To tell the origin story of Santa Claus, Sergio Pablos found himself on a journey that took him to northern realms and new animation territory en route to Netflix’s first in-house animated film. “So when it comes to the Santa Claus traditions, how do I come up with realistic, sometimes even cynical versions of that?

It pleasantly avoids promoting consumerism or ramming a corny pro-nuclear family message down the throats of the audience. Produced by the filmmaker's Madrid-based SPA Studios, Klaus has a unique visual style, the result of an approach that the director describes as 2D animation but using new computer tools to give the artists more precise control over lighting.

To show his gratitude, Nikolas decides to make toys for the children of the families as good-bye presents. “I often said to my crew, ‘You’re making a new “Star Wars” film.’ It’s a lot of the same approach Disney would take with fan service. "It felt like Klaus could benefit from hand-drawn animation, but we didn't just want to do something that looked nostalgic. To "make it feel like it's a storybook, like it's moving artwork," explains Pablos. To succeed and thus flee the town and claim his inheritance, Jesper manipulates a reclusive woodsman (voiced by J.K. Simmons) into giving his handmade toys to kids who request them via letters. “I felt that’s where the comedy and the charm fell,” says Pablos. Hollywood has a talent pipeline problem. It has to work for religious people, for nonreligious people. His father sends him to a cold, remote village called Smeerenburg to be a mailman.

At thirteen, Nikolas is sent to live and work with Iisakki, a grumpy old carpenter, who forbids Nikolas to continue making presents for Christmas. “If you build your story around an idea you believe in — ‘Kindness is contagious’ — you have to deliver.


Christine (Summer Glau), an elf from Santa's village who wonders if there could be more to life than making toys in the ... See full summary ». Once upon a time a little girl went out to find the Christmas star. How to vote.

© 2020 The Hollywood Reporter "I thought, what a great storytelling exercise, to take a character that's already well established … and bring it to today's audience."

"When you have a character who is very flawed, it is easy for the audience to dislike him. FACEBOOK

Toward that end, the eventual Santa isn’t even the lead. Luckily, I was proved wrong: the story is actually pretty down-to-earth and keeps the most obvious tearjerking clichés at arm's length at all times.

Strange accidents start to happen in Santa's village when he receives a mysterious letter. "One thing I learned during my trip is the Sami feel they have been misrepresented in media," says the director. The kid actor Otto Gustavsson is given a decent-sized role as the 13-year old Nikolas but gives no reasons to complain and Antti Tuisku's role is kept small enough to not get too distracting after all. A farm girl nurses a wounded reindeer she believes is one of Santa's, hoping to bring it back to health in time for Christmas. View production, box office, & company info. The complete list of L.A. Times’ endorsements in the November 2020 election.