Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1192296
w i n t e r 2 0 1 9 c g w 2 3 T he holidays are all about tradition. And that extends to the beloved animated Christmas films and TV specials. Indeed, there are a number of 3D animated favorites, but the ones that have truly warmed our hearts are the hand-drawn and stop-motion classics. This season, Amazon is releasing a brand-new hand-animated Christmas tale sure to fill audiences with holiday cheer this year and, likely, for years to come. Klaus, craed by Sergio Pablos Animation (SPA) Studios in Madrid, tells a timeless tale of transformation, where selflessness overcomes selfishness, all through a touching story. Klaus weaves together familiar holiday threads – letters to Santa, toys for good little girls and boys, reindeer, stockings hung by the fireplace, a remote northern locale, and more – into a terrific tapestry unlike any we've seen before. Written and directed by Sergio Pablos, Klaus is SPA Studios' first full-length feature film, although the facility has been providing animation, content and visual development, character design, and storyboarding services since its founding by Pablos in 2004. Klaus tells the story of a spoiled, entitled postal student named Jesper, who is exiled to the far northern outpost of Smeerens- burg, the "unhappiest place on earth," where he has one last chance to prove himself to his father, the postmaster general. If he successfully stamps by his own hand 6,000 letters in one year, he can return to his more comfortable lifestyle back home. Alas, the endeavor is even more compli- cated than Jesper can imagine; the village has been without a postman for a long time, run out of town by the residents, whose clans are constantly at odds. But, they do have one thing in common: Neither side is happy with Jesper's presence (or, initially, his presents). Despite a cold welcome, Jesper sets up shop and hatches a plan to accom- plish his seemingly impossible postal goal so he can leave Smeerensburg forever. Jesper then meets Klaus, a lonely man of few words living deep in the woods with a house full of toys he has made over the years. If Jesper can encourage the children of Smeerensburg to write letters asking for toys…. There's one more problem, though. The children have not attended school in quite some time and cannot write, and the teacher, Alva, has turned to fishmongering to earn enough money so she can leave town, too. Jesper persuades her to return to the classroom, now full of eager students. He also persuades Klaus to continue toy- making. Happiness begins to fill the homes and hearts of Smeerensburg, except for the leaders of the two warring clans, who unite against their new common enemy – the postman – to stop his distribution of toys in hopes of returning the children to their mis- erable old selves once and for all. Will Jesper succumb as well? To tell this tale, Pablos opted to use tra- ditional hand-drawn animation (2D), which gave the film a more organic quality. For some time, he had been waiting for some- one to make a hand-drawn animated film again, but no one did (outside of indepen- dent foreign filmmakers). One of the few still working professionally as a 2D animator, and the fact that he had his own studio, Pablos was uniquely positioned to do so. Pablos honed his animation skills by working on many Disney 2D classics: The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Tarzan, Hercules, and Treasure Planet, to name a few. Then, as animation shied toward CGI, Pablos embraced the new medium, seeing it as one more method of animation. Later, he co-cre- SPA STUDIOS IN MADRID CRAFTED A CHRISTMAS-THEMED FEATURE FILM THAT IS TRADITIONALLY HAND ANIMATED. THE MOVIE DEBUTED ON NETFLIX.