Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Klaus (2019)
327 Plays2 years ago
Join us in our first festive episode as Satsunami and Andrew discuss the Netflix film Klaus. Is it an underrated classic? Or did this Santa origin story fail to live up to expectations? Get your milk and cookies and let's find out!
Patrons:
- Battle Toaster
- Sonia
Use my special link zen.ai/chatsunami and use chatsunami to save 30% off your first three months of Zencastr professional. #madeonzencastr
Check out more episodes here!
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Festive Greetings
00:00:05
Speaker
Welcome to Chatsunami.
00:00:17
Speaker
Aloha ho everybody and welcome to a special episode of Chatsunami. My name's Satsunami and joining me for the very first festive episode is none other than the one and only Christmas holiday cheer bringer I wanna say. The one and only Andrew. Andrew, welcome back. Bah humbug. Hi everyone, good to be here and chat about a wonderful Christmas movie this year. I was gonna say get away with your scrooginess right now.
00:00:47
Speaker
Yeah, I'll reserve my screwginess because I very much enjoyed the topic we're going to be talking about today. And then with curiosity, what topic are we going to be talking about today? We
Overview of 'Klaus'
00:00:56
Speaker
are going to be talking about the Netflix animated Christmas movie, Klaus, or Claws. I don't know which I think is Klaus, but if you want to correct me on that, you're more than welcome to.
00:01:06
Speaker
To be fair, I do think it is like a tomato-tomato situation. There's a lot of reviewers and people who have talked about this problem, and I think they basically use the words like clothes interchangeably. I'll be judging you silently from afar, but no, no, go on.
00:01:25
Speaker
Of course, of course. I wouldn't expect anything less. Yeah. So we're going to be looking at the Netflix animated feature film Klaus, which came out in 2019 and was the directorial debut of Spanish director Sergio Palos in 2019, which received huge critical acclaim. It won the BAFTA.
00:01:43
Speaker
that year and was nominated for Best Animated Movie at the Oscars as well, which is pretty incredible for a Christmas animated movie. I can't think of many others. Maybe the Polar Express might have done that as well, but I can't think of many other Christmas animated movies that would be nominated for Best Animated or Oscars. Yeah, it's quite a... Well, I was going to say, yeah, it's a rare field, but about you like you turn round and there's like a whole list of them. Yeah, I'm wondering if like that new like Illumination Grinch movie probably
00:02:13
Speaker
It's probably on there. It's not got a candle on the drunk hairy version. I'm just going to say it now. We watched that last night actually. Did it hold up as much as you remember? There are some things I should not be saying anymore that we're not okay. Yeah, that sounds about right.
00:02:28
Speaker
It was a lot of things where when you're an adult you're like, oh god, how did they get away with that? Yeah, that's next week's episode. Why the Grinch is problematic. Number one, he's not tolerant. Anyway. How did Grinch cancel Twittermas? I mean, I would watch out on morbid curiosity to be fair.
00:02:45
Speaker
And for anyone out there who's saying, oh no I wouldn't watch it. You lie or she would. It'd be like a true crime documentary. Actually I don't think that is true crime Christmas documentary. Anyway, so I'm getting ahead of myself here. There's actually gonna be a Grinch murder mystery movie coming out, like a live-action one.
Horror Films & Christmas Classics
00:03:00
Speaker
I did see that. It's called The Mean One. Did they not bring out a Winnie the Pooh one as well? Yeah, it's like...
00:03:04
Speaker
honey and gore or something. Yeah something like that. It feels as if that's kind of the trend of horror films now to take like a very child friendly figure and then be like oh yeah by the way you want to see them stab someone. Yeah going back to something a bit more wholesome.
00:03:20
Speaker
It's something to do with Christmas year. Yeah, at the time of recording this, there is of course a lot of Christmas music going around. There's a lot of festive films going around. Honest to goodness, I don't know about you, Andrew. Have you started watching any Christmas films?
00:03:35
Speaker
Yeah, we've gone through ELF, Noelle, Grinch, and then
Andrew's Christmas Movie List
00:03:40
Speaker
this one. Those are the ones we've covered so far. The time recording it's only December 3rd, so we've still got a long time left and many more to get through. Oh yeah, we've got time. We can speedrun them just one day, just keep going.
00:03:51
Speaker
And I mean with the amount of Christmas Carol adaptations, it is going to take a while. But when we're talking about these festive films, we're talking about things like The Muppets Christmas Carol, It's a Wonderful Life, and you know, we're thinking of all these classics of cinema. But going back to what we're going to be talking about today with Klaus, I'm going to be honest, I felt as if this film came out of nowhere. Were you the same? How did you come across this film initially?
First Impressions of 'Klaus'
00:04:18
Speaker
It was promoted back in 2019 on our Netflix and we heard some hype around it in terms of like that it was getting a lot of kind of Oscar season buzz for a Christmas movie and a very unique animation style. So we decided, I think it was while we were putting up our Christmas tree or it was we were doing something in our apartment at the time. And so we popped it on, but we weren't really paying attention to it because we didn't really care too much.
