Netflix Launches Trailer For Its First Original Animated Feature: Sergio Pablos’s Hand-Drawn ‘Klaus’

Netflix has released a trailer for its first original animated feature, Klaus, which opens in select U.S. theaters on November 8 and launches on the streaming platform Nov. 15.

Directed by Sergio Pablos, who also developed the original Despicable Me film, Klaus is a rarity for a U.S. producer – a hand-drawn film. Pablos is himself a respected animator who has handled such characters as Tantor in Disney’s Tarzan and Dr. Doppler in Treasure Planet. His goal hasn’t been to simply bring back 2d animation, but to push the craft forward, and Klaus’s distinct look is achieved via an innovative lighting and rendering pipeline that is applied to the drawn animation. We’ll have more coverage about how the film was made in the coming months.

• Synopsis: When Jesper (Jason Schwartzman) distinguishes himself as the postal academy’s worst student, he is stationed on a frozen island above the Arctic Circle, where the feuding locals hardly exchange words let alone letters. Jesper is about to give up when he finds an ally in local teacher Alva (Rashida Jones), and discovers Klaus (J.K. Simmons), a mysterious carpenter who lives alone in a cabin full of handmade toys. These unlikely friendships return laughter to Smeerensburg, forging a new legacy of generous neighbors, magical lore and stockings hung by the chimney with care.
• Key credits:
  Produced by Netflix, SPA Studios, and Atresmedia Cine
  Directed by Sergio Pablos
  Music by Alfonso G. Aguilar
  Production designers Szymon Biernacki and Marcin Jakubowski
  Produced by Jinko Gotoh, Marisa Román, Sergio Pablos, Matthew Teevan, Mercedes Gamero, Mikel Lejarza, Gustavo Ferrada
  Original story by Sergio Pablos
  Screenplay by Sergio Pablos, Zach Lewis, and Jim Mahoney
• Key voices: Jason Schwartzman, J.K. Simmons, Norm MacDonald, Rashida Jones, Joan Cusack, Will Sasso