Klaus

Despite being a cultural and stable holiday image, there is a valid question to be raised as to whether or not Santa Clause can lead a film anymore. Even during the end of the year where Christmas-oriented films are all the range and get spit out left and right into cheap candy-cane romance fluff, there aren’t too many Santa-specific ones anymore (unless they have Kurt Russell in them apparently). On a similar vein, 2D animation isn’t quite as popular now either, having essentially gone extinct once Disney (one of the key animation companies who made the style popular and massive) decided to stop making any future projects after they stopped making them money after a few rotten releases. This is what Spanish animator, Sergio Pablos, thought after Disney (who he once worked for as an animator for films like Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Tarzan) did transition into focusing on computer animated films. Wanting to see what the evolution of 2D animation would look like in the current era, the project for a 2D animated movie telling a retooled origin of Saint Nicholas was put into place, taking over four years to complete due to struggling with finding funding as many studios thought the idea was ”too risky”. Worked on by Pablos’ own production company, The SPA Studios, and eventually being distributed by Netflix, Klaus became more than just another Christmas film, and truly captured the hearts of many. In 19th century Norway, a lazy spoiled man-child named Jesper (voiced by Jason Schwartzman) wishes to flunk out of his father’s postman academy in order to return to his privileged and easy life, but his father’s response is crueller than he was expecting, being immediately titled a postman shipped off to the hostile, bleak and frozen-over town of Smeersenburg, saying he must deliver a certain amount of mail before the years end or else he’s cut off from the family fortune. Met with disdain from the town occupants, mainly from the Ellingboes and the Krums, the two warring families of the town that keep the entire area on a knife’s edge, Jesper prepares for a year of misery (especially since the town has no mail to send anywhere), but eventually comes across a secluded and imposing looking woodsman named Klaus (voiced by J.K. Simmons). Discovering he is a toy maker and seeing that the children want more of Klaus’ toys after impressing another child, he devices a plan to fill his mail total by delivering the kids letters to Klaus or ‘’Santa’’, who in turn will send them gifts. What originally stared off as a plan to flee the island slowly but surely forms into something more meaningful, as Jesper starts to like the town and wants to stay, which disturbs the plan of the feuding families who want to continue the chaos no matter what. Doing great with critics and narrowly missing the Best Animated Feature award at the Oscars to Toy Story 4 (which is truly pathetic for the industry, but it can’t be helped) Klaus is a wonderful, charming breath of fresh Christmas air that is as delightful as it is beautiful to watch.

Klaus feels like it is trying to call back to the classic famous Christmas specials that worked in very poignant messages through simple yet powerful words and meanings like A Charlie Brown Christmas, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, or The Nightmare Before Christmas. With how this movie is laid out, it has that beloved simplicity to it that works far more on emotions rather than logic, and engrosses itself within this heart-warming atmosphere, which makes it irresistible and even allows some leeway over less-than-original ideas. The film actually contains a fair number of clichés that aren’t only years old and done to death but aren’t even given a new angle in this film, to the point where its ridiculously clear how this movie is going to end within the first twenty minutes. Thankfully, the movie doesn’t rely solely on its narrative or its script, but instead relies on its heart, its visuals and animation style, and its Christmas spirit to deliver something fresh within that predictability. While the cliches are old-fashioned, the concept of a new origin for Santa created by Pablos is pretty solid, feeling a lot more grounded the other versions, which in a way makes it feel all the more magical. With how the movie sets this backstory up and where it leads to, it feels simple yet meaningful. The movie is very well paced in that regard, not staying too long on the familiar elements and instead allows the audience to experience happiness with the new ones. It doesn’t quite hit the ranks of the previous options as there’s still a slightly modern edge to the dialogue and script handled by Pablos, Jim Mahoney and Zach Lewis that will date it in the future, but it’s pretty close to getting there. Its message is also something that audiences have heard a lot of times before, but the execution of it feels very sweet and visually handles it without having to overly spell it out for the most part. It’s true that some moments seem a little tacked on and not fully realized (weirdly enough a lot of the stuff with Santa feels like it didn’t get much time), and the cliches can still be a bit annoying on surface value, but with how the movie is paced and how its executed, it uses these elements very well.

