History WesternAnimation / Klaus2019

* SchmuckBait: Jesper is genuinely surprised that the town didn't come out in force to greet their newly-assigned Postmaster - so Mogens eagerly points out the bell in the square, telling Jesper he just needs to ring it to bring everyone out.

* PeekABangs: The Krum boy who received the first present from Klaus has these falling over his left eye.

* NorseByNorseWest: The general cultural tone of the entire movie is Scandinavian, based on the Scandinavian surnames (at least Johanssen), the Sami populace (common in northernmost areas of Norway and Sweden), and "Royal" as part of the postal service (all Scandinavian countries except Finland have a royal family and monarchical rule).

* ReassignedToAntarctica: Jesper being sent to Smeerensburg is a North Pole example of this trope.
* ReconcileTheBitterFoes:

* CycleOfVirtue: The moral of Klaus is "a true selfless act always sparks another". When Klaus has Jesper deliver his stock of handmade toys to the town's children, Jesper ends up convincing them that good behavior will get them more toys. This causes the kids from the Krums and the Ellingboes to ignore their family's ancient feud and start working together. This behavior starts to rub off on their parents, and soon Smeerensburg slowly, but surely, improves for the better.

* JerkToNiceGuyPlot: Jesper's character arc is all about this. He starts out as a spoiled, egotistical brat who only wants to deliver letters in Smeerensburg to get out of there as soon as possible. However, thanks to Klaus' influence, he slowly grows to genuinely care about the town's citizens and decides to stay there in order to help Klaus deliver presents to the children.
** All (or at least most) of Smeerensburg also goes through this plot, thanks to Jesper's actions. Best demonstrated by the Ellingboe children harvesting the berries for a Krum woman (instead of stealing them). Angry about being indebted to an Ellingboe, she makes jam and gives it to the children's mother, who retaliates by making her a pie, at which point the two become friendly and are the first adults to put aside the feud.

* NeverTrustATrailer: The first official trailer makes Jesper seem good-natured and idealistic, while he's [[SpoiledBrat definitely]] [[ItsAllAboutMe not]] any of that at the start of the movie itself.

* NoPronunciationGuide: Jesper's name is pronounced in two ways:
** With a hard "J" (as the "J" in "jazz"), which is used by almost every character.
** Postmaster General Johanssen pronounces it with a soft "J" (as the "Y" in "yes"), which is more accurate to any Scandinavian language.

* WintryAuroralSky: There is a shot towards the end showing Klaus and Jesper with their presents on a steamboat and a bright aurora borealis lighting up the night sky behind them.

* JustInTime: At the end of the ChaseScene, Jesper stops the runaway sled right before the drop.

* TeeteringOnTheEdge: The climactic ChaseScene ends with Klaus' sled teetering over the edge of a cliff. The presents fall off thanks to Mrs. Krum, but TheReveal shows [[spoiler:they were fakes after all]].

* AluminumChristmasTrees: Smeerensburg is based on a Dutch/Danish whaling post from the 1600s in northern Svalbard called Smeerenburg.

* AnAesop: As Klaus says himself, "A true selfless act always sparks another".

* AnAesop: As Klaus says himself, "A true selfless act always sparks another".

* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: Krums have black hair and dress in cool greens and blues, while Ellingboes have red hair and dress in warm browns and reds. Notably, people outside the feud, like Jesper, Alva and the Saami, are blonds, and the Saami wear vibrant reds and blues and are far happier than the townsfolk.

* NeverLearnedToRead: Thanks to the FeudingFamilies refusing to let their children go to school due to a dislike of of their children "mingling" together in the same place, most of the children from both families are illiterate. Jesper eventually has to redirect them to Alva to teach them how to read and write, which in turn allows him to collect more letters.

