Niko - Una renna per amico

Niko and the Way to the Stars is an animated story of a young reindeer boy Niko, taking place somewhere in Lapland. Niko's father is gone, and his mother tells him dad is a member of Santa's Flying Reindeer Squad. Niko is supervised and taken care of by a flying squirrel named Julius who believes Niko will be able to fly someday, just like his father. The reindeer aren't allowed to go outside the valley because of the wolves who stalk there. After his disobedient visit outside the valley and a consequent incident with the wolves which forces the reindeer to move on, Niko decides to run away and look for his father further north where Santa resides. Adventure ensues.

From a Finn's standpoint this film felt a bit odd. It's written, produced and animated in Finland - yet the Finnish version of the film feels like an American animation film that has been translated and dubbed into Finnish. I wondered about this, but a friend explained to me the film is actually primarily intended for the international, mainly American market, and was written and lip-synced accordingly. Considering the country of origin, I was expecting a bit better Finnish translation though. The characters' lines were full of clumsy Anglicisms. Because of this, I have a feeling that native English viewers will enjoy this film more than Finnish viewers.

At a standard issue family entertainment level this film performs competently. There's family friendly humor and family values, there are no odd quirks, cussing or violence. It's exciting at times, but not too scary for young children. Perhaps with all this it is a bit bland, but still likable.

If you're looking for something to watch with your kids around Xmas, I can recommend this. However, if you're looking for something odd, quirky, eye-opening or original, look somewhere else.

First off, the animation is beautiful. Very very well done. Possibly one of the best CG animation jobs on a Christmas Special ever! But I have to agree with some of the other American reviews on this board. Santa's reindeer are a bunch of womanizing pigs. One of them stops by and impregnates the star's (Niko's) mother. She never sees him again. Niko doesn't know which of the reindeer is his father, and when he finally meets up with the team, he asks if any of them met a lady on one of their flights...and they all proudly say yes and pretty much tell us that they all impregnate as many deer as possible.

So, Santa's reindeer like to have sex and not a relationship with a female.

Is that appropriate for a Christmas special? Not in the USA. It might be in other TV shows and movies...but come on...a Christmas special...and reindeer that are on Santa's team? Santa represents family and kids, and magic...all that's good...is this special from the creators of "Bad Santa"? At least that was a comedy.

For you Finns that are saying that Americans like to sugar coat stuff and aren't being realistic to the world...um...not all of us are from the trailer-park and make guest appearances on The Jerry Springer Show. I am a father and actually don't have one night stands and actually married the woman I fell in love with and had kids "after" we were married (novel concept eh?). Plus I actually want to have a relationship with my kids. Maybe men aren't that way in Finland, but there are a good portion of us that are good family men in the USA.

Even though the womanizing reindeer part of the story went over the head of my 4 year old, it's really not a message I want her to see at that age...let alone in a Christmas special.

I'd rather her grow up thinking men are good, and not all dead-beat-dad wanna-bees.

What's next? Showing a new take on the Little Drummer Boy and how he was sexually abused by a religious authority figure? That happens too, but not something I want to celebrate at Christmas time with my kids by having it forced into a story where it didn't need to be. I know...what about showing what really happened to the three "wise men" on their journey to Bethlehem? Maybe they stopped by a brothel? Perfect for the kids! Men do that all the time, so it's okay to show in a children's holiday special!

It's a shame this good animation and the voice talent was wasted on this story. A story that could just as easily been changed so that the father was just a "glory hound" or a "workaholic" or even like it's "his duty" (like a soldier that's off at war and can't visit his kids...which is happening now to kids all over). Something to think about.

Although I'm a Finn I can see where the negative comments of the American parents come from. You have grown up with the Disney policy of showing children only sugarcoated films trying to protect them from the real world. I am a great fan of enchantment, princesses and cute animals but to make changed versions of world classics such as The Little Mermaid in which the ending was ruined by changing it into a happy one is a sacrilege. The Andersen story is forever spoiled for those who have first seen the film.

I don't actually believe that children pay much attention to the one night stand or the macho behaviour of the reindeer. That's there for the grown-ups. The children are drawn to the story and if you don't point the other matter to them, it goes by like a snowflake.

On the other hand many children living with a single parent may relate to Niko's situation and find comfort in seeing that he is not an outcast. It would be wonderful if all families had two parents and everyone lived happily ever after but sadly it isn't so. The word bastard should be deleted from the world. Your own goals and resources are what matters, not your family background.

As mentioned in another post the animation of snow is fantastic in this movie. Also the animals are drawn well. The reindeer really look like this and the wolves' running rhythm is spot on. There are many local details like the landing light on the runway. They are called lumberman's candles in Lapland.

There is a very important moral and the two main characters learn a lesson fro each other: Niko learns that there's no need to look for your real dad if you are surrender people who love you. Julius learns not to be too cautionary toward Niko. And it's the Christmas spirit (and a hilarious weasel called Wilma) which will teach them to appreciate each other. The animation is not the best, I mean, it's very good for five minutes, then it gets bad, then good for other five minutes and then bad again, because the animation has been created by more than 3 different studios set all over the Europe, and the directors weren't able to keep animation homogeneous all movie long. You can easily find out each animator's style and this is horrible because all the characters take turn to be badly animated, and this is sad. But graphics, score and story are gorgeous. I would have rated 9 if animation was better. Dave

Summary : A little reindeer on a search for his father. Helped by small rodents. Foiled by wolves who look to be copies of the hyenas in Lion King.

Family values: The little reindeer protagonist is basically told by his mom that he is the product of a one-night stand. And she tells him that his dad is off working and will not be coming back.

So, the gist of the story is that he is basically searching for his dead-beat dad who places work over family or personal responsibilities.

We could take the triteness of the first, but not the loose morals of the second.

In addition, the voice-over is pretty badly acted.

This is not a movie our family will watch again.