#kind of always present jolly i sometimes have. like ill be expected to say ‘nothing can stop you champ!’ after their dads death or something

[ethernetmeep]

BREAKING NEWS: guy who when hes sleepy says “its sleepy time. its bedtime” & sleeps with stuffed animals also has the capacity to understand large words and philosophical texts if he is given enough time to process and think about them in his own unique way. what a surprise!

[mk-wizard]

Klaus Review

As always, this review of the Netflix film Klaus contains spoilers, so if you haven't seen it yet and want to be surprised, please stop reading now.

In short, Klaus is the Christmas movie kids need right now. It is an origin story for Santa Claus and it is done beautifully with a lot of heart, the animation was spectacular and the humour was just right. And it is not just a story about Christmas, but also a story about learning to find joy in kindness and making the most out of a difficult situation. It is told through the eyes of the main character Jesper who is a spoiled rich kid trapped in an adult's body, so his father sends him away to a town where two different clans don't get along to this day to challenge him into becoming a responsible adult.

The town Smeerensburg embodies the biggest problem in our society right right now which is our inability to get along. Worse yet, we try to justify spiting, resenting and being cold to each other by holding onto old grudges that are trivial and old feuds in the past that have nothing to do with us presently. The town is not just unfriendly and violent, it is miserable and stagnant because of all the hate. It is both a metaphorical and realistic picture of how hate leaves a society. However, all of that changes when Jesper gets a letter from a child in the form of an innocent drawing and with the help of Klaus, they give the child a new toy. This sparks a movement of which the rest of the children want toys too reinforcing that the kids don't want to fight. They want to be kids. Of course, the children are told that they only get toys if they are good, so they now have a reason to stop copying the hateful habits of their parents. However, you also get the impression that these children kind of wanted to be good to begin with and their acts of good deeds sparks a domino effect among the adults. This is very fitting of a Christmas story because it not only gives hope, but also it also educates the young children watching the movie that being kind can make you happy, it can get you friends and that kindness is a very needed thing in the world.

Then we have Klaus who is the most unique Santa type character I have ever seen, but he truly captured my heart. Klaus comes across as the stereotypical bitter and cold shouldered giant who doesn't like people, but as you get to know him, you learn that he is nothing of the sort. Klaus is not a man who hates people. He is a man who hates the raw deal life gave him. He once had a wife and they planned to have a family together, but she was lost to illness and even in his heavy state of mourning which lasted for years, there was still love in his heart for even the simplest of things like nature, his wood crafting art and most importantly children as he never stopped wanting a family. Sure, unlike most portrayals of Santa, he wasn't this big jolly chubby guy. He was a serious, strong man, but not like those serious strong men. Klaus was a very grounded character with realistic issues and was not consumed by them deep down. He just needed someone to bring him out of his depression which took a while because no one in Smeerensburg ever reached out to him. There are many people like Klaus in the world who are good and struggling with pain, but we are so caught up in our own small problems that we don't notice them. To summarise, Klaus is the version of Santa Claus who reminds us that those willing to give are worthy or receiving.

Lastly, there is Jesper himself who started off a deplorable guy because he had everything: he was rich but allowed that to spoil him, he had a good job as a high ranking mailman but he had no motivation to work, and he had all the tools he needed to be a man but  would rather just live off his father for the rest of his days like a kid. Yet, by the end of the story, you really grow to respect him and like the man he becomes thanks to his character development. Sure, Jesper's real reason for being at Smeerensburg was because his dad sent him there with the high hopes that being extremely challenged would make him grow up and for a while, his only motivation for taking his work seriously was because he wanted to buy his way out, but as the town blossomed into a pleasant likeable thing, so did he. He began to really about the town, his friendship with Klaus was genuine and while he had no riches or large mansion in the town, he finally found joy in work and responsibility. And his transformation was something he did to himself which says a lot. Perhaps just as deep down it is in our nature to be kind, it is also in our nature to have a purpose and once we discover it, we can't just back away. However, people need to be motivated and sometimes through tough love like Jesper was. You can never expect a person to do anything with their life if you don't allow them to experience it.

I give the movie a 9/10 and it is definitely one I recommend for children. It's a great Christmas movie that should become a classic.