Klaus (2019)

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If you're in the mood for something animated to boost the childhood Christmas spirit but a little fresher than 'Arthur Christmas,' one can find this wonderfully warm title on Netflix. This one is a bit more of a fictional historical account of how Santa became the traditional jolly gift-giver who visits us once a year. Just to say it straight up, though, this is no modern adaptation of the Rankin Bass classic, 'Santa Claus is Comin' to Town', so if you're looking for that, I'm afraid you're stuck with something I'd consider much better.

The story behind this one's conception is kind of interesting. It comes to us from Sergio Pablos, a former Disney animator who worked on Renaissance titles like 'Hunchback', 'Hercules' and 'Tarzan.' His ideas for the animation in this had to do with exploring the medium of animation and how it may have evolved without such a heavy use of computers. The resulting animation, without going into a lot of the technical details, is actually something to be admired. There's a certain beauty to it with the use of lighting effects and details that actually separates it from typical modern computer animated films.

Our story starts, somewhat unexpectedly, with a guy named Jesper (Jason Schwartzman) who purposefully fails at following in the footsteps of the family business of being a postman. His Dad and Postmaster General (Sam McMurray), in an attempt to make him turn things around, sends him to the almost impossibly secluded town of Smeerensburg, which has become known as a sort of mild war zone as two families (the Ellingbows and the Krums) have been feuding for generations. There, he must post 6,000 letters in a year, or he's cut from all of his fancy privileges as Postmaster's son.

As a result of the feuding families, the mail flows like frozen molasses, making Jesper's job damn near impossible. Just as he's about to give up, he discovers that there's actually a very secluded place nearby that's home to a hulking, toy-making hermit named Klaus (J.K. Simmons). He goes to check it out, but upon seeing Klaus for the first time, imagining him to be some sort of axe murderer, Jesper flees, dropping a drawing he got from one of the Krum kids that portrays an unhappy child. Klaus, picking up the drawing to have a look at it, is the beginning of everything.

Klaus enlists the help of Jesper to deliver a toy to the child portrayed in the drawing. Jesper then takes the idea of Klaus delivering toys to the children of the town, and opens a post office for kids to deliver their letters to Klaus, requesting toys. As the film unfolds, we get a really cool depiction of where the legend all started, leaning a bit more towards the plausible, and the magical parts of the legend of Santa becomes word of mouth from kids. Things like fitting down the chimney, reindeer flying, etc. Everything actually has a decent explanation behind it, and the way it ends really tops it all off, filling the viewer's heart with a certain joy.

There were a few nitpicks I considered when I first reviewed this a few years ago. Some of the character design was almost just straight up weird, including two children who outsize Santa's sleigh. There was also a soundtrack to it that I thought felt off, being more modern than the time the film takes place in. But I would take those nitpicks with a huge grain of salt, because the more I see this, the more I enjoy it. It's definitely a solid film for being Netflix's actual first stab at animation. For me, it's not as much as a traditional animated Christmas film as 'Arthur Christmas', but I'd still highly recommend it as something "new & different" for a Christmas movie.

The film is an easy hour and a half to get through, contains some good laughs, and even a few somewhat dark moments for the grown-ups (nothing I'd call particularly "scary" for the kids watching), and a great voice cast that also includes Will Sasso, Rashida Jones, and Joan Cusack among others. I've only watched this a few times now, but I always have a pretty good time with it. It's another Christmas flick that certainly has the potential to grow on me. It's a lot of fun, and it's a high recommendation from yours truly.

4/5

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