Arthur Christmas Trailer Would Like You to Start Thinking About Next Christmas

Just as excitement and anxiety for the upcoming holiday approaches its peak, here comes Hollywood with a reminder of the rapidly approaching Christmas 2011. Thanks guys! The teaser for Arthur Christmas plays out like most other recent CGI animation teasers; that is, it's more of a short film featuring the characters rather than a preview with any footage from the film. But hey, it finds a way to play off everyone's current fascination with UFOs, which is something. I guess.

The central concept of the teaser, about an elf trying to keep Santa Claus' son (James McAvoy) from revealing that Santa exists, is a little stale. But the payoff made me smile, so we'll call it a draw. Also, this one is co-produced by Ardman Animation, which brought us the fanastic Wallace and Gromit films. It's a bit sad to see them ditch the claymation for 3-D CGI, but if the script is even half as inventive as those films, I'm willing to give this one the benefit of the doubt.

Verdict: Innocent until proven guilty, right? Let's see how the year develops.