00:04:42
Speaker
about it and so I'll be honest it didn't interest me that much but re-watching it just this week I've kind of got a huge a brand new appreciation for the movie I think it is wonderful but we'll get into exactly why as we go on. I have to admit I was kind of laughing to myself there when you said you were watching this when you were putting up the tree because I was doing exactly the same thing a couple of years ago when I first found this film
00:05:07
Speaker
And I think it was just because I saw it advertised on Netflix and I kind of thought, I don't know, you know, I like them up at Christmas Carol. It's a wonderful life, the Grinch, you know, I'm very wary when it comes to new Christmas films, as weird as that sounds, because, you know, Christmas films are a dime a dozen. There's a massive bulk of them.
00:05:26
Speaker
when they all come through they all want to tell the kind of same story and everything so when I saw Klaus and I saw oh it's the origin of Santa I thought yeah sure okay and then like you I just put it on in the background I thought oh yeah I'll just put it on that'll be some nice background noise and then of course I watched it I ended up paying attention more to that than what became a lopsided tree because I was more in the
00:05:52
Speaker
invested in the film and are always decorating. This is just a straight up spoiler free review in a couple of words. This film is poignant, it's fantastic, it is a whirlwind of emotions honestly. I would wholeheartedly recommend this film if you haven't seen it and that is probably the briefest way I can say that because yeah we'll just jump into it and explain to these lovely people why they should be watching this film.
00:06:19
Speaker
I think so. Going forward, there are spoilers, so if you don't want to be spoiled and you want to watch this and experience it for the first time yourself, please put some tinsel in your ears, go watch the film, then come back and listen to this episode, we'll be waiting. Without any further ado, we'll be right back after these holly jolly messages.
00:06:42
Speaker
Welcome to Chatsunami, a variety podcast that discusses topics from gaming and films to anime and journal interests. Previously on Chatsunami, we've analysed what makes a good horror game, conducted a retrospective on Pierce Brosnan's runs James Bond, and listened to us take deep dives into both the Sonic and Halo franchises.
00:07:01
Speaker
Also, if you're an anime fan, then don't forget to check us out on our sub-series, Chatsunani, where we dive into the world of anime. So far, we've reviewed things like Death Note, Princess Mononoke, and the hit Beyblade series. If that sounds like your cup of tea, then you can check us out on Spotify, iTunes, and all big podcast apps. As always, stay safe, stay awesome, and most importantly, stay hydrated.
00:07:24
Speaker
Hey, I'm Abi. Hi, I'm Fi, and together we are the Everything Coincidental podcast. We talk about all things paranormal, such as ghosties, cryptids, and aliens. We also like to talk about all things spirituality, which encourages us and others to live by their own rules. So if that's something that you relate to in our interest, then make sure you check us out at Everything Coincidental, on all platforms, and also drop us a message. We'd love to chat to you at some point about it. Talk soon. Bye.
00:07:54
Speaker
This episode is sponsored by Zencaster. If you're a podcaster that records remotely like me, then you'll know how challenging it can be to create the podcast you've always wanted. That's where Zencaster comes in. Before I met Zencaster, I was put a naive podcaster, recording on low-quality, one-track audio waves.
00:08:29
Speaker
I want you to have the same easy experience I do for all my podcasting and content needs. It's time to share your story.
00:08:40
Speaker
So Andrew, tell me what this film is
Plot Summary of 'Klaus'
00:08:43
Speaker
about. Yeah, for sure. Klaus is the story of the origin of Santa Claus, essentially. Our main character is actually a very entitled, privileged young man who his father is the postmaster general.
00:08:58
Speaker
and wants his son to kind of learn to develop on his own and not be so reliant on the money that comes from being the son and heir of the postmaster general. I don't know if it's an heir situation. So he sends his son off
00:09:14
Speaker
to be the postman for a small island community who do not have much reason to send mail to one another because they are constantly at war between these two rivaling clans. So he has to try and establish a postal network between these people. He discovers a man
00:09:36
Speaker
in the woods who makes toys and tries to sort of bond the town and create this wider postal network by delivering toys to these children so that he can reach his letter goal which will allow him to return back to his privileged life. Yeah I kind of said it better myself to be honest and going back to a point that you made before, this is of course as you said a film that explores the origin of Santa Claus or
00:10:05
Speaker
classes with us published, but see when you first heard this plot and you watched the trailer and everything, what were your initial thoughts going into it? I wasn't that impressed or interested. I thought it was just kind of like, oh, it's just one of those kind of modern movie kind of like, oh, we'll explain the origin of this.
00:10:25
Speaker
Yeah, I wasn't that intrigued, wasn't that impressed. I just kind of put it on as like a filler kind of movie just when it first came out. But I think I've seriously underrated the movie initially. I think it is very good. What about yourself? Well, I have to admit, I'm exactly in the same boat, pardon the plot pun there. But when I first heard about this film, I was kind of like,
00:10:46
Speaker
Eh, yeah, we're gonna have this origin story, it's gonna be sappy, it's gonna be cheesy. And I'm not gonna lie, the first, like, maybe third of this film doesn't really do itself any favours, because I watched this film back originally for my partner, but I showed my girlfriend this film.
