User blog:Scrooge200/Arthur's Perfect Christmas Review

Arthur has a few hour-long specials that usually aired as part of a respective season. Arthur's Perfect Christmas is the very first one of these, airing during Season 5. And since I've just finished reviewing Season 5, I'll do this before starting my Season 6 Review.

I'll rate this special on my scale of Vomitrocious, Bad, Okay, Good, Great. Is this special as "perfect" as Arthur's Christmas?

Arthur's Perfect Christmas
So, this special doesn't really feel like a special. There's nothing too unique or different here (besides the fact that there's a pee joke). I mean, this is a Christmas-themed episode, but we've already had a few winter episodes and references to Christmas. It doesn't involve too many new characters and it still has the annoying exaggeration of the first few seasons (especially in the shopping mall scene). It's still clearly recognizable as Arthur and I do enjoy that. I also like how the special talks about different cultural celebrations like Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. I'm happy that this special isn't just a rip-off of A Christmas Carol or A Charlie Brown Christmas or a "saving Santa" plot or something about wishing Christmas was every day.

This special doesn't really have a plot. It's more like three plotlines all mashed into one. I guess that's better than a bunch of filler and just one plot, though. So Francine and Muffy have arguments again, Arthur wants snow and for his family to like his gifts, and Buster suffers from seasonal depression (and sings a REALLY LONG song about it). Surprisingly, Buster's plot is wrapped up pretty early, and it's Muffy's plot that takes up more runtime.

Arthur's Perfect Christmas is not particularly funny. The only real laughs I got were Binky saying "Try my peach cobbler?" and the line "Hey Arthur, want my camel?" There are some good educational moments, but sometimes there are too many and the special gets a little boring.

I think "Bitzi's Beau" summed it up best: "The animation is terrible, the plot is dumb, and the songs give you a headache!"

This special is okay. It's certainly not on my holiday must-watch list; just watch it once or twice and you don't need to see it again.

Final Thoughts
Happy New Year! I am very excited for 2020 and I hope it turns out to be even better than this year.

I'd do a ranking of the specials, but this is the only one I've reviewed so far. The ranking will start once I review Arthur - It's Only Rock 'n' Roll.