Niko - le petit renne

I just watched this with my 3 year old grandson and 1-1/2 year old granddaughter. Lucky most of the appalling story plot went over his head and she lost interest and started playing. I considered turning it off but decided to let him finish watching it, so I wouldn't have to explain why I didn't think it was appropriate.

Aside from the fact that Niko's mother had a one-night stand with one of Santa's reindeer, Prancer is a dead-beat father who first didn't even want to admit that he was Niko's dad. Afterall, what would a womanizing, conceited, barhopping, flying reindeer want with a little kid around, right? And then they even showed all the reindeer burping after they had their drink, giving Niko some too and looking expectingly at him until he burps too. Nice manners to be teaching! That singing weasel was extremely annoying, I could have done without that. And that tune she was singing at the bar reminded me an awful lot of "Santa Baby".

And don't even get me started on the pink poodle lost in the woods and the moss eating (vegetarian?) wolf who wants to be taught how to be a dog.

I'm glad the 1-1/2 year old went off to play before the black wolf and his horde started getting really mean, she might have gotten scared. She started crying during the part of Disney's Snow White, when Snow White was lost in the woods in the dark and all those eyes were scaring her. I can just imagine what would have happened, had she seen those growling, snarling wolves.

The dubbing was terrible. Like one of the other commenters, I also had trouble understanding what they were singing in the beginning and caught on to it later on: flying forces, not flying horses. And why did some of the characters call the kid Nieco and others pronounced it like Nicko? No consistency whatsoever.

Terrible terrible movie. No humor whatsoever and a plot more akin to a reality show. What a waste of time, money & talent.

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.

Love Christmas films, and Christmas is my favourite time of year. Am also a fan of animation, always have been since 2 years old getting into the Disney classics and always will be. So would see anything that are a mix of both, especially when this mix has seen films and specials that are good to classic (notably the best of the Rankin/Bass Christmas specials).

While there are better examples of Christmas films, animated films and animation centred around Christmas around (as well as far worse), this animation from Finland 'The Flight Before Christmas' (not hard to guess what famous Christmas story the title is a play on of) is worth going on board for. It's not perfect, not many films are in retrospect, but to me as a family film it ticks most of the right boxes with room for improvement.

Sure the story is standard, a lot of it has a seen it all before vibe. Won't hold that against 'The Flight Before Christmas' too much. The weakest aspect is the film's translation and dubbing. Too much of the translation doesn't flow very well, there is a good deal of stilted cheese going on, and some of it is downright odd and feels out of place within the setting. The voice acting isn't awful as such, the voice actors are spirited and do their best but some of it is disjointed and a lot of the problem is the pacing and writing of the translation.

Occasionally, the animation lacks a little finesse and parts are a touch blocky. That apparently more than one studio was involved comes through clearly, but the unevenness (in terms of animation style and budget) with that being taken into account was unavoidable. The reindeer are mostly fun, but can act a little too stereotypically and act somewhat too disconcertingly differently than how they're usually portrayed in stories.

However, most of the animation is great. It's very lavishly coloured and most of the characters are drawn well particularly the reindeer. Where it scores most highly is in the meticulously imaginative and colourful backgrounds and the attention to detail for the little things as well as the big effects, including the animation of the snow (some of the best for animated film seen recently) and the movements of the wolves.

The music has liveliness, atmosphere and nuance with some catchy songs in the mix. 'The Flight Before Christmas' mostly is successful as a family film with something for children and adults like it clearly strived to appeal to all ages. The former will lap up the amusing and innocent humour, the cute characters, the easy to relate to themes the film teaches, the exciting adventurous elements and the quirkiness. The latter will be surprised at the more mature content that appeals to them and how mostly well handled it's done, it's not disturbing or overdone and doesn't feel misplaced or like the film didn't know what it wanted to be or who to aim it at.

This aspect may go over children's heads but they have enough to enjoy anyway elsewhere so it shouldn't be a problem. Meanwhile adults will like its cuteness, charm, the family values and how sincerely and not patronisingly they're delivered and the universal message, as well as seeing how children are enjoying it. As for the darker, more tense scenes, they may scare the very young but actually one might be surprised at how they'll take it, children's taste are under-estimated often and parents saying things like "this film is not for children" or "this scared my child" doesn't help.

Characters are easy to warm to, one will relate to the main character's story (another aspect that both children and adults will like), the action excites and the film flies by.

Overall, worth the watch if not blowing the mind. 7/10 Bethany Cox

well, i'm not really into Finnish animated movies, but i make an exception for this one. Not because the main character got my name (lol), but cause it's cute, funny and touching. Ya OK, the animation's good but the story somehow seems weak and lacking. However, it did a pretty good job to entertain me cause i really liked it. In this movie, Niko's always practicing to fly like his dad, but the problem is he never met his dad. So, along with Julius, a lazy flying squirrel, he sets out for Santa's Fell to find him. Like i said, the movie's not bad, it's really funny parts in it, especially when Niko drinks a beer and burps. But it also leaves a really good message about how to not give up on your dream, even if u get into trouble. So, i'm gonna give this movie a 8.5 out of 10, cause i think it was really well done even if the story wasn't really strong.

Niko is a young reindeer told by his mother that his father is one of Santa's elite flying reindeers of the "Flying Forces". He has never met him because they are fully dedicated to flying for Santa. Flying squirrel Julius tries to guide the young reindeer and his friend Saga. Niko is eager to fly. They are hounded by the wolf pack and Niko overhears their plans to take on Santa and the Flying Forces. With the help of Wilma the weasel, Niko goes in search for his father in the Flying Forces.

The animation looks fine. It's a little blocky but the animals look cute enough. The Flying Forces are rather annoying and I wish they have a better name. That song just isn't funny. I also wish Niko knew his father's name. I don't know what kind of nameless reindeer sex his mother had. It doesn't cost the movie anything for him to admire a specific father from afar. This is an OK family film.