Klaus: 8 Reasons To Watch Netflix's New Christmas Classic

With an art style never-before-seen and a return to form for 2D animation, Klaus is a film worth watching on its own for the visuals alone, not even mentioning its Christmassy themes making it the perfect film to put on during the holiday season.

A lot went on behind the scenes to get this film off the ground and onto the screens. It's a labour of love and artistic freedom and mastery by creators who had a hand in the amazing 2D and 3D animated films most of us grew up with, and it had to fight a lot of skepticism and claims of "risk" to get where it is today. But even without knowing all that storied history, Klaus is a film that stands proud on its own, and is a fantastic and worthwhile watch for anyone who loves animation, loves the holidays, loves film, or just loves feeling good.

There are mild spoilers in this list, but not enough to ruin the experience once you put it on Netflix or are able to catch it in its limited theatre run. And with just how gorgeous this movie really is, that's definitely worth looking into.

Creator Sergio Pablos, who worked on Disney films such as The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Tarzan, as well as creating the popular Despicable Me franchise, created Klaus in order to explore how 2D animation might have evolved without switching to full 3D and CG animation. It was a passion project that many studios deemed too risky to take on, despite Pablos' successful and lucrative career in the industry. Netflix eventually picked it up as its first major animated feature film, with the SPA Studios - founded by Pablos himself - at the helm.

The rise of streaming services like Netflix has allowed for more original content from more than the tired, typical sources and has decentralised creative works in that way, with other animated originals such as Bojack Horseman or the anthology series, LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS allowing for animation in particular to find its audiences outside of increasingly homogenised CG/3D Hollywood offerings of the past decade.

It's also rare to see 2D films get such a huge boost in attention these days. All the more reason to see this film and its mind-bending 2D animation that looks almost CG to the untrained eye.