00:11:07
Speaker
and she'd never seen it before, she'd never heard of it and I was like oh it's a great film it's all about the origin of Santa Claus and of course while we're watching it throughout the first third it's about this as you said this spoiled postal air as it were
00:11:23
Speaker
called Jesper, who he only cares about himself, he cares about his silk sheets, he's very egotistical and of course he gets sent to this very remote place called Smerinsburg and throughout that whole sequence where he's trying to establish a postal service and obviously to little success, my girlfriend turned around to me and she's like, what does this have to do with the origin of Santa?
00:11:45
Speaker
it is, I have to admit it's really hard to be like, oh no, keep with it, keep watching. Did you feel the same throughout the first third of the film?
Initial Reactions to the Setup
00:11:54
Speaker
Or even quarter? Yes and no. I was actually quite enjoying the introduction and I had zero memory of the beginning of the movie at this Postmaster Academy. I must have been doing something completely different when I first watched this because I had zero memory of this taking place.
00:12:11
Speaker
I thought it set up the town and the community and the story quite well. It did take quite a while to get to the point where we meet Klaus. I think the story pacing was good for that, in my personal opinion. My partner lost interest in the beginning. So I think similar to you and your partner, it didn't capture her initially. And so it wasn't until the very end of the movie, she kind of started taking note of what was going on again. And I had to kind of explain to her what happened in the beginning.
00:12:39
Speaker
Yeah, I had to rewind it a couple of times to be like, Luke, he's a bad postman, okay? Look at him. He's kicking a fragile parcel down the stairs. Yeah, no, I totally... Right, he's been sure of that, I find. Yeah. Oh, God, absolutely. See, before we go on to the plot,
00:12:56
Speaker
and basically how this broke me down to tears. Lie down, try not to cry, cry anyway, kind of meme. That was literally me at the end of the story. But before we go on to that, could we talk about the animation? Yeah, definitely. I would love to
Unique Animation Style of 'Klaus'
00:13:10
Speaker
speak more about that.
00:13:11
Speaker
I'm going to be honest, this film looks in no bias here, but this film is absolutely gorgeous. It is stunning to look at. It's got this very weird hybrid of 2D and 3D animation. This was something that you and I were talking about just before we got onto recording, but
00:13:30
Speaker
the kind of base animation. It's very much hand-drawn 2D animation, but with the right amount of lighting and shading and things like that, they make it into a looks like the perfect hybrid between 2D animation and 3D animation. But did you feel the same, Andrew, when you first watched this?
00:13:51
Speaker
Well, when I first watched it, I'm struggling to remember my initial impressions of it. I don't think that it, much like most of the movie, I don't think it really captured me initially. I don't think I fully appreciate it until my most recent rewatch of it. But I do agree. I think it is wonderful. And being such a huge fan of traditional 2D animation, I was so thrilled to sort of see kind of an evolution of what that would become. And I know that is, that was the intention of
00:14:17
Speaker
the director to try and establish what 2D animation might have evolved into had computer-generated animation not taken over the animation scene. So it is brilliant to see how they used volumetric lighting to give it that unique look, to make it look like that hand-crafted feel that so many of the traditional 2D animated movies had while still looking very much like a modern movie.
00:14:43
Speaker
are points that do look kind of janky, but it isn't quite as polished in some ways as some other films. But I do think it is really consistent with its animation. I think it looks very, very interesting. My partner was not a big fan of it being so used to this modern kind of 3D computer animated Disney movie where things are much more well rounded. It's not quite as sharp a lot of the angles. That is more to her preference, but I absolutely adored how this film looked.
00:15:12
Speaker
Well, funny enough, in terms of design, something that I was quite surprised at, and again, this is more like a subconscious thing, where when you're first introduced to Smernsburg, you see all of the houses are very angular and pointed and quite jaggy, and that's subconsciously to say, oh, this place is unfriendly. As are the weapons protruding from all the roofs. Well, yeah, that too. That's very overt.
00:15:39
Speaker
kind of hard not to see that. Then of course you've got Klaus's house which is very sturdy and it's withered through time and everything. It's really well designed. The whole town and the whole setting is amazingly done. But one thing I want to know
00:15:54
Speaker
And this is something that I don't know if you've picked up on, because I know this is one of your favourite films from Disney. But when I was watching this, especially for the Ferryman character who takes Jesper across the water, voiced by Norm Macdonald in his final film role, released during his lifetime.
