub", I feel several images and ideas come to mind, not all of them good. There's the "traditional" sticky floor, wall-to-wall fruit machines, five bouncers needed, maybe too lively, smashed glass pub. There's the "traditional" no fuss, simple, pint and scampi in a basket, local pub. Then there's the warming, all-welcoming, all base-covering, friendly "traditional" pub. And no doubt many more besides.

It seems to me that these days, somewhere that cherry picks various elements and pieces from the above, and blends them just right whilst adding plenty of their own signature touches, won't go far wrong. By and large, that's what the Waddington Arms does. Welcoming but not too intrusive staff. Good quality, well presented but not too fussy food. A cozy setting, helped by a roaring fire. An atmosphere of all comers, from the quiet few sat in a corner with the paper, to the noisy peck of middle aged women who got started an hour ago and who are going until the small hours. Tweak this combination a notch or two depending on preference and you get an idea of what the Waddington Arms offers. Simple as that.

Maybe it's just a lighter mood I was in this time, or maybe it just so happened everything came good in just the right measure on this particular occasion, that compelled me to write this post. Nevertheless I simply say - well done Waddi' Arms. Keep it up!

Channel 4's Liberty of London ~ "Liberty" abound. Lucidity...not so much

Yet ANOTHER reviewing and blogging first for me:- the realms of shopping and fashion, and encapsulated in a documentary; several firsts. OK, I freely admit I do not claim to know the ultimate ins and outs of the shopping industry, but that is not to say I do not occasionally enjoy the process of shopping. What's more I greatly support the idea that we as a nation should be supporting different and individual shops as well as or even instead of massive chains. Liberty of London is definitely individual to say the least, but from what I can see, not for all the right reasons.

What I am sure attracts many to Liberty, and indeed would attract me as it did to the programme, is the building itself. To watch a programme that looks at such an incredible structure of such heritage, and how one runs a shop within it is of course, fascinating. So too is looking at the sheer range of eclectic and fantastic products that they were stocking in days gone by, and still stock today. 

However for me, that's where the positives end. I'm sorry but any grandeur and mystique and special hold such a shop might have (and there seems to be potential) is completely enveloped by the sheer range of characters you find in there. And unusually, I use the word 'characters' in not such a good way. It really was very odd to watch. To see the efforts they go to in order to promote and maintain such a unique establishment, not least the amounts of money they earn, and in some cases award each other, for doing so was mind-boggling. Mind-boggling when most of the staff who work there, from the shop floor to the top echelons seem utterly weird to put it lightly. 

Where to start? OK, there were a few glimmers, mostly in the form of old hands who had worked at Liberty for years but even then...only glimmers. There were two ladies who made me smile without much of a problem: the two who worked in Liberty's haberdashery department. They were eclectic and perhaps a tad eccentric sure but like-able. Then there was the lady who seemed to be a receptionist/administrator-type in Head Office. She seemed quite sweet in her own, mad way. The story of a 70 year old Indian lady who had been working at the shop for 40 years was sweet, but the way they showed her do her job was not. I watched her coerce and seduce, and scrabble at a woman (who seemed quite 'unusual' in herself) to buy three cushions she clearly didn't come in for...costing £400. This leads me onto another major poor point for Liberty which came across badly in the programme - how they do business. The aforementioned Indian lady was the sweetest at it, but any impression that Liberty is a magical Utopian environment is quashed when you see that their business-sense is profound, which would be fine - a plus even, but is also cold, manipulative and ruthless. And their prices! Yes I'm not stupid enough to think the West End is full of Poundlands, and that shops cannot have a clear business sense but the way they were trying to sell such items of extortionate value (the highest being £69,000 for a ring!) was verging on the deplorable. We even got to see them take in some new Christmas recruits, who were to be fair quite demure and fresh-faced - you could tell they hadn't been there long. In their introduction to the store they were briefed on how to "capture clients", in terms of "approaching" them, "capturing and re-capturing" them, and finally "grooming" them, as well as seeking "the best clients" and not to bother with "fluff".

     

 

Initially their customer strategies seemed quite respectable, even commendable, but it soon nose-dived into the predatory, cold, snobbish and downright awful. All I will say is they must be pretty bloody sure their plan will produce enough money, cause I doubt they'd get many walk ins after this show is aired. Now, back to individual staff - oh no I'm not done yet! Now we come to the sheer lunacy of these people, and how it came across. The General Manager of the shop, an odd man in looks, words and deeds I found, who seemed fine with identifying potential problems, but was then rendered incapable of even making any suggestions on how to to tackle them, and then spent post of his time wandering around the shop. Now, getting towards the top. The very camp, well groomed young man who seemed to be a sort of PA to the very camp, well groomed American boss of it all seemed to me to never ever do anything productive towards the business (being asked only once to help out with an email problem on a computer by his boss - his response to which was along the lines of: "oh hmmm ok" *stare blankly and camply with a stupid smirk on face*). Instead he seemed to just swan around two steps behind the boss, waving a Blackberry around. The boss of it all seems a slight quandary to me; I can't decide whether he seemed as twitteringly hopeless as the rest of them, or was actually quite clever but hid it very well. Regardless he did seem incredibly blase about his decisions and how they would affect other employees, and if he was focused, it was only ever about the bottom line on his pay cheque. But the worst, if not the funniest, staff blunder by a mile for me was when the staff of Liberty began to initiate their Christmas display (in September!) the center piece of which was a large stuffed and overpriced (nearly £2000) grizzly bear. The staff seemed to like this massive if not cuddly addition, but one problem was nagging one department head, who probably earns a vast sum of money for doing her job. She voiced it by saying something like this:-

"The only problem I think we might have with the grizzly bear is people might think we're doing a North Pole theme."

My God. I was lost for words.

You may have noticed I've gone on a bit about this. You may also notice I've put quite a few pictures, mostly of the staff featured on the show, and have not mentioned them by name (although this is partly because I've honestly forgotten - not that they were characters I'd want to remember) as well as that infamous bear, in this blog post. This is because by the end of an hour I was questioning if this was a true documentary about Liberty, or a huge stunt produced by Channel 4 to make the programme more interesting. So, if you ever go to Liberty (I doubt I will - this has put me off) then you might want to look out for these people and see if they are just as mindbogglingly odd as they come across. It really surprises me because the show also felt like it had been heavily lent on by Liberty's PR people; for instance several "crisis" meetings and situations were alluded to but never actually seen. Clearly Liberty were happy with it, so as I say they must be pretty confident in themselves and what they offer people, "groomed" or not. So as I say, I wanted to include a bit of the documentary, and the individual shopping side to this blog, and I have. However I am only sorry it didn't portray an example of British shopping individuality in the best of lights. Still, that's just how it came off to me. I could be wrong, and I'm sure the Channel 4 programme appealed to some people...whoever they may be. Don't judge all individual shops throughout the country like this, they are certainly not all in the same vain...thank the lord.