Reviews

The actors are all fantastic. But, and it's a big BUT, the holes in the plot and the situational stupidity go far beyond belief. There are many points in the story where the Vicar could have undone the dreadful situation with the most basic thought and actions, but like a horror movie, the characters lose all sense of the absolute obviousness of solutions the writers refuse to give them - because then the story would be over and everyone, minus someone stuck in the basement, would be OK.

For the nature of this review I won't give away anything, but I think anyone with common sense can watch this and groan with frustration at the actions of the characters - who are supposed to be some level of intelligent and experienced human beings. Some extremely so.

David Tennant is brilliant as is Stanley Tucci and Dolly Wells in their roles. But I'd stick to Broadchurch if you want a great Tennant drama/thriller series and Dracula is Dolly Wells' most brilliant piece to date as Sister Agatha Van Helsing. Lydia West was taken from Dracula as well and her role is much more interesting. Tucci - take your pick, but not in Inside Man where his role is quite literally locked down. There are moments of levity and some silliness, but it doesn't work. The tone of Inside Man is so confusing.

Thus, Inside Man is full of the kind of unintended situational cringe that leaves you confused and wishing there was a more thoughtful and intelligent script. A waste of a 10/10 cast and your time. But if you do like the cast it might be worth a watch while you do the dishes or clean the house.

The stars are all for the artwork and animation, which were really excellent. The story and the characters are all tropes and every part of the writing is either plagiarized or insulting to the average person. Why you ask? Spoilers below:

1. The story is centered around Jesper - A rich spoiled skinny blonde adult with no work ethic who can't stop talking about silk sheets. He purposely fails training as a postman - his father is filthy rich and runs the entire organization - and to teach his son a lesson, sends him to the Scandinavian town of Smeerensburg to run the mail there. He is wealthy, cowardly, clumsy, and thus somehow endearing. He makes it to Smeerensburg where he comes up with a plan to mail 6,000 letters - which is the number his father said he had to reach to come home and be rich and comfortable again.

2. The town is basically the Hatfields and McCoys: Two large families attacking and killing each other - for no reason other than lazy writing. It adds depth and conflict to the movie - which could have been done a million different more creative ways.

3. Alva the "teacher" is a hot skinny blonde who wants out of the town and has given up on teaching to cut up and sell fish until she saves enough to leave. Instantly we know that Jesper and Alva are a love interest because of course the two skinny blonds eventually have severally skinny blonde kids together at the end. Of course she only finds her path thanks to the skinny blonde male who saves the day. She obviously wasn't smart or strong enough to do it herself and find her own way.

4. Jesper is so selfish he uses the kids and old man Klaus to fulfill his desire for letters - via letters to Klaus and toys - so he can get his 6000 letter quota and live his rich lifestyle.

5. Jesper's plan works too well and he falls in love with Alva in the process while bringing the town together thanks to the joy the kids experience and bring to their parents thanks to the letter-writing campaign and the actual skills of the toy-maker/woodsman/Santa (Klaus).

6. The bad elements of the town conspire and form an alliance so they can be horrible again (because why?). They figure out Jesper's goal of 6000 letters and put him over the top by sending a bunch. Then his father shows up and explains the whole plan then Alva and Klaus immediately without question hate Jesper - even though he's obviously changed and is doing this because he enjoys it - again, lazy writing.

7. Jesper leaves dejected with his father. But as the boat floats away and one child cries for him, there is Jesper on the dock. And he sees the town baddies going up the hill torches lit (ala Frankenstein) to take care of Klaus, the presents, and to make the town their own again.

8. Jesper (kind of) saves the day, but "proves" to Alva and Klaus that he really did care (duh). So he is accepted back. In the process two of the young adults from the baddies groups (from opposite sides) fall in love when one saves the other from falling to her death (ugh). And we find out how extremely proud Jesper's dad is of him.

9. In all of this, the person who the story is named after "Klaus" is the most interesting and the story isn't centered around him or his life at all - which would be WAY more interesting. Even worse, he dies or disappears in the end - which was emotional - but they could have cut out all the other tropes and it would have been a beautiful story.

10. Jesper and Alva live financially rich and happily every after. But rich in good feelings and holiday cheer too. The town also goes from gray to warm happy colors and glowing windows in the winter.

All-in-all a waste of good animation and what could have been a good story. I'm not sure why they called it Klaus. They should have named it after the town or Jesper since that was the main focus of the entire story. Klaus simply gave Jesper a motive and a chance to change just the tiniest of bits as a human being. If I could create a synopsis it would be:

Spoiled rich kid inadvertently saves forsaken warring isolated town from itself with his greed. Wins the heart of the hot girl and his dad - and the love of all the tows people in the process. Big guy with a beard helps.