00:16:11
Speaker
I did notice that a lot of these characters looked quite familiar in the way they acted and the way they presented themselves. And I was kind of like, this is really weird because I reckon I, obviously not the exact character model or anything, but I thought, where have I seen that before? But if you look at Sergio's filmography or rather his animation credits,
00:16:34
Speaker
He has worked on a lot of very prolific films. Like, I mean, even going to the 90s, he was part of a lot of the Disney Renaissance films, like The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He was the animator for Frodo. He was the animator for Hades and Hercules. He also worked in Tarzan. But the one that actually caught my eye was Treasure Planet, where he was a supervising animator for one of the characters. I think his name was Dr. Doppler. I have to admit,
00:17:01
Speaker
I had to do a Google search while I was researching because it's been a while since I've seen Treasure Planet. I was like, who the hell is Dr. Doppler? That is very appropriate, actually, because I think if it's the character I'm thinking of on Treasure Planet, he is a lot like Jesper in his mannerisms. They're already similar with the way they
00:17:18
Speaker
As you said, their mannerisms, the way they present themselves with their actions, the way they move, their expressions as well. When the ferryman pops in and he's leaning and looking in quite smug, he reminds me of the Long John Silver character from Treasure Planet.
00:17:34
Speaker
he reminds me a lot, just the way he kind of, you know, he's smugly going, oh yeah, and hashtag not all fed him in the pirates, but you know what I mean. It was just an interesting parallel, essentially, and I thought that was really cool to kind of draw between the fact that he obviously has like a lot of work under his belt before jumping into this film, but for
00:17:56
Speaker
Funny enough, and this is something we were talking about once again before we started recording, but this film did not seem popular when it was proposed to different studios, was it? Yeah, I was very surprised to hear that, that it took so long for it to get greenlight by any studio, and that it was eventually Netflix that gave it that greenlight and signed the deal with them. Yeah, you're completely right. When
Production Challenges of 'Klaus'
00:18:19
Speaker
I was reading that, I was like,
00:18:20
Speaker
oh this must be one of those films that Wallace specifically made for Netflix and you know like they labored over it they released it exclusively and that was it you know there was no real history behind it if that makes sense but the fact that this actually got bounced around from studio to studio all because a lot of studio said that it was like a risky move
00:18:44
Speaker
Yeah, I think that was the kind of consensus that they didn't want to take a risk on this movie. And I don't quite know what about it would have upset people. I don't know, maybe people are very firm kind of understanding of who Santa Claus is, and they didn't want to upset that kind of idea that he is just a magical man in the North Pole.
00:19:03
Speaker
Yeah, it seems very weird. According to my notes here it said it was around I think 2015. So about four years before this was actually given the release and about two years I think before Netflix acquired the rights to it. But I'm wondering if there was a different version of this film because Jesper was, according to my notes here, he was originally proposed as a chimney sweep rather than like a spoiled
00:19:33
Speaker
Postman. And to you know, honestly, I don't think that would have worked. I do see what they were going for with that, that as someone that could easily access the chimneys to deliver presents. But yeah, it doesn't quite have the same kind of ring to it that the Postman kind of storyline has. Just before we go on to talk about the plot, one thing that I was actually really surprised at and really intrigued by
00:19:55
Speaker
was the introduction of the Sami people. You know the scene I'm talking about where all the children are giving their letters to the postman and there's like one girl who exclusively speaks Sami which correct me if I'm wrong, I think it's like a Finnish or it's definitely a Scandinavian indigenous tribe, isn't it?
00:20:17
Speaker
Yeah, that's kind of the impression I was getting. My partner thought she could hear some almost French to what they were saying. I don't know if the language they were speaking is a genuine language or if it was kind of made up for the movie. I'm not quite sure, but I'd be interested to know that.
00:20:33
Speaker
Yeah, no, it is a real language. The Sami people do encompass areas of nowadays Scandinavia, so like Norway, Sweden, Finland especially, and they just kind of travel from place to place. And funny enough, and this was years ago like pre-pandemic times, but when I went to Sweden one time to visit a friend,
00:20:52
Speaker
I actually learned that they actually have a pass, like a special pass that allows them to move between each country without a passport. But that's just a fun travel fact of the day. Yeah, they can like move from country to country without being stalked, which is pretty neat. But yeah, they're like a real nomadic people.
00:21:10
Speaker
Yeah, which I have to admit, I thought it was quite surprising because seeing all honesty, if this was like an elimination film or anything like that, you would bet they would have had some kind of minionesque elf people or something like that. I don't know, like a kind of shudder to think
00:21:27
Speaker
what would happen if a studio like that would have got their hands on this story and it definitely would have undercut the story. It was really cool though. I have to admit it was really cool. One thing I really like about it is it doesn't feel the need to have the kind of comedic relief that a lot of other current films are so prevalent with.
00:21:47
Speaker
Like, I don't feel like it has some silly, minion-esque kind of device in there. Like, there is comedic relief throughout it, but it totally works, it's consistent, and it fits the movie very, very well. It doesn't stoop low in the majority of cases with a tumor. If I'm gonna nitpick
00:22:06
Speaker
I would say there's a couple of stereotypes when it comes to the two warding clans. You know, the elimbos who are the red-headed, pot-headed as it were, individuals and the crumbs who are, yeah, just pretty much the same but with black hair and very doer face.
