Have Cheetah,Will View #388 – “Finding Santa” (2016)

Its 11:26 pm
cold/dark

As November rolls in,the faint rustle of Christmas can be heard as well. Soon Christmas shows will be all over the place bringing good cheer to all,or one would hope.
The cheetah and I discussing this before our latest adventure as TriCoast had sent us a new film to look at called “Finding Santa”.  In hindsight maybe I should have waited until after Paladin’s doctor visit to show him this film.

 

The story features life in the maybe the late 1800s at the Bellhaven Orphan Home where a small group of children live with their guardian Alfred (Dennis Storhoi). Life is very lean for the group but they make do with what they have.
The focus is on a young 8 year old boy named Julius who was dropped off at the orphanage on Christmas’s Eve and who Alfred dotes on very much. But a older pair of boys,Squeek and Gregers have taken to bullying Julius and it gets worse around Christmas. The two boys even start to take to roughing up Alfred by claiming there is no Santa and that its only Alfred in a red robe.
Julius,wanting to believe in Santa,sees that Alfred indeed has been fooling the kids and he gets angry at being lied too. He acts out by declaring there is no Santa but that he believes in Krampus,who is basically an anti-Santa. Gregers and Squeek,while happy Julius seems to be on their side,don’t fully trust him and follow Julius to a small shed where Julius has hidden his meager toys in a small box.

The two bullies approach the shed and as Julius starts to panic,his box opens up and an angelic voice tells Julius to touch the lake,his toys have vanished and his box is showing a winter wonderland,the voice tells Julius that only he can save Santa and Christmas.
With nothing to lose,Julius touches the lake and is drawn in to the wonderland. There he sees versions of two of his toys,Herman the Marzipan pig and Safina,a small angel who is a Christmas ornament. Safina has to rescue Julius from the frozen lake which is thawing because Santa isn’t around. The three companions set out to rescue Santa from Krampus before its two late not knowing that Squeek and Gregars have also found the doorway down…..

“Finding Santa” is a sweet and gentle animated film from both Denmark and Sweden. Using hand drawn and stop motion,this film is a definite throwback to days gone past.
I found “Finding Santa” to be a charming film filled with parts of several other stories which you will recognized but your wee ones will not. It will help make watching this film a bit fun and I really thought the story of Krampus was quite original and a little eerie.
The animation is all handdrawn and it isn’t flashy and top of the line CGI which may not excite older kids but for us older folks,we’ll get a kick out of it.
For us “The 13th Warrior” fans,you may know one voice and that is of Dennis Storhoi who played Herger. His Alfred is warm and caring but also at a bit of loss on to handle the sudden outburts of Squuek and Gregers.

“Finding Santa” while released in 2016,is just now finding its way to the United States.
The DVD release will take here in November while it can also be found on various VOD platforms like Vimeo,Amazon and Fandango.

The film has a run time of 1 hr and 22 minutes and is  rated “G”.

The cheetah and I both gave “Finding Santa” a thumbs/paw up.