Heartwarming / Klaus (2019)

A true act of good will, always sparks another.

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• The first little boy smiling and giggling with his new toy, an adorable pull-string frog. Later on when he's playing with it, his toy leads him to an Ellingboe girl living next door. Moments later, they're playing with the toy together until they're spotted by their parents.
  • The poignant yet kind look in Klaus's eyes when he watches the boy play with his toy, dropping his hood for the first time so he can see better. Becomes even more heartwarming (and sadder) when one realizes the context: this is his second-hand way of experiencing the joy of bestowing his toys to the children he never had.
  • Also, Klaus returning the little boy's drawing to him, if not in person.
• Márgu herself is just a precious bundle of sunshine and sweetness, who eventually befriends Jesper even though he doesn't understand any Saami. It's likely that she doesn't understand him either, but she still enjoys talking to him and clearly thinks he's funny.
  • She gradually becomes his Morality Chain through the simple act of listening whenever they have a conversation. She may not understand what Jesper is saying, but one gets the feeling she isn't judgmental of Jesper's motives and is willing to lend an ear.
  • Jesper brings Márgu over to Alva so that she can help the girl write a letter to Klaus. Alva's no more proficient in Saami than Jesper is, but the three nonetheless have a fun time in composing the letter.
  • Once they finish the letter, Márgu gives Jesper a big hug, joyful that he finally listened to her and that she can get a toy like the rest of the kids. Jesper looks up to Alva, slightly disarmed, and she calmly looks back with a "Yep, feels good, doesn't it?" look in her eyes.
  • Márgu is the only one trying to get Jesper to stay after his previous intentions were revealed. She has to be taken inside by her father as she tries to call out for Jesper.
    • She later runs to the docks to try and keep Jesper from leaving - luckily, he'd already opted to stay put.
  • After Klaus disappears in the epilogue, Jesper is shown visiting Márgu's family to tell them, with Márgu herself now a teenager. A Freeze-Frame Bonus of her family's hut shows what appears to be the sled Klaus and Jesper made for her, which she's still kept all these years. When they both realise what's happened she and Jesper share a silent, comforting embrace.
  • Fridge-Heartwarming: One gets the feeling that Jesper owes her for his experience with kids. You can see it in his kind, fatherly treatment towards his children that he had practice from his friendship with Márgu.
• The montage where Jesper overhears the children speak praises of Klaus and his toys. None of them can refute that Klaus's toys are the best!
  • At one point during the montage, we see the children wake up to find their presents. There's something incredibly sweet about watching the children's reactions as they see their presents appear in the morning as if by magic.
  • Although Jesper's Rump Roast is funny unto itself, look at what Klaus is doing while this is happening. He's reading the letters the children sent to him. Awww!
  • The montage goes over the kids talking about the magical things that Klaus can do, only for Jesper to flashback to the (often painful) way he accomplished it. You start to get the idea that Jesper's jealousy towards Klaus's fame will make him resent Klaus or even come forward about how he does the heavy-lifting. But instead, he doesn't destroy the illusion and comes to enjoy the mysticism that's growing around his and Klaus's deeds. Heck, he even comes to bond with Klaus by telling him about it.
• Seeing the children clean up Smeerensberg and doing good deeds with their families following suit. Although Jesper believes they're just doing it for the presents, there's a sense that the children are doing the good deeds earnestly.
  • The little boy's father (from the Krum side) seemingly sets off to fix the hole in his fence. ...only to build a playfort and tear down the fence so his son can play with his Ellingboe friends. You can tell their good deed to nurse him back to health after he broke his foot was not in vain. He and the Ellingboe mother are later seen walking side-by-side with their gathered children during the festival, hinting that they may have become an Official Couple while the audience wasn't looking.
  • While it started off begrudgingly, the Krum woman and the Ellingboe mother are eventually on friendlier terms where the former is warmly invited into the latter's home.
  • One Ellingboe boy polishing his dad's old clarinet. The father is rather surprised to see his clarinet in good condition. The next time he joins the other Ellingboes in trying to be noisy to the Krums, he plays it more passionately, causing them all to stop. Later on, this leads to both sides playing their instruments, not to be noisy and rude, but to play together as a band.
  • All the while during the montage, Alva gradually fixing the school using her savings, growing more invested in being a teacher to the children of Smeerensburg like she had wanted.