00:22:24
Speaker
they're a lot more serious. Some moments between them, I was kind of like, okay, I've had enough of this, you know, that way. Like, again, that's obviously the central reason why Smeonsburg is the way it is, and I liked their introduction and everything, but there were just some moments where I'm like, okay, this is about too much, but again, that's more of a nitpick.
00:22:44
Speaker
No, I would agree. The weakness of this film, if there is one, is how they dealt with the two, particularly when we sort of would see the leaders of each clan. I don't think it was anything particularly interesting. I think it was pretty standard in terms of what has come before it. But I think you're right. It's a small nitpick. I think it still works, but I do think that is its weakness if there is one.
00:23:07
Speaker
I also, I don't know what your feelings on this are if we are talking about weaknesses of the movie, but I didn't quite like the choice of songs that they use in the movie. I thought that was a bit of an issue with the tone of the movie. I'm using tone of the movie quite often, but just that I don't feel it fit the movie a lot of the time. The songs are being chosen. They were beautiful songs. I love the songs themselves, but I don't think they necessarily fit the movie very well.
00:23:33
Speaker
Yeah, the only song I would give an exception to, because as you said, it's absolutely beautiful, is see the one they play at the very end, and the one where I think it's Margu, her name is, the Sami child one. Yeah, they give her the sled, or the ski thing, and you're very treasure planet-esque.
00:23:54
Speaker
I just like to look at this. I just noticed that as soon as I thought about it. I thought that is really, you know, Jim Whatsey's face. Yeah, I love that song. I will say that really suited the film, but I totally agree with you when it was songs like
00:24:12
Speaker
don't mess with the postman and I can't remember the other song was it a rap or something? There was something when he was going up to see Klaus I think was a bit of a weird song. Yeah no I 100% agree with you there and thank you for bringing that up. Yeah those like two moments or I think
00:24:32
Speaker
those are the only two songs that are maybe two or three, but you're completely right, other than the very emotional build up and swelling music you get with the other bits, that bit in particular, or sorry, those scenes in particular, yeah, completely agreeing, those are definitely some of the weak points, and you feel as if they
00:24:51
Speaker
huge I put something better in, but again, it might not pick. Absolutely might not pick. But now that we've got the nitpicks out of the way, do you want to move on to the absolutely poignant story of Klaus? Yeah, I'd love to speak more on that. What are your thoughts on the story so we can start you off this time?
00:25:10
Speaker
I cried. I'm not gonna lie, this film made me cry. It made me curl up in the fetal position. It is a lot more emotional than I remember it being because when you watch this film, as I said at the beginning, when you watch this film and you get to the first third, I think, just before it meets Klaus,
00:25:29
Speaker
you kind of get this feeling it's going to be this, oh it was good, don't get me wrong, I do agree with you Andrew, it was like a great setup and it was great pacing but you do not get a sense for how emotional this film's going to be when you see him walking up and he's like oh I want to get back to my life and everything and you're like right okay.
00:25:50
Speaker
We've done this dance before, we've watched like a thousand films. Like yes, he's gonna learn his lesson, he's gonna go through that scene where he has the misunderstanding with the other characters and they'll come back and you know these tropes. And don't get me wrong, it can be kind of tropey at times.
00:26:07
Speaker
Yeah, I would agree with that. That would be another thing I would have brought up as a as a weakness of how kind of predictable a lot of it was. I think there were there were some some moments where they managed to pull the rug from under my feet a little bit. But yeah, I think I think just the whole you kind of can see that he has this goal that he's misleading everyone and you know, it's gonna come back and bite him and then he's gonna have to try and redeem himself. Like you can see that coming from a mile away.
00:26:29
Speaker
Although I have to admit, I do think this is the very first and only film that I've ever seen where the villains accomplish their tasks by being very competent postmen. I don't think I've ever watched a maniacal postman that's done his job in a film. Can you think of any?
00:26:49
Speaker
No, I can't quite think of a postal scheme. But you want the letters to go out, yeah. Yeah. But sorry, going back to the plot and everything, when you finally meet Klaus and, you know, there's the whole misunderstanding that Jesper thinks he is this very brutish axe murderer and everything, and then it turns out he's just a very kind-hearted individual. Can we talk about just the one scene
00:27:17
Speaker
that absolutely because I want to hear your opinions on this as well and to see how much you cried at it and we can have a cry off if you will. The
Emotional Backstory and Comparisons
00:27:25
Speaker
scene I mean where we find out why Klaus is well really the way he is. Yeah like it did hit me for sure. That was not the point that made me cry. There was actually a point that did make me well up with tears the movie. That wasn't it but that was a very hard-hitting moment where we kind of learned that's very kind of akin to up
00:27:44
Speaker
the Pixar movie, where we discovered that the reason that Klaus has made all these toys, and there's kind of sitting there, is because he had made them for the children that he and his wife had hoped to have, but they were unable to have children for whatever reason. His wife then became ill and passed away. And so he was kind of left alone in his cabin that he had built for the two of them with just these many toys surrounding him.
