There are no shortage of Christmas movies for you to choose from. The Hallmark Channel has devoted all their original programming toward it, year round. In many of these stories, you’re going to get some sort of origin story about Santa Claus, and many of these stories are going to suck. Netflix, on the other hand, stumbled upon a special origin story. Klaus is THE one for me now, probably the best origin story for Santa that I have seen maybe ever? Definitely in a long time.
What’s funny here is Klaus (JK Simmons) doesn’t even show up for the first 20-30 minutes or so. The movie’s hero is actually a snotty privileged postman, Jesper (Jason Schwartzman), son of the postmaster general who actively tries to get fired to be pampered at home. Eager to teach his son something, dad sends Jesper to Smeerensburg, a tiny island in the Arctic to create a post office there. Jesper finds the town embattled in a civil war, with the Krum family clashing so often with the Ellingboe family that kids don’t even go to school there; even the teacher, Alva (Rashida Jones) has taken up savings to get the hell out of Smeerensburg. Desperate to return home, Jesper tries everything to get people to send letters with no avail…until he meets an elderly toymaker named Klaus. Klaus sees a picture of a boy, takes one of his old toys, and goes with Jesper to deliver the toy to the kid. Jesper takes a strange route to get the toy inside: unseen, through the chimney, maybe eating a cookie along the way…
Movies about Santa usually obsess over his powers. Or modernize/retcon all the traditions in some contemporary way. Klaus goes back to the basics of Santa’s history, and how he came out of old tales and fables. His powers never really existed; he was given them by the eager listeners, projecting their belief in his ability to deliver presents to the good boys and girls. Klaus is about how Jesper inadvertently helps this old toymaker attain mythic status on the planet by establishing all those powers kids know about. What’s special about Klaus is how these customs fit into the story. How do kids know Klaus eats cookies? Jesper got distracted and ate a warm one delivering a present. Why does Jesper tell the kids Santa only visits good boys and girls? To keep himself from being pelted in the face with the snowball. Turns out presents are a great motivator: kids start attending school, Ellingboes and Krums start becoming friends: basically, the world takes a turn for the better. Klaus contains the good kind of fan service where the traditions feed the story, and the story returns the favor by providing a situation for some fan service.
One good deed breeds another. Not the most original of themes for a Christmas movie, but one that Klaus happily plants its flag on. It does this by focusing on the children in Smeerensburg: lost, sweet souls at the start of Klaus as a result of the civil war in the town. The most elemental, joyful part of any Christmas celebration is watching a good child rewarded for their sweetness by opening a present. Jesper isn’t exactly the most selfless person before delivering his first gift to a sad child, but the minute he sees that kid happily playing with his new toy frog, a Grinch like change starts to occur in him. These toys represent more to the kids than just a plaything. They represent hope for their future, simply because someone cares about them. A connection. Smeerensburg’s citizens are desperate for something good, and Jesper and Klaus realize their toy delivery helps ignite that hope inside of the town, and out. One of the loveliest scenes in the movie is when Jesper tries to learn a young Sami girl’s language to understand what she is asking for. From that one selfless act, Jesper and Klaus are rewarded a group of helpers to build and deliver the presents to other lost souls looking for connection. In addition, they start reaching out to each other to help them with their own difficulties: Jesper’s future and Klaus’s past. That infectious Christmas spirit permeates the whole of Klaus, earning enough goodwill to win the audience’s heart, and if not, the beautiful animation will help pick up the slack.
The great Roger Ebert once said “the movies are a machine that generates empathy.” No movie has more empathy on display in 2019 than Klaus. In this, a time of giving and love, I hope it encourages everyone to be that light in the dark, that spark. That one good deed. Who knows? Maybe it’ll inspire someone else to do the same.