• Even though she'd been planning to leave for years, Alva's miserable outlook on Smeerensburg takes a 180 when the illiterate children in town come to her to learn how to write, and soon express genuine excitement about school after learning to write their own names. She cleans the schoolhouse (and herself) up, and absolutely flourishes as a teacher.
  • Just the way the children find genuine joy in learning to write their own names. It may seem like such a small thing, but to them, they earnestly want to know what their names look like in writing. The look in her eyes when she sees her new-found students eager for this knowledge subtly hints what she's thinking.
    Annelise: Really? That's my name?
    Alva: Yes, yay, it's your name.
    Annelise: Wow... can you teach me more?! Please? (The other children join in, eagerly asking Alva to help them learn)
  • Fridge-Heartwarming: This marks the turning point where the children go from coming to school for the sake of writing letters so they can ask Klaus for a toy to learning because they want to.
  • Take a look at the drawings she hangs around the classroom later: a few of them show the kids giving Jesper their letters.
• After latching the reindeer to the wagon, Jesper and Klaus are overjoyed by the newly granted speed. Both of them try to be professional about it, but it's clear they are bonding over the experience as friends.
• The beautiful score that plays when one little boy mistakenly believes he saw Klaus's reindeer and sleigh magically fly through the air. Even unwittingly, Klaus and Jesper managed to make one kid's childhood a little more memorable and magical.
• When Jesper hears Klaus laugh for the first time, he's initially surprised that that's how he laughs, but then tries to hear it again. The way he tries shows how close the two have become, as opposed to the beginning when Jesper acted timidly around Klaus.
  Jesper: Oh, no, no, no, you don't get off that easily. Let me hear it again.
  Klaus: No.
  Jesper: Come on, just a little giggle? Or-or a chuckle?
  Klaus: (somewhat amused) Keep trying, see what happens.
  Jesper: Okay, I'll stop. (beat) Hey, you ever hear the one about the one-legged man who walked into a bar?
• Although it's sad unto itself, Jesper happening upon the decorative shelf of the family Klaus and his wife never had, and feeling remorse for it shows he's not bereft of heart. He's starting to understand that Klaus isn't someone to exploit for his scheme to get out of Smeerensburg, but a man with a past. He even later mentions during a conversation with Márgu "[Klaus] doesn't deserve this."
• After blowing up at Jesper over him accidentally revealing the shelf he'd made with his late wife, Klaus goes to find Jesper, presumably to apologise, and ultimately comes across him sleeping after a long night of trying to make a toy for Margu. Klaus immediately takes over, and wordlessly gestures for Jesper to join in when he wakes up.
  • It should be noted that Jesper tried to speak up to apologize for his actions, Klaus merely signals for him to focus on making the toy, no doubt having accepted whatever apology he had in store beforehand.
• Jesper and Klaus delivering a sled for Márgu. It's the turning point where Jesper goes from delivering letters and presents out of ulterior motives to genuinely loving the joy it brings people.
  • Jesper initially tried to make the sled himself, even though it's late in the night and he obviously has no idea how to even make one. Nonetheless, Klaus saw the effort that Jesper's put in, and helped him finish it.
  • The way Klaus is happy for Jesper delivering a toy to Márgu, one gets the feeling he sometimes sees Jesper as the son he never had. And in that instant, he couldn't be prouder of him.
  • Jesper's face when Márgu rides her sled. Unlike the previous times where he's delivered presents and quickly left, here he stays and sees her reaction.
    • His actions mirror Klaus' when giving the first gift, as he drops his hood in order to see Márgu's joy better.
  • Later, Klaus comments on Jesper's smile, recognizing Jesper's first time enjoying the good feelings that come with generosity.
• Although it entails a tragic ending, Klaus's backstory on why he made so many toys in his youth is teeming with loving intentions. He made each toy to give to the children he and Lydia wanted to have. Despite his backstory ending with those children never being born, it's too sweet to imagine how readily Klaus would've gifted all those toys to the child that would've been born to him and his wife. If that's an indication of how much they wanted children, one gets the feeling the two would've made fantastic parents.
  • What Klaus says about how they wanted children who would run around and "get into trouble" is sweet, as it implies how unconditionally they would've loved their kids. They didn't have to be perfect, they just had to be a family.