With how modern this movie appeared to be from the advertising, there was a little bit of hesitation surrounding the fact that it could be a little too annoying and out-of-place, especially when it revealed the voice cast who would be present in this picture. While these are all great names who are very talented funny people, they don’t scream Christmas classic, but rather a traditional holiday comedy, which even if good in its own right, isn’t on the same level as the previously listed options. Thankfully, the film does manage balance between being contemporary and being modern just enough to not ruin anything, and the movie still takes place in an indefinable era which helps the timeless aspect more. The cast of characters are all pretty cliched and have character arcs and conclusions that are very easy to predict, but much like those classic Christmas fables and stories, they are simple characters who deliver important messages, and it seems to do that very well. Jason Schwartzman works well as the rich whiner who eventually grows a heart, and J.K Simmons is very good at playing this gruff isolated man who learns how to feel love again. Strangely, the movie doesn’t quite capture the relationship it was trying to portray between the two despite being the leads, but it can still be felt, just in a smaller dose than anticipated. Other voices like Rashida Jones and Norm Macdonald work pretty well and help to make this reality feel a lot more modernized than what the period looks to be, but still with the appropriate emotions that should be felt within the era and a manic cynicism to produce a cartoonish but entreatingly so mood. If there’s anything that overall feels pretty bad, it’s the villains of the movie, which is sad because they are in it a lot more than they should be. Having a bad guy at all in this movie is pretty lame and even making it two angry families that hate each other and can’t stand it when the people are connecting is pretty lazy even for a story that is supposed to be pretty bare bones (made even worse by the fact that they completely waste Joan Cusack). It really only feels like a tool for the message and for an excuse to bring the town together at the end, but while the rest of the film was able to work around some of its more expected elements, this one just feels lazily slapped on.

The animation for this film is fantastic and, in an era where 2D animation is a dead artform, seeing one of such beauty being displayed in front of audiences again, is simply incredible. Sergio Pablos wanted to see what 2D animation could do in the modern era and he definitely proved that not only is it still an amazing style that can get across its own unique form of expressing emotion, but it’s also one that can and still is evolving. The movie wanted to overcome several difficulties that 2D has faced in comparison to 3D animation, like having organic lighting and realistic texturing while still maintaining a hand-crafted feel, taking the best of what new technology has given and incorporated into an old style without losing its retro touches. The movie is not only dripping with gorgeously bright and lively colors (somehow managing to feature a wide variety while still being atmospheric), stunning semi-3D dimensions on 2D sprites, and fantastic expressions, but it’s also one of the few products that manages to capture a style of complex emotion on its characters, which is something CG is usually the winner of. These character designs don’t feel like stickers on a painted backdrop, they feel like they have volume and weight not only in their movements and dimensions, but also in their incredibly detailed designs that features more wrinkles and skin textures that most 2D characters aren’t able to accomplish. Mixing that complexity with the honest simplicity within the subtle facial expressions of the characters and it’s a practically perfect blend, and having Disney animator such as James Baxter and Mary Lescher (whom the film is dedicated to having died of breast cancer before the film was released) work on the project explains how good it looks. The music can feel pretty out of place at times as it contains a lot of modern pop and rap, which does not at all fit within what this story is supposed to be conveying (there should never be a postman rap in a Christmas movie). The movie isn’t even laugh-out loud funny and most of the slapstick is animated nicely, but doesn’t for the most part get a laugh, but its tone just adds to the warmness and good-feeling that the audience will feel when positive things happen. It’s a movie that almost relies on its predictability, with audiences not wanting to see what’s going to happen with the eventual fall-out because the rest of the movie put them in such a good mood.

Klaus is a film that not many people seem to be aware of, but one that they should definitely check out. For what it was hoping to accomplish, it did so much more than it could have imagined, as it brought 2D animation back into the limelight, it created a story that had its familiar elements, but put heavier focus on the creative side to keep it afloat, and it somehow took something that looked like it would be too modern and ‘’American sit-com’’ like and made it unbelievably wholesome and sweet. It has a few nit-picky elements that will just be down to how willing people are to accepting some pretty standard cliches, but overall, the feeling it gives its audience is just so warm and comforting that it’s totally worth sitting through them. The movie that brought back the man in red in a newer light, Klaus is definitely one for the Christmas books.