Klaus (film)

Jesper Johansson, the lazy, spoiled son of the Royal Postmaster General, has been trying to flunk out of the postman academy, but his father sends him to the distant town of Smeerensburg. If Jesper fails to post 6,000 letters within a year, he will be cut off from his family's fortune. Arriving in the bleak, snowy town of Smeerensburg, Jesper meets ferryman Mogens and teacher turned fishmonger Alva, who explain that Smeerensburg is home to the perpetually warring Ellingboe and Krum clans.

Desperate for letters, Jesper attempts to mail a young Krum boy's drawing. He later visits the reclusive woodsman Klaus and discovers his house is filled with handmade toys, but flees from the imposing woodsman, leaving behind the sad drawing. Klaus forces Jesper to take him to the boy's house and secretly deliver one of his toys- a wooden pull-string frog. Word spreads to other children, who hope to receive toys by sending Klaus letters. Jesper, eager to collect letters, convinces Klaus to let him deliver more toys. The Krum boy's wooden pull-string frog leads him to play with an Ellingboe girl, much to their clans’ outrage. Tammy Krum and Aksel Ellingboe each explain and show their families' histories of war and hatred, which have gone on since Prehistoric times, and find out that it was Jesper Johansson and Klaus who delivered the Krum boy the wooden pull-string frog.

The myth of Klaus grows among the town's children as Jesper delivers toys through their chimneys at night, prompting more and more children to write letters to Klaus. Jesper sends those who cannot write to be taught by Alva, who reopens her school with the money she was saving to leave Smeerensburg, and Klaus and Jesper tame a team of reindeer to pull their cart of toys. After Jesper leaves coal in the stocking of a young bully, the boy confronts Jesper, who declares Klaus only gives toys to good children and tracks all of their misbehaviors with a "Naughty List". This leads the children to perform acts of kindness throughout the town, inspiring the townsfolk to end their ancient disputes.

Unwilling to end the feud, clan elders Tammy Krum and Aksel Ellingboe attempt to sabotage Jesper and Klaus, resulting in the postal cart losing its wheels and sailing over the town; this leads the children to believe that Klaus has “a flying sleigh pulled by magic reindeer”. With Jesper's deadline approaching and Klaus beginning to run out of toys, Jesper tries persuading him to make more in time for Christmas, but after Jesper uncovers an alcove with a wooden display and figurines of a man and a woman, evidently a personal secret from Klaus' past that he'd kept hidden for years, Klaus pushes him away. They reconcile while building a sled for a Sámi girl named Márgu, and Klaus tells Jesper about his late wife Lydia, explaining he made the toys for the children they never had. He agrees to help Jesper with his Christmas plan, joined by Márgu and the people from her settlement, who give Klaus a traditional red suit. Alva shows Jesper how the town has flourished, making him consider staying in Smeerensburg.

The Krum and Ellingboe elders form a temporary truce and discover Jesper's deadline, and post 14,000 letters to rid themselves of the postman. On Christmas Eve, the Postmaster General arrives to congratulate his son, inadvertently revealing Jesper's initially selfish intentions and turning his friends against him. Before they leave town, Mogens notices Jesper's dismay, prompting Jesper's father to inquire; Jesper reveals everything, and his father declares he is finally proud of him and allows him to stay in Smeerensburg.

The elders arrive to destroy the Christmas toys, and Jesper tries to stop them. In the ensuing chase, Mr. Ellingboe's daughter and Mrs. Krum's son fall in love, while all the gifts in Klaus’ bag are sent over a cliff. Alva and Klaus reveal the town's children informed them of the elders' plot, and they replaced the bag of toys with decoys. A redeemed Jesper delivers the presents with Klaus, and the marriage of the Krum and Ellingboe children forces the clan elders to begrudgingly end their feud.

Jesper marries Alva and raises two children, and for the next eleven years he and Klaus deliver presents on Christmas in Smeerensburg and beyond. On the twelfth year, Klaus follows wisps of wind – which had guided him when he first met Jesper – and disappears, implicitly joining his departed wife. Jesper explains his Christmas tradition: waiting by the fireplace to see Klaus, whose spirit delivers toys to children around the world as the legend of "Santa Claus".