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: One of the most [[{{Reconstruction}} glorious]] [[InvertedTrope inversions]] ever. Jesper has no intention to do anything other than deliver 6,000 letters, leave the perpetually feuding hell-hole of Smeerensburg, and go home to a life of luxury. In pursuit of this goal, he unwittingly steals a child's drawing (depicting how unhappy said child is) and takes it all the way to a reclusive mourning toymaker (Klaus) who then delivers a mechanical frog to the unhappy kid, leading to all the other kids wanting to send letters to Klaus in exchange for toys, [[spoiler: which makes them happier children than before that are willing to play with each other regardless of the feud.]] Furthermore, Jesper refuses to take any message other than letters, excluding the kids who don't know how to write [[spoiler: and then slyly suggests they go to Alva's school, prompting the children to seek the education their parents have denied them.]] Jesper then does an act of spite against a bully that targeted him earlier in the movie, [[spoiler: replacing the present with a lump of coal and making up the naughty list myth when the bully tries to retaliate, prompting all the other children present to behave better lest they get coal instead of presents too. The children's quest to be well-behaved spirals out of control until it infects the adults and by the time Jesper's personal goal is looking realistic, Smeerensburg has become a nearly idyllic paradise and he ''hasn't noticed''.]]

* SpannerInTheWorks: [[spoiler:The Krums and Ellingboes would've been successful at destroying the presents ''if'' it hadn't been for Alva learning about the plan from her students.]]

-->--'''Klaus'''

''Klaus'' is a 2019 animated Christmas film directed by Sergio Pablos (best known for creating the ''Franchise/DespicableMe'' franchise, and as the supervising animator of [[WesternAnimation/TreasurePlanet Dr. Delbert Doppler]] and [[WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}} Tantor]]) which serves as an [[JustSoStory origin story]] for SantaClaus. It's the first feature film to be produced by Pablos's homegrown studio, Sergio Pablos Animation[[note]]Not to be confused with the other animation studio who's initials are [[Creator/SonyPicturesAnimation SPA]].[[/note]] in Madrid and stars the voices of Creator/JasonSchwartzman, Creator/JKSimmons, Creator/RashidaJones, Creator/JoanCusack, Creator/WillSasso and Creator/NormMacDonald.

** Another blink-and-you'll-miss-it example is when Jesper is walking into through Klaus's house for the first time he passes his light through a shelf filled with toys. At the end of the shot, the light is still espoused on one of them: a wind-up frog toy. This wind-up frog toy would end up becoming the first gift Klaus wraps up and sends to a child not long after, leading to other kids sending letters to Klaus.

** Mogens at one point pokes his head through the window of Jesper's office to verbally torment him, as the latter failed to deliver a single letter since he came. Flowing through the open window, a gust of wind blows the folded-over corner of Jesper's shabby map of Smeerensburg. Using a broom, he flattens the corner, revealing an isolated structure on the far corner of the island, which Mogens explains to be the home of the woodsman (Klaus) and dares Jasper to visit him. Jasper brings the Krum kid's drawing he took with him, which Klaus discovers while driving him out, prompting him to gift the kid with the frog toy. Had Mogens not open the window, the movie would be a lot shorter.

** All (or at least most) of Smeerensburg also goes through this plot, thanks to Jesper's actions. Best demonstrated by the Ellingboe children harvesting the berries for a Krum woman (instead of stealing them). Angry about being indebted to a Ellingboe, she makes jam and gives it to the children's mother, who retaliates by making her a pie, at which point the two become friendly and are the first adults to put aside the feud.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Most of the mystical elements of the Santa Claus myth are explained during the movie, such as the flying sleigh pulled by reindeer instead being witnessed by a child in the middle of a crash or the naughty list being made on the spot by Jesper to take revenge on a brat. But there are elements that seem to imply that some real magic is at work, such as the wind acting as Klaus' deceased wife, Lydia, to guide him into helping Jesper's plot or the old man himself disappearing into the snow to seemingly [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence become the true Santa Claus]]. However, there is no definite proof of magic given in the movie: the wind could very well just be wind that the sad old man interprets as his wife talking to him from beyond the grave and Klaus himself could have simply disappeared into the woods to [[FridgeHorror freeze to death, his corpse never to be found]]. Even Jesper comment about being able to see his friend every Christmas might be a symbolic way to allude to the tradition of Santa Claus living on long after the old man's death.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Most of the mystical elements of the Santa Claus myth are explained during the movie, such as the flying sleigh pulled by reindeers instead being witnessed by a child in the middle of a crash or the naughty list being made on the spot by Jesper to take revenge on a brat. But there are elements that seem to imply that some real magic is at work, such as the wind acting as Klaus' deceased wife, Lydia, to guide him into helping Jesper's plot or the old man himself disappearing into the snow to seemingly [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence become the true Santa Claus]]. However, there is no definite proof of magic given in the movie: the wind could very well just be wind that the sad old man interprets as his wife talking to him from beyond the grave and Klaus himself could have simply disappeared into the woods to [[FridgeHorror freeze to death, his corpse never to be found]]. Even Jesper comment about being able to see his friend every Christmas might be a symbolic way to allude to the tradition of Santa Claus living on long after the old man's death.

