Christmas. Celebration of family, of love, of ‘Oh, I didn’t know we were giving each other something!’. And of course a holiday season with its very own films, most of which revolve around a very special legendary figure turn. About the man with a penchant for flying even-toed ungulates and impractical carrying utensils: Santa Claus.
The man in red recently hit the cinema again. Red One – Christmas Alert with Dwayne Johnson features all the familiar motifs on anabolic steroids – from the big man, played by JK Simmons, to snowmen himself. Of course, the lovable, gentle and more harmless versions also exist. Kris Kringle in The Miracle of Manhattan, for example. Or the overwhelmed Tim Allen version in Santa Clause – A Nice Present.
For me, there are a few sweet or subversive versions of Santa in all the real-life Christmas vehicles. But if I’m honest, in the end there can only be one. Or let’s say, a really big one with tough competition. And all of my favorites have one thing in common:
They have to be animated. Why? Take a drink, sit by the fire with me and listen.
Santa Claus, Christmas magic and animation simply belong together
Christmas is a magical time. There is a certain magic in the air. When you enter a Christmas market, you decorate your apartment – everything is bursting with things Handicrafts. Carved incense smokers, straw stars, hand-drawn candles. No Advent calendar can do without a beautifully painted front. Not to mention glittering tree decorations.
At Christmas we get that childlike view of a world in which we want to decorate everything with a brush and stick glitter everywhere. We can and want to let off steam artistically and decorativelymake everything more beautiful and take everyday life to a new level. Animated films do this too. Just with films.
They turn familiar stories back into the Picture bookswhich we used to read with cocoa-smeared smiles. Only with the great bonus that these images now also move. At the same time, the smartest representatives can get so much more out of characters like Santa Claus.
Animated Santas are cooler, look better and can do more
The incredible artistic work that goes into a good animated film – be it hand-drawn, beautifully dynamic 3D animated or stop-motion – opens the door for awesome, unique Santa Claus designs. Here the literal character drawing itself can bring out the personality and speak for itself.
The Keepers of the Light is with his Santa Claus called “North”. almost my favorite Santa version of all time. At the same time warm, soft and cuddly and consisting of 50% muscular, tattooed arms, Slavic motifs are combined with Western identification figures pure, childlike enthusiasm tied together.
North’s look and animation make him a father figure, a mythical warrior, a blubbering toy fan and a guardian of the naive wonder that we adults so easily lose. Nobody could portray this completely differently proportioned, overly dynamic figure in real life. The animation alone can do it magic capture.
In the stop-motion area, on the other hand, filmmakers have two completely different options: on the one hand, animals, elves and people seem like loved ones, toys come to life – a child’s dream come true. This means that the protagonists in Red Robin or Rudolph with the Red Nose can be fluffy and cuddly.
Or… on the other hand, you take advantage of the fact that animated dolls can also seem really scary. Christmas grouch can enjoy the grotesque dark side of stop motion with this form of animation. Wannabe Santa Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas turns the holidays into a nightmare version. And in the Love, Death & Robots post Gift giving it will be truly evil.
In the end, there can only be one true Santa Claus – and he broke my heart
If only North, of whom I have already sung my praises, only almost My favorite animated Santa Claus is – who is she? Number 1? The answer is: Klaus. The Santa Claus who had yet to become Santa Claus.
The 2019 Spanish Netflix film Klaus gives Santa a twisted, absurd, but wonderful origin story. About a small, desperate settlement that can believe in a future again thanks to two unexpected heroes. And about a character whose fate is mine heartbroken in the best way has.
I don’t just love Klaus because his team of artists has developed their own 2D drawing style. This makes his world look like a mixture nostalgic romance and modern ideas (honestly, watch the insider documentary because the attention to detail is breathtaking). The light of the film alone magically attracts me like candlelight attracts my childhood self.
I don’t just love Klaus because he uses grotesqueness and black humor loving messages about empathy, loss and community mixes. And not just for the wonderfully exaggerated, bear-like, hard-shell, soft-core design of the titular not-quite-yet-Santa Claus.
I love Klaus above all because he embraces a character who is now often kitschy, cartoonish and has been taken over by commerce and pop culture and gives her the
humanity returns. That he gives Santa “Klaus” a kernel of truth. That without any magic tricks he gives it a real magic that comes from shared hope. And in the most artful, tangible way.
More Christmas films that are really worth it:
So if you only watch one movie for Christmas this year: Look Klaus. It can be streamed with a Netflix subscription and, unlike the new Amazon blockbuster Red One, it doesn’t take two hours to completely enchant you. Klaus will move you to the most honest tears a film can evoke.