• Jason Schwartzman as Jesper Johansson, a postman who befriends Klaus and helps bring much-needed happiness to Smeerensburg, while getting accustomed to a life outside of his comfort zone.
• J. K. Simmons as Klaus (Santa Claus), an initially-reclusive woodsman who makes toys.
  • Simmons also voices Drill Sarge, the assistant head of the Johansson family's postal department who works under the Royal Postmaster General (uncredited).
• Rashida Jones as Alva, a teacher turned fishmonger who becomes Jesper's love interest.
• Will Sasso as Mr. Aksel Ellingboe, the clan patriarch carrying on an ancient feud of his clan with the Krums.
• Norm Macdonald as Mogens, the sarcastic ferryman of Smeerensburg who enjoys humor that comes at others' expense.
• Neda Margrethe Labba as Márgu, a young Sami girl who becomes well-acquainted with Jesper despite their language barrier.
• Sergio Pablos as:
  • Olaf, Mrs. Krum's imposing son who does not speak, but communicates using inhuman sounds.
  • Pumpkin, Mr. Ellingboe's pampered, also imposing daughter whose only word is "mine".
• Joan Cusack as Mrs. Tammy Krum, the clan matriarch carrying on an ancient feud of her clan with the Ellingboes.
• Reiulf Aleksandersen and Sara Margrethe Oksal as adult Sami voices.
• Sam McMurray (uncredited) as The Postmaster General, Jesper's father, and The Headmaster of The Royal Post Academy, who sends Jesper to Smeerensburg.

Additional children voices provided by Evan Agos, Sky Alexis, Jaeden Bettencourt, Teddy Blum, Mila Brener, Sydney Brower, Finn Carr, Kendall Joy Hall, Hayley Hermida, Lexie Holland, Brooke Huckeba, Matthew McCann, Tucker Meek, Leo Miller, Joaquin Obradors, Víctor Pablos, Lucian Perez, Bailey Rae Fenderson, Maximus Riegel, Emma Shannon, Ayden Soria, Sunday Sturz, Hudson West, Gordon Wilcox, Emma Yarovinskiy, and Julian Zane.

Additional adult voices provided by Brad Abrell, Catherine Cavadini, Bill Chott, Daniel Crook, Brian Finney, Stephen Hughes, Neil Kaplan, Sam McMurray, Amanda Philipson, Alyson Reed, Dee Dee Rescher, Dwight Schultz, Lloyd Sherr, Helen Slayton-Hughes, and Travis Willingham.

After setting up his own animation studio in Madrid, Spain, director Sergio Pablos, who had worked on Disney Renaissance films such as Aladdin, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, and Tarzan, decided to develop a new traditionally-animated feature film. Pablos wanted to explore how the medium would have evolved had western animation film studios not switched to producing mostly computer animated films since the 1990s. For the film's look, the studio sought to overcome some of the technical limitations that traditional animation had, focusing on organic and volumetric lighting and texturing to give the film a unique look, while maintaining a hand-crafted feel. Proprietary tools from Les films du Poisson Rouge, a French company in Angoulême, were used to allow the team to produce a variety of visual development styles, with the aim of getting away from the standardized style of "characters looking like stickers put on painted backgrounds."[4][5] Fellow Disney animator James Baxter, known for Beauty and the Beast, also worked on the film.[6]

The first teaser for the project was released in April 2015; at the time, the studio was seeking investment, co-production, and distribution partners. It was shopped around to various studios, but most studios rejected the movie viewing it as "too risky."[7] In November 2017, Netflix announced that they had acquired the global rights to Klaus; at the same time, the casting of Schwartzman, Jones, Simmons, and Cusack was announced along with a Christmas 2019 release date.[8] In March 2019, it was reported that Netflix was planning an Oscar-qualifying run for Klaus in theaters, and it was listed as one of ten films Netflix was negotiating with chains to give limited releases prior to their online debuts that August.[9][10] The film's release date was announced, alongside the debut of an official trailer, on 7 October.

The film is dedicated to animator and scene checker Mary Lescher who died on 2 June 2019 of cancer. She had worked on Klaus, as well as other animated features such as Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King.

Pablos said Smeerensburg is a deliberate misspelling of Smeerenburg, a former Dutch and Norwegian whaling station in the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard.[11]

Klaus was released theatrically in select theaters on 8 November 2019, and was released digitally through Netflix on 15 November.[12] It is the first original animated feature film to appear on Netflix.[13] In January 2020, Netflix reported the film was watched by 40 million members over its first four weeks of release.[14]

"Invisible" by Zara Larsson and "How You Like Me Now?" by The Heavy are featured in the film.[13] The song "High Hopes" by Panic! at the Disco is featured in the trailer.

• Official website
• Klaus on Netflix
• Klaus at IMDb 
• Klaus at AllMovie