Klaus: a newfound tradition
It has been a while since I’ve sat down and watched a full-length movie, and it’s been even longer since I was brave enough to start one of the numerous series that are stockpiled on my “Watch Later” lists. But with Christmas just around the corner, it’s once again time to stop, relax, and observe a newfound tradition.
Released in November 2019, Klaus was one of those movies that seemed to come from nowhere and jump on the Christmas hype train alongside the typical holiday rom-coms. It was one that, other than the endearing art style on the preview thumbnail, didn’t really stand out to us as the year’s must-see Christmas film. Honestly, even when we lay down to watch it on Christmas Eve, we still thought it was a rather risky watch despite it sitting strongly in the UK Netflix Top 10. We were actually looking for something more familiar, something we knew would have that guaranteed Christmas spark, but really the only option other than Klaus was 2018’s The Grinch and that wasn’t an option for us. So Klaus it was, and Klaus it has been ever since.
If you haven’t seen it, the movie follows the story of a self-centred postman named Jesper, voiced by Jason Schwartzman, as he is sent on an impossible quest by his father. Jesper is sent to Smeerensburg - a frozen island far from anything and home to two feuding families - and is tasked with delivering 6,000 letters before the end of the year or he will be cut off from his father’s wealth. After being knocked down physically and mentally again and again, he takes one last chance by visiting the lone woodsman on the other side of the island and accidentally ends up bringing Klaus, voiced by J.K. Simmons, back to Smeerensberg to start the rumour of the gift-giving mystery man. Jesper sees this as an opportunity to hit his goal and leave the island forever, but as Klaus says: A simple act of kindness always sparks another and Jesper starts to fall in love with the simple way of life that starts to emerge on the frozen island.
Of course, the story isn’t quite as cheery or as simple as that. On the surface, it is somewhat similar to A Christmas Carol as it is the detestable, self-centred protagonist that comes to understand the meaning of Christmas and turns themselves around for the good of themselves and the people around them. It follows a formula that is not new or revolutionary for a Christmas movie, but the way that it is handled, I think, is one of the reasons why we come back to it every year.
Jesper feigns change in order to get people to do what he wants. He manipulates the situation in order to have more and more children send letters to Mr. Klaus. He does everything he can to generate a sense of materialism in the village so that more people will want gifts and is often blind to the community spirit that he is fostering as a result. He genuinely fails to understand that, for some people on the island including Klaus and his eventual love interest, Alva, voiced by Rashida Jones, it is about more than just the gifts.
As the viewer, you have to spend the majority of the movie knowing that everything Jesper does is false. It is truly heartbreaking when he has that change of heart. When he really wants to do good and right by everyone. When he decides that he wants to stay in Smeerensburg. And everything around him comes crashing down because he initially built everything on a selfish lie.
It is a narrative that rivals most animated movies released in the past three years, with an art style that I think will only improve with age. Honestly, since it has become part of our Christmas traditions, it’s really not surprising that it was nominated for 37 awards, walking away with 11 of them, most of them in Best Animated Feature/Best Animated Film 2019/2020. It was even the runner-up, tied with Frozen 2, in the SLFCA Awards for Best Animated Film 2019.
So as part of the newfound tradition, tomorrow we will be sitting down, lights off, with the tree in the corner and a box of tissues on the table, readying ourselves to watch Klaus once again.