00:28:09
Speaker
And he created this little kind of like family tree that he carved into like the trunk of a tree that kind of went, went through the cabin that he would like sit little like family members in. And it only, only existed was just him and his wife. And so he kind of hid it away. And that was very heart wrenching. And then prior to that, throughout the movie where we'd sort of been introduced to Klaus, it seemed like the wind was like telling him something or he was interpreting something based on the wind.
00:28:32
Speaker
And you were always kind of like, what is going on here? What's happening? What is he kind of inferring? Or what is he being communicated to via the wind? Is it just that he's crazy? What's going on here? And you kind of learned that he believes that it's his wife kind of communicating to him and through what seems to be somewhat supernatural
00:28:50
Speaker
elements towards the end, that may be the case. It was indeed his wife that communicated to him to try and push him in the right direction to help the town and to get past his grieving loneliness that he could feel happy again. When that moment came, it really hit me. It was very poignant. I don't think it quite had the same impact on me that it didn't hear. Do you want to speak on that? Oh yeah, absolutely. I don't cry watching this film just to not bring it up.
00:29:20
Speaker
But jokes aside, when I started rewatching this with my partner, I remember turning to her and then turning to the TV and I saw that Klaus was on. And as the wind was kind of blowing, and as you said, the wind is very much like it is very symbolic. I mean, you could say technically it is like
00:29:40
Speaker
that is communicating with him as a spirit which I thought was very touching but just that scene as you said where he was saying oh I don't make toys anymore once they run out of toys and you don't know why he doesn't want to make toys but you know obviously it's going to be a sad reason and Jesper is trying so so desperately to say oh let's build toys because he wants to reach his goal of
00:30:05
Speaker
sending out 6,000 letters and you know he's like oh we can have a workstation here we can have this and that and then he pulls down this sheet and of course Klaus is very desperate he's like no don't touch that and you see as you said the family tree when it's just him and his wife
00:30:21
Speaker
And immediately it struck me, I was like, oh my God, I actually remember why he doesn't make toys anymore. And I was desperately trying not to cry. But as soon as my girlfriend started crying at it, I just started crying. It's funny, you see, it's exactly like up.
00:30:36
Speaker
because that's what she said and that set me off even more because I was just thinking how sad that was because you see the many montage of them together, they're having a lovely time, he's a young man building his toys and everything and he ends up a lonely old man and his wife passes away and he's just on his own in the middle of the woods.
00:30:57
Speaker
that is just like such an emotional scene where he talks about that and of course at the very end like skipping ahead a bit after 12 years he finally decides to join his wife and he says something along the lines of I'm coming to my dear or something like that and he you know he puts down his axe for one last time he goes into the wind and that's how he just disappears I was a wreck
00:31:20
Speaker
I'm going to be honest, I was a wreck, my girlfriend was a wreck, we were just like solving uncontrollably because it's just such a poignant moment that I don't think anybody would expect from a film like this because as we talked about before, this film is really tropey. You have all these moments where it's like okay it's the selfish postman, he's trying to use this small town to return Dee's life of luxury, you know you've got the misunderstandings him being
00:31:48
Speaker
a bit of a prat to people. And as the story develops, as I said, there are tropes there, but they weave them and twist them in such a magnificent way. Like, for example, why Santa Claus does the things he does.
Origins of Santa Traditions
00:32:04
Speaker
And I have to admit, I did find that pretty funny when he goes to put the gifts on the mantelpiece and then he sees it's the boy who threw like a snowball
00:32:14
Speaker
at him and called him a loser. So he gives him a lump of coke when he comes up with the excuse that he's always got a naughty list and he can see everything you're doing. And I thought that was really funny. Yeah, I really enjoyed the montage of all the children of the town doing the good deeds around town to make sure that they're on the nice list, which I kind of get like at one point the villains say, well, what will happen when the children are no longer receiving toys, they're bribing them with
00:32:37
Speaker
to do good deeds and the the adult soul will start returning to paint each other as well. That scene kind of made me think because I was like yeah well that's kind of the situation isn't it? That the children aren't being good for goodness sake. It does somewhat start a spark of goodwill but the children are ultimately doing being nice just for reward sake. So there is there's a bit of a mixed message going on there in my opinion. Yeah no I'm totally with you there but on the kind of flip side to that though see if you think about
00:33:07
Speaker
it would get into very dangerous the Grinch's little Christmas territory, where it's like, oh we don't need presents and things to be happy. I feel as if on the flip, I completely agree, you've got a completely valid point there, but you wonder how much it would kind of stray into that territory if they decided to go that way, but it would have been interesting to see.
00:33:29
Speaker
I did actually think that's the direction they were going to go towards the end when the presents all fell off or like pushed off the cliff by the crumb. I thought we were going to find out like the children didn't need the presents after all, but they were like, no, actually, those were decoy presents. We have the real presents here to give to the children. So I thought they had the opportunity there to make it that kind of story, but they decided to go a different direction. And that was kind of one of the moments where I felt the kind of the trope pulled up from under me where I kind of expected to go one way and it didn't.