* PicturePerfectPresentation: The scene that shows Jesper traveling to see Klaus is kicked off by a zoom up on the map which then slowly transitions to him on the mountain path in his coach.

* ReflexiveResponse: PlayedForLaughs as, when the FeudingFamilies call a temporary truce to join up and get Jesper out of town [[{{Irony}} so they can resume the feud]], Pumpkin accidentally pulls the Battle Bell's cord... causing both groups to instantly start brawling.

** When he watches the little boy play with the little wind-up frog Jesper delivered, Klaus removes his hood as his gentler nature comes into light.

** When looking for a location to set his story in, the director investigated for the most northern settlements in the world; that's how he found Smeerenburg, a whaling outpost in the Svalbard archipielago in the Arctic sea. This gave the film a clear setting and some hints of Norway's culture are shown throughout the film such as the Sámi people being featured prominently and other small details like the traditional Scandinavian box beds the children sleep in during the epilogue. To boot, the real Smeerenburg was a whaling colony - in Smeerensburg, the skeleton of a whale hangs close to the ferry dock.

* StealthPun: [[spoiler:The decorative shelf Klaus made for he and Lydia's future children is carved from the heart of a tree. It's his [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments family tree]].]]

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: One of the most [[{{Reconstruction}} glorious]] [[InvertedTrope inversions]] ever. Jesper has no intention to do anything other than deliver 6,000 letters, leave the perpetually feuding hell-hole of Smeerensburg, and go home to a life of luxury. In pursuit of this goal, he unwittingly steals a child's drawing (depicting how unhappy said-child is) and takes it all the way to a reclusive mourning toymaker (Klaus) who then delivers a mechanical frog to the unhappy kid, leading to all the other kids wanting to send letters to Klaus in exchange for toys, [[spoiler: which makes them happier children than before that are willing to play with each other regardless of the feud.]] Furthermore, Jesper refuses to take any message other than letters, excluding the kids who don't know how to write [[spoiler: and then slyly suggests they go to Alva's school, prompting the children to seek the education their parents have denied them.]] Jesper then does an act of spite against a bully that targeted him earlier in the movie, [[spoiler: replacing the present with a lump of coal and making up the naughty list myth when the bully tries to retaliate, prompting all the other children present to behave better lest they get coal instead of presents too. The childrens' quest to be well-behaved spirals out of control until it infects the adults and by the time Jesper's personal goal is looking realistic, Smeerensburg has become a nearly idyllic paradise and he ''hasn't noticed''.]]

** Despite spending the majority of the movie as Mrs. Krum's DumbMuscle henchman, [[spoiler:Olaf goes out of his way to save Pumpkin from falling off the cliff, which causes the two to fall in love]].

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Jesper and Klaus continue working together, making and sending toys, but as the years go by, Klaus grows old and eventually joins his wife in the afterlife, and is implied to be continuing his tradition of Christmas gift deliveries. The last scene is Jesper, now a father, quietly waiting in the living room by the fire on Christmas Eve, a tray of cookies and two glasses of milk poured, because "Once a year... that's when I get to see my friend" as sleigh bells ring... and the credits roll.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Jesper and Klaus continue working together, making and sending toys, but as the years go by, Klaus grows old and eventually joins his wife in the afterlife, and is implied to be continuing his tradition of Christmas gift deliveries. The last scene is Jesper, now a father, quietly waiting in the living room by the fire on Christmas Eve night, because that's when he "gets to see his friend." And then the sound of bells rings.]]

* SchmuckBait: Jesper is genuinely surprised that the town didn't come out in force to greet their newly-assigned Postmaster - so Mogens eagerly points out the bell in the square, telling Jesper he just needs to ring it [[TechnicallyAccurate to bring everyone out]].

* SchmuckBait: Jesper is genuinely surprised that the town didn't come out in force to greet their newly-assigned Postmaster - so Mo