• The implication that Lydia, Klaus' late wife, was a good, kindly woman in life. It's hinted that she and Klaus shared the philosophy "A true selfless act always sparks another", and Klaus continually builds birdhouses because she loved birds. Even after her passing, one gets the feeling her spirit lives on in the mysterious wind that blows through Klaus' home, as though watching over and trying to guide him to live again.
• Klaus deciding to go through with Jesper's Christmas plan with new-found vigor and enthusiasm, recognizing that perhaps it's what Lydia would've wanted.
  • Once Klaus starts to get into the idea of making more toys for Christmas, he even plans on expanding their operations to give toys to more children. Jesper's Character Development slowly shows as he looks visibly heartbroken knowing he's only doing this to get out sooner, but also sounds like he would actually like to see how that idea ends up growing.
  Jesper: (quitely to himself) I may not even be here.
• Alva giving a tour of the newly reformed Smeerensburg, and how it's become a town full of caring neighbors and happy children and warmth. It also doubles as a bonding moment for Alva and Jesper.
  Alva: Not quite the same place, is it?
  • A freeze-frame bonus: one of the spectators looking on is the old man in the rocking chair. For once, he's not being bullied by those Ellingboe children: he's happy.
  • During this tour, we see the little boy still playing with the Ellingboe girl, and we get to see that no harm came to the toy frog that was confiscated earlier.
    • The Krum boy and Ellingboe girl's respective father and mother are following behind, arm in arm, and warmly greet Jesper and Alva on their way. At the very least, they've become friends, but it's not hard to imagine they've started courting.
    • The Krum father addressing Jesper as "Postman Johansen". Not "mister", but "Postman", as though it were a title Jesper earned for all his hard work. As opposed to the rather mocking reception the townsfolk gave him, Jesper has truly earned the respect of Smeerensburg as their own postman.
• The Saami people coming by to repay Klaus for their kindness towards Márgu.
  Jesper: (in awe) A true act of good will, huh?
  Klaus: Always sparks another. Never fails!
• Later, Jesper giving Alva a tour of Klaus's workshop, seeing where all the magic happens that made Smeerensburg what it is. Klaus greets Alva rather nicely, coming a long way from being a gruff hermit.
• The montage of Jesper spending time with Klaus, Alva, Márgu and the Saami people.
  • Klaus surprising Jesper with the newly made reindeer sleigh, which now has both their names carved on the seats, giving the sense that Jesper is his helper.
  • The Saami throwing a celebration, lifting everyone's spirits for the Christmas preparation ahead of them.
  • The once empty decorative shelf that only had Klaus and Lydia being filled with wooden figurines of Jesper, Alva and the entire Saami village. Looks like Klaus got a family after all.
  • Alva resting comfortably with Jesper by a warm fire.
• Tying in to the above, we have Jesper's warm monologues from what he said earlier when he was wondering what he'd do if he was stuck in Smeerensburg. Here's where he realizes this is exactly what he wanted all along:
  Jesper: (with bemused warmth) What am I supposed to do, huh? Stay in this little town forever. Hanging out with an old woodsman, surrounded by crazy people, and never wanting anything more.
• The Saami people gifting Klaus with a custom-made Saami outfit, colored the trademark jolly red we are all familiar with. It perfectly brings every Santa Claus lore being brought to life in this movie full circle.
• At one point, Jesper's father comes to take him home, even though Jesper doesn't want to leave. As the boat they're leaving on pulls away, Márgu comes up to the dock, calling for her friend. She starts to cry...until we see Jesper sitting on the dock!
  Jesper: Cheer up, little one. I think I may have missed my boat.
  • They then spend the next few scenes cheerfully talking to one another again, and it's clear that they're both happy he decided to stay in Smeerensburg.
• Jesper choosing to stay in Smeerensburg when given a chance to go home.
  • His father recognizes how much the town has changed his boy for the better, and once Jesper explains everything to him, he tells his son that he's never been more proud and hugs him. While this moment happens offscreen, Jesper's reaction while recounting this to Márgu clearly shows how overwhelmed and happy he is.
  • A relatively small one, but for all his trolling Jesper, Mogens of all people going quiet when he notices the young postman unhappy for somebody leaving Smeerensburg. He then pulls a Pet the Dog moment by implying to Jesper's father that he should talk with his son about what he wants.
    Mogens: Well that's a first. Never saw a postman looking more miserable leaving than on the day they came in. Oh well. Best leave it alone, I say. I'm sure it's nothing that can fester and eventually become a source of resentment and regret.