00:33:56
Speaker
I thought it was unique. I often, one of those people who always like, oh, well, this is going to happen in the movie. And then like this, this is how it's going to go kind of thing. Sometimes I can, I feel like I almost ruined the movie for myself by doing that. And so when a movie is able to then surprise me, it's quite refreshing where I'm like, Oh, I was wrong. That's cool.
00:34:13
Speaker
As we said before, there are a lot of area. I don't want to be reductive and say paint by the numbers, but the kind of building blocks are there. But the fact that they do kind of move the blocks out every so often to kind of throw you off and go, oh, right, this is how it's going to end or this is going to happen. It's just it's fantastically done.
00:34:33
Speaker
And I do think that, would you say, looking at this film, looking at the plot and the animation and everything in one like neat Christmas bundle, would you say that Klaus deserves to be on the kind of pantheon of classic Christmas films that are watched every year?
00:34:50
Speaker
I do think it deserves to be held in high regard. I think it is now one of my favourite Christmas movies. I don't necessarily think it needs to be watched every year, but I do think it should be added to the Christmas rotation. Much like this time last year, we discussed Tokyo Godfathers and kind of said a very similar thing that it's one to be added to the rotation, but maybe every other year kind of thing. What are your thoughts?
00:35:12
Speaker
I do think that this film is severely, maybe not underrated because there is quite a surprising fan base for this film. I took to Twitter and I put a tweet saying, oh I'm watching Klaus tonight, oh it's a great film, blah blah blah, thinking I'll get one or two likes.
00:35:31
Speaker
But I was so surprised by the amount of people who were replying. And they were all saying things like, this film's beautiful, this film's so emotional, I loved it. You know, it was really surprising to see such a fan base for this film. And you know, don't get me wrong, it completely deserves it. And I think it did have, apparently Netflix had reported that the film was viewed nearly
00:35:56
Speaker
30 million times in its first month on the platform, according to what I'm reading here. And that's just an insane amount. Obviously people will have a repeat for kids and things, but it seems like a lot of use for one month's work.
00:36:11
Speaker
that it did receive that kind of attention in its initial release. I mean, if a cinema release had that kind of attention, it'd be astronomical. But because, obviously, it's on Netflix, it's a lot easier to access. It doesn't quite get the same level of attention. Well, apparently it was in selected theaters. Oh, really? Yeah, one week before it came out on Netflix. Borrowing a phrase from yourself here with the grunge I am.
00:36:33
Speaker
Yeah, I would 100% recommend this film to be put on anybody's Christmas rotation because it's a film that I genuinely think that a lot of people will maybe overlook as the right word here because I've
00:36:49
Speaker
actually heard people are doing the same room as people who have been looking through Netflix and they come across clothes and I say what they think oh great we're going to watch clothes and then you turn around and go oh it's an animated film or I can't be bothered with that and you know they move on and you think
00:37:05
Speaker
Well, first of all, that's not fair, but even beyond that hatred is a strong word, but that dislike of animated films, it's a film that is surprisingly emotional. It is an absolutely fantastic story. It weaves in the mythos, as it were, for basically the story as a whole of
00:37:25
Speaker
Santa Claus and how he quote-unquote came to be.
Is 'Klaus' a Classic Christmas Film?
00:37:30
Speaker
And it's done in just such an amazing way. Like I have to admit, although I don't like the scene where the crumbs and the earlambores try to kill them essentially by throwing boulders and tree trunks at them, I have to admit I did laugh at that scene where they start flying. Because even before that happens, when my girlfriend turned around to me and she said, are they gonna fly now? I'm like, what?
00:37:51
Speaker
No, and then of course, they technically don't fly, they just go soaring through the air but of course the children see it and they think, oh wow, Klaus can fly and that's just quite a wholesome moment. Yeah, it's essentially just creating this mythos around him by how these rumours came to be and were spread. It's very interesting. A lot of lower building going on here.
00:38:15
Speaker
Yeah, so this is the Santa lore, the Santa expanded universe. Speaking of, they never say the word Santa in the movie or anything, do they?
Final Thoughts and Recommendations
00:38:22
Speaker
No, they don't actually. They just say Klaus, which does make more sense. And yeah, no, you're completely right as far as I remember. No, they don't. They just refer to him by the name Klaus, and that's pretty neat, I have to say. Honestly, I cannot praise this film enough, but before we wrap up, is there anything final that you want to say about this film, Andrew?
00:38:44
Speaker
Nothing that I haven't really already said, just that the animation is so unique and interesting. I do love to see a resurrection of traditional 2D animation with this has a unique twist to it. The story is very beautiful, very pretty. I do love the inclusion of the indigenous sunny people. I think that was very, very interesting and it sort of
00:39:06
Speaker
even just through this podcast has taught me about a group of people that I was not previously aware of. And I recommend that people check it out. I think it's a wonderful movie. I can only echo those sentiments. I would 100% agree with you and say, if you haven't checked out this film, even though you've sat through a spoiler-filled review of it.
