Arthur's Perfect Christmas

When I was a kid, I'd watch a lot of cartoons from CBBC, with one in particular being the series Arthur. I know, the show is still running now & there was a CGI special released around Christmas some time ago, but I decided to do this partly due to it, well, being specifically related to Christmas & for the nostalgia factor since I even loved reading the original books when growing up! Airing back in 2000, can Arthur, the gang & the residents of Elwood City put me in the Christmas spirit, or is it annoying enough to make me say 'Hey!' (sorry, I had to put that inside joke somewhere in this review!)? Let's find out!

Story: The main story of this is Arthur wanting to have a perfect Christmas despite DW wanting to do what she wants & his father wanting to do a more 'traditional' Christmas meal, including buying his mother a glass bird to replace one he broke & his uncle making an unexpected visit after his truck breaks down on his way to Florida. This really isn't the best story nor is it that interesting when writing it down, but the way it's executed is pretty good & you can feel for Arthur since he does have good intentions. It is also nice to see some the nice witty humour the show is known for thanks to things coming back you'd never expect (i.e. the vegetator Arthur was gonna get for his dad which was sold out & it turned out he gets three on Christmas Day) or the dream sequences or just the characters being who they are. Another part that is interesting for kids to learn about is other holidays during this time of year besides the religious aspects of Christmas, specifically Hannukah as Francine & her family are Jewish, along with Kwanzaa briefly due to Brain's family being African American & Saint Lucia Day as George's family is revealed to be Swedish! Sure, all of the plots are pretty predictable with Arthur & Buster's Christmases going well & Muffy realizing how much Francine means to her as a friend & why Hannukah means so much to her, I'm not gonna lie, but I have one big issue with this: DW! God, she really annoyed me & was intolerable being a spoilt brat throughout & almost made this a pain to watch whenever she came onscreen! Besides that 'small' problem & the predictability of everything, it's still a pretty good story nonetheless for something like Arthur!

Animation: For what the animation is in this, it does look rather nice despite it having the same cartoony quality as the show, in particular with the anthropomorphic animal character designs having a cartoony look without looking too cutesy & the character animation being rather good on the. As for the backgrounds in places like Elwood City, Arthur's house or the mall, it does look very nice with the Christmas-y atmosphere (especialy during the opening titles! God, it's so nice to look at!) despite the rather rough quality to it all (hey, it's a cartoon special, not a theatrical movie after all!) I will give it credit that the fantasy/dream sequences are really where the animation shines thanks to the rather bizarre imagery (in particular during Muffy & Buster's musical numbers) There really isn't much else to say about the animation thanks to the quality & rather basic aspects of it, but it looks good for what it is!

Characters: The main character, Arthur, wants to have a perfect Christmas for his family, especially with his mother's gift until things go wrong & everything ends up fine despite not exactly going as he expected & he is pretty likeable throughout as he does have good intentions. As for DW, she's pretty much a spoilt brat throughout making everyone do what she wants & wants a specific toy that she doesn't get, so I'm not gonna lie, she really really annoyed me & was pretty much intolerable during this (then again, I've always found her irritating, so that shouldn't actually surprise me)! Buster, Arthur's best friend, is the same eccentric who's worried over his mum thanks to his parents' divorce & decides to come up with a crazy idea of creating his own holiday called Baxter Day so she can avoid stress of Christmas. As for Francine, she's annoyed at Muffy for not listening to her that she can't go to her Christmas party as she has family coming over for Hannukah & Muffy doesn't believe it's as important as her when she doesn't show up until Francine teaches her a lesson. Speaking of Muffy, despite being the spoilt stuck up girl we remember her as, it is nice for her to realize that Christmas is more than just about the presents & realizing how much Francine means to her as a friend. Arthur's parents are pretty much loving parents even though David wants to have a more 'traditional' Christmas, Binky has a funny running gag over his baking yet forgetting to do trivial things like peeling bananas or shelling pecans, the Tibble twins are the same annoying twins towards DW & Arthur's grandparents are also of course the same loving grandparents to Arthur & DW. The only new character in this is Fred, Arthur's uncle & is pretty clumsy, which is pretty much his character trait other than having a good heart, especially during one scene which you won't really see coming (I won't say what it is)! Overall, it's nice to rewatch the character I remember just being who they are, even if one particular one can get really annoying!

 

Songs: Yes, there's songs in this & honestly they really surprised me! The first song, My Perfect Christmas, is pretty good with an almost big band feeling to it as Arthur explains what he wants out of Christmas, (not in terms of presents) Baxter Day is pretty catchy as Buster describes what his own holiday would be like (if not pretty ludicrous due to Buster's eccentric personality) Muffy's song I Can't Call Francine is a pretty good song as she realizes how much Francine means to her as a friend. The final song showing everyone celebrating their respective holidays is also a pretty good finale, despite the pretty generic lyrics compared to the others. The songs overall may not be the best nor the most memorable ones compared to other Christmas songs, but they're still pretty good & surprised me!

Arthur's Perfect Christmas may not be the best or most revolutionary Christmas special out there, but it's still better than I expected with great humour, mostly likeable characters, decent animation & nice songs despite the pretty generic story. I would mostly recommend this for those that grew up watching the show like me cos the nostalgia factor really can't make me hate this & it's heart is in the right place! 
Story: 7/10
Animation: 6/10
Characters: 7/10
Songs: 7/10
Overall: 7/10