• When the Ellingboes and Krums come along to destroy the presents, Klaus surrenders on the condition that they not harm the Saami or Alva.
• Klaus trying to convince Jesper not to save the sleigh becomes Heartwarming in Hindsight when one realizes he didn't want to see his dear friend needlessly sacrifice his life for firewood in gift wrap. Despite that he used him, he still cares about him.
  • On the flipside, Jesper giving it his all to save the sleigh and the Christmas presents is this. He understands that Klaus puts a little bit of himself in the toys he gives to the children, and he will not let it be undone by the antagonists. When he learns the truth about the sleigh he grouses that his near-sacrifice was for nothing, but Klaus disagrees, since his friend's return restored his faith and trust. This becomes even more-so when one bears in mind that, unlike the previous times he delivered toys, he only did it with ulterior motives. But now, he's fully invested in making sure those presents don't come to harm, even if there's literally nothing in it for him.
• Olaf saving Pumpkin from falling to her death out of spontaneous kindness. Promptly, they fall in love.
  • While it’s mostly silly, after Pumpkin and Olaf crashed into each other when they tried to attack Jesper and Klaus, and thus causing them to be left behind once they missed, Mr. Ellingboe shouts, “I’m still proud of you!”
  • The church bell that signals their wedding is a nice Book Ends to the Battle Bell from the beginning. Also, this is the only time we ever see Pumpkin smile.
  • In the alternate ending to Klaus, We see Olaf and Pumpkin with their new infant children waving goodbye to Jesper and Alva for their journey.
  • Fridge-Heartwarming: When Olaf saved Pumpkin's life, she was witnessing the first ever thing Olaf did without his mother saying so. If he saved her of his own volition, this told her he actually liked her despite their parent's indoctrination. No wonder she fell in love with him!
    • The only word she knows how to say is "Mine!!" and she has to make it work extra-hard in that scene.
• When Jesper learns that the destroyed "presents" were really decoys, he thinks for a moment that his rescue was all for nothing. But Klaus begs to differ and hands Jesper his hat, wordlessly telling him that he's earned his trust again. Happily, Jesper dons his postman hat, ready to resume his duty as Smeerensburg's own postman.
  Klaus: Come on, give me some credit. I wasn't going to let them have the toys.
  • Made even more so by the way he hands his postman's hat to him as if he's saying "This is when you come in.", making it sound like Jesper was part of the plan after all.
• Jesper and Klaus watching the children opening their presents on Christmas morning, seeing a new, timeless tradition be born.
• The epilogue that's set 12+ years into the future: though Klaus mysteriously vanished at the end of his life, Jesper still stays in Smeerensburg as a postman, and starts a family with Alva. And every year on Christmas Eve, he waits late into the night to see his friend again, in one form or another.
  Jesper: What happened to him after that? How? Why? I can't even begin to comprehend. I stopped trying to make sense of it a long time ago. What I do know, is that once a year... I get to see my friend.
  • Fridge-Heartwarming: In a way, Jesper is living out the kind of life Klaus couldn't have, starting a family with his beloved wife in a home they built together.
  • The way the ending so beautifully Book Ends Jesper's character arc. It was over a decade ago that Jesper was a selfish, lazy Manchild who would carelessly kick a fragile package down a flight of stairs. And now, he's a kindly, respectable father to two children. And every Christmas Eve, he carefully makes certain his home is perfect for Klaus's yearly visit. He's come a long way.
    • Jesper making sure the stockings are hung in a neat row for Klaus's visit brings a whole new meaning to the phrase "stockings hung with care".
    • What's more, Jesper gracefully pouring a pitcher of water into the fireplace to douse the fire is considerate on his part. He knows what it's like to come down a lit chimney, and he's making sure Klaus's spirit doesn't go through that trouble as well.
  • It's sweet to know Jesper's children were raised in a peaceful generation long after the Krum-Ellingboe feud ended. Part of their bedtime ritual is Jesper proudly saying he must "stamp the letter!" before kissing them on the forehead.
  • Happy tears are shed when one bears in mind, Klaus got to see his wife once again.
  Klaus: (gently, knowingly) I'm coming, love...
  • The implication Klaus was such a good, selfless, humble person that he transcended death and became something so much more, with the same having happened to his wife.

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