00:39:26
Speaker
I would wholeheartedly recommend that you check it out. It does such a good job at handling a lot of the moments with care and the respect it deserves, whether that be of course with the Sami people as we talked about, whether that be Klaus himself and the loss of his wife, which I thought was excellently done. Although we've both made parallels to Up,
00:39:51
Speaker
which of course they're obviously there. It's not like a kind of shot for shot recreation. It's not trying to say, look at how sad we can be, oh look at this sad music. It does it in such a beautiful way that it shows you how in love he was with this particular individual and how he absolutely broke him as a person. And that is a
00:40:11
Speaker
surprising thing, but don't get me wrong, grief can be a central theme. If you watch something like It's A Wonderful Life, the whole film, as beautiful as that is, is about the concept of grief. But at the same time, there's kind of that bittersweet resolution of him continuing, even though he's alone, he starts to find these people who opened
00:40:32
Speaker
his heart and open up his whole view in the world from being this isolated individual who does nothing but build birdhouses to someone who wants to help spread joy and hope into these children's lives. So yeah, all I can say is if you haven't watched this film, what you still doing here? Go watch it. Get a Netflix subscription
00:40:54
Speaker
I'll also say the interesting ending of the movie which kind of suggests that Santa is a ghost is a unique take on Santa Claus. Well I think the worrying thing would be like if Jesper and his wife were making pottery and then you just saw the big clothes hands come from behind. You never thought you were going to get a ghost reference to Jesper. No, I'll be honest. After that I think it's more to tie in with like the spiritual element like
00:41:22
Speaker
obviously the wife being the wind spirit, something that someone else pointed out as well and obviously there's some really obvious moments where the wind blows the letter from the child to Klaus and he sees it and then
00:41:39
Speaker
there's the picture from the child that flies to Jesper's hands and that obviously kicks off the whole plot about him wanting to create the Santa figure. But one of the other ones that I actually never even realised was there's a scene where Jesper's lying in his office and he looks up at the map and you can see the map. Some of it's hanging off the wall so it's covering the cabin. You can see the wind push up the map
00:42:04
Speaker
so it shows you that, like it shows it just enough for Jesper to take notice and go, oh where's that place? So it kind of implies that the wife's semi-responsible for kicking off these events, which I thought was kind of poetic, you know, it's like not wanting to give up hope in an otherwise hopeless place, because obviously the beginning when we get to Smirnsburg it's very drab, timberton-esque,
00:42:30
Speaker
and I have to admit I did laugh because I've completely forgot about seeing the two people carrying the dead body for whatever reason and then pushing the guy on the wheelchair it's like I keep forgetting these small moments it's like this is very morbid but obviously as the film goes on the time becomes a lot brighter or more vibrant and all I can say is if you haven't checked out this film please like our words do not do it justice you'll laugh you'll cry and honestly you'll have a blast
00:42:59
Speaker
For sure. So before we finish up, first of all, Andrew, thank you so, so much for joining me in this episode. But yeah, before we finish up, where can these lovely listeners listen to more of your content? Thank you. Yeah, thank you for inviting me. I very much enjoyed coming on and rewatching this film.
00:43:17
Speaker
people would like to find me online, they can find me at greenshield95 on Twitter and also greenshield95 on Twitch where I occasionally stream on Twitch. I'm trying to do it more often and hopefully when this comes out I'll have a bit more of a regular stint doing some streaming. Yeah, by the time this comes out you'll be like a partner, they won't have time for the podcast, I'll all be up from here.
00:43:39
Speaker
If only. But yeah, in all seriousness, definitely go check out Andrew's channel. It is absolutely fantastic. And yeah, if you want to check out more festive fun from ourselves, you can check us out on our website, podpage.com forward slash Tatsanami, where you can stay updated with our latest episodes. You can also check out our previous Christmas episodes and you can listen to us on Spotify, iTunes and yeah.
00:44:04
Speaker
any good podcast apps. So look for the name Chatsanami and we'll see you there. But until then, thank you all so, so much for listening to this episode and please feel free to join us next week as we take on another very festive topic. Are you ready for that, Andrew? Yeah, I am. I'm really excited to speak more about Christmas movies coming up into the festive season.
00:44:24
Speaker
do you want to give the audience a sneak peek of what they might be expecting? I do think they're ready for that. I think we might need to maybe we'll hint at a little bit of Muppets action and Muppets Christmas Carol. And have we got anything else in the pipeline? I can't remember. No, I think that's up.
00:44:40
Speaker
Yeah, we're hoping to do a Muppets Christmas Carol episode very soon, so please stay tuned for that. Yeah, it will be the season to be very jolly enjoyous, and yeah, we'll see you next week for some Muppets festive fun. Until then, thank you all so so much for listening, stay safe, stay awesome, and most importantly, stay hydrated.