''Alien Xmas'' is a 2020 American
stop-motion animated Christmas film directed by
Stephen Chiodo. Based on the 2006 book of the same name by Chiodo and Jim Strain,
the film features the voices of
Keythe Farley,
Dee Bradley Baker
Dee Bradley Baker (born August 31, 1962) is an American voice actor. Much of Baker's work features vocalizations of animals and monsters. Baker's roles include animated series such as ''Avatar: The Last Airbender'', '' Codename: Kids Next Door'', ...
, Kaliayh Rhambo, Michelle Deco, and
Barbara Goodson
Barbara Goodson is an American voice actress who has done voice-over work in cartoons and shows. Her best-known role was providing the English dub voice of the main villain Empress Rita Repulsa in the ''Power Rangers'' franchise, starting with ' ...
. The film's plot centers on X, an
extraterrestrial belonging to a race of thieving aliens known as Klepts, who is sent to the
North Pole
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...
on a mission to eliminate Earth's gravity.
''Alien Xmas'' was executive produced by
Jon Favreau and released on
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...
on November 20, 2020.
Plot
Long ago, a race of colorful extraterrestrials known as Klepts became greedy and plundered their home planet of its resources. Their color faded away, and they set off into outer space, moving from galaxy to galaxy and stealing whatever they could. The leader of the Klepts, known as Supreme Leader Z, decides to steal all of the "stuff" on the planet Earth. Her plan involves building a device dubbed "the Gyrotron", which will eliminate Earth's gravity, on the
North Magnetic Pole
The north magnetic pole, also known as the magnetic north pole, is a point on the surface of Earth's Northern Hemisphere at which the planet's magnetic field points vertically downward (in other words, if a magnetic compass needle is allowed t ...
; objects on the planet will be sent into orbit, where the Klepts' spaceships can collect them. Z sends X, a small Klept, to carry out the mission with a helper robot known as a Semi-Automatic Multi-Tasking Unit (or SAMTU).
X and SAMTU arrive on Earth shortly before
Christmas Eve. They land in Christmas Town, where
Santa Claus and his
elves
An elf () is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology. They are subsequently mentioned in Snorri Sturluson's Icelandic Prose Edda. He distinguishes " ...
live. That night, Santa unveils a technologically advanced sleigh meant to help him deliver Christmas presents all around the world more quickly. However, the sleigh malfunctions, and Santa instructs Obie, his lead elf mechanic, to fix it. Obie's time spent working on the sleigh has kept him from spending time with his daughter Holly and her mother Noelle, much to Holly's disappointment.
In an ice cave, X directs SAMTU to build the Gyrotron. Driven by an urge to steal, X ventures into Christmas Town, where he encounters Obie. X plays dead, leading Obie to believe him to be an inanimate doll. Obie gives X to Holly as a gift. The next day, Holly keeps X with her as she decorates with her mother, goes caroling, and attends a
Christmas dinner
Christmas dinner is a meal traditionally eaten at Christmas. This meal can take place any time from the evening of Christmas Eve to the evening of Christmas Day itself. The meals are often particularly rich and substantial, in the tradition of ...
, causing X to witness the elves' kindness and generosity towards one another. At night, X tries to escape Holly's home with a bag of stolen items, but Holly sees him attempting to do so. She gives X a puppy as a companion; the act of being given something fills X with feelings of compassion and warmth, and causes him to regain his blue color.
X decides not to follow through with Supreme Leader Z's plan, and instead reprograms SAMTU to fix Santa's sleigh. However, Z orders the other Klepts to invade Christmas Town. The Klepts activate the Gyrotron, but SAMