The "origin story" are my words as it is not part of the actual title of the film but basically it is a movie that shows us a particular storyteller's notion of how it is that Santa Klaus came to be. This film is animated and as you would expect it is designed for a child viewership. It is reasonably interesting but for the most part I can't really say that this is anything particularly noteworthy.
While i do try to avoid spoilers there are people out there that prefer to enter a film blind and if that sort of person is you perhaps it would be better if you skipped this review altogether. Basically, my opinion is that this film is average at best and perhaps will achieve it's goal of taking advantage of holiday spirit. It isn't terrible, but it isn't really worth going out of your way to watch either
The film starts out in a whimsical fashion as we are introduced to "Jasper" (voiced by Jason Schwartzman) who is a rich, bum of a kid of a privileged family whose father happens to be the head of the postal service - and this is apparently very important. Jasper is lazy, unmotivated, and prepared to live the rest of his days under the wing of his family's vast fortune. Despite the fact that the postal service is presented as if it were a military-esque organization, he enjoys luxuries that mostly incorporates not doing anything.
Jasper thinks that he can just eek his way through life on his family's luxuries but his father has a different idea: Send Jasper to the far northern island region of Smeerensburg to set up a post office with a goal of having 6,000 letters sent in one year. If Jasper fails to achieve this goal, he will be cut off by his affluent family.
This is where the film is its most interesting and dark. When Jasper first arrives on Smeerensburg it is a terribly dismal place with terrifying inhabitants and that ambiance is almost akin to Nightmare before Christmas sans musical numbers. However, since this was intended to be a story about the origin of Santa Klaus, and is undeniably directed towards a child audience, they only have these dark moments in a very brief capacity.
After this point Jasper attempts to open the post office branch and eventually meets someone in the woods named "Klaus" and that is where I am going to stop my "play-by-play" in an attempt to not reveal the entire storyline.
I don't have any children, but i was one at one point in my life (as most people can also claim) but I recall that the existence of Santa Klaus was just something that was accepted and in my 6-year old brain that was enough for me. I didn't need any more than that.
This is where I feel as though this film might actually be ill-advised. If you have kids of the age that enjoy the myth of Santa Klaus I don't really feel as though a back-story is necessary and we don't need that. Klaus, at times presents the all-time champion of the North Pole as vulnerable, sometimes violent, and at other times as weak. Basically not the "Ho Ho Ho" magical champion that we all imagine him to be.
I am in my 40's now, so i don't know how the myth is spread (or if it even is) to kids these days, but for me, I felt as though this film could actually introduce a bunch of questions that parents are not prepared to answer and well, we didn't really need this.
From the official Netflix channel
If the story was really wonderfully told and the animation was incredible this could all be forgivable but unfortunately the story is just rather basic and uninspired. They attempt to weave this web of "Santa-origin" but in the end they don't actually give us all the pieces and it all just seems very vague. It ends up being a story of achievement on the part of a postman from a wealthy family and the story about Santa, is extremely incomplete.
The movie does have some good moments but mostly, at least in my mind, this production introduces a bunch of additional variables that we don't really need in the Christmas legend.
Klaus currently enjoys a really high rating on the major online rating websites but I am going to stick my head out right now and say that I disagree with the professional consensus. The story simply isn't good enough, and neither is the production, for me to suggest that it is a fantastic Christmas film.
This, just like Let it Snow will be a one-off in 2019 and when 2020 rolls around it won't be talked about. It is a passing holiday money-grab like so many other Christmas films. Perhaps I sound like a bit of a "Scrooge" but that is only because I really feel as though this film doesn't really have a purpose.
There are certain stories that I don't think should be messed with and a child's already ingrained idea about Santa Klaus is one of them.