Klaus

Klaus was a heartwarming animation with a very unique take on the "Christmas origin". I originally put it on as background noise for folding laundry but caught myself sitting on the bed for the entirety of the movie. The animation was really well done and the characters were memorable. I loved the similarities with Tim Burton films. It's nice to have a different Christmas film but that has the spirit nevertheless. One of the best Christmas animations in awhile. Great film!

Very solid original story, awesome visual style and great writing. All it takes. On the contrary, reinventing 30 year old cartoons and doubling down on puritan stuff does not help.

This film deserves broader recognition - best Christmas catroon in a long long time

A truly heartwarming story. About how little kindnesses can make life more beautiful, children's laughter can warm the heart and Christmas can actually be a beautiful contemplative time.

A truly beautiful Christmas story is told here with humour and love for detail. For young and old. I could watch the film again tight now.. :)

One of the sweetest, emotional and best Animated film of the year. Netflix please keep bringing us movies with great script such as this.

This is what this film feels like: sitting around a fire and being engrossed in a story that someone remembers from long ago. Is the plot very original? Maybe not, but it is well paced and has some surprises along the way that make Klaus special. Here, we have a sincere, funny and engaging film, that doesn't rely on ironic jokes to tie in the adults, or on the integration of modern technology to hold the kids' interest. It just tells a story.

The story is about a spoiled young man who is sent into the little backwater village of Smeerensburg to take over the post office. Jesper has to deliver 6000 letters by the end of a year or he'll be cut off by his wealthy father. After he meets the reclusive toymaker Klaus, Jesper starts to plot his way out of Smeerensburg by roping in the kids of the village. Along the way he makes some friends, changes some lives and, well, grows up.

This is, in a way, Jesper's coming of age story, even though he is a fully grown man to begin with. But this is also Klaus' growing old story. I found this apect very touching - the old and widowed hermit finds a new purpose in his life and gets to be happy for a few years yet. You do not see that sort of plotline in animated movies very often. The subplot of the warring clans of Smeerensburg was hilarious and reminded me a little of Asterix and Obelix.

Apart from the old school, but very well executed plot, it is worthwhile to talk about Klaus' technical realization. Firstly, the animation is gorgeous. The lighting is magnificent. The look is excellent. This film looks exactly as lovingly detailed as a Christmas movie should. The handdrawn animation is very effective - it gives the film a very soft and almost canvas-like feeling, while still making good use of the smooth and fast execution that CGI affords.

Klaus isn't dunked in polished, on-the-nose effects, but is, you might say, warmly covered in a carefully crafted blanket of twinkling forest lights and harsh mountain snows and accompanied by a little, gruff town of crooked and funny looking houses and crooked and funny-looking people. In Klaus, we do not encounter a string of slightly altered clones, that all have the same body type and facial features (looking at you Disney) but a jumbled ensemble of big and round, tall and bent, young and middle aged and old characters, who all look and act differently from each other.

The only criticism I can honestly think of is that Klaus lacks a little on female representation. Its central female characters, Ava and Márgu, felt a little sidelined to me, especially given the fact that theirs could have been the better story, if told accordingly. But given the fact that I still loved it, I can't really hold this against Klaus.

So, just in time for Christmas, Klaus is a thoroughly enjoyable treat of a movie that I will probably recommend excessively over the next few weeks.