NetflixNetflix have upped their game in recent times creating their own original shows and movies, but their recent Christmas movie Klaus is definitely one of their best yet.
I’m sure I’m not the only person who feels like they’ve lost half of their life scrolling through Netflix trying to find a film to watch, but look no further my friends because this is a definitely must watch this festive season.
I’ll admit, I wasn’t massively interested in Klaus when watching the preview of it that Netflix gives, but with it being so ‘critically acclaimed’ I thought I would give it a go. Ten minutes in, I was completely hooked – and apparently so were millions of other people too.
You can watch the trailer here:
According to data given to Reuters, the festive film has been viewed across 30 million households worldwide in its first month of release, making it one of the streaming service’s most watched original movies.
Netflix classes it as a ‘view’ if 70% of the film has been seen, showing I’m not the only one who couldn’t take my eyes off the screen.
The synopsis given by Netflix of Klaus reads:
When Jesper (Jason Schwartzman) distinguishes himself as the postal academy’s worst student, he is stationed on a frozen island above the Arctic Circle, where the feuding locals hardly exchange words let alone letters. Jesper is about to give up when he finds an ally in local teacher Alva (Rashida Jones), and discovers Klaus (Oscar® winner J.K. Simmons), a mysterious carpenter who lives alone in a cabin full of handmade toys.
These unlikely friendships return laughter to Smeerensburg, forging a new legacy of generous neighbors, magical lore and stockings hung by the chimney with care. An animated holiday comedy directed by Despicable Me co-creator Sergio Pablos, KLAUS co-stars Joan Cusack, Will Sasso and Norm Macdonald.
Netflix Basically, the movie cleverly gives the creation of Santa Claus a completely new story and new meaning – something not many people would be able to do successfully and/or this well.
The heart-warming film has great reviews across the board, with Digital Spy calling it the ‘the Christmas movie you need this year’ and Rotten Tomatoes giving it 93%.
Writer and Director of the film Sergios Pablos told Digital Spy that some studios actually passed on the movie before Netflix decided to take it on.
NetflixPablos said:
After eight months of shopping the project around, the possibility that it might not happen was very real for a while. To my surprise, the fact that it was a Christmas film was the big hiccup.
I actually thought that was one of its strengths, but it turns out most studios did not want to compete in the very crowded holiday marketplace. Thankfully, Netflix was thinking in very different parameters.
We’re super thankful to Netflix too.
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Niamh Shackleton is a pint sized person and journalist at UNILAD. After studying Multimedia Journalism at the University of Salford, she did a year at Caters News Agency as a features writer in Birmingham before deciding that Manchester is (arguably) one of the best places in the world, and therefore moved back up north. She’s also UNILAD’s unofficial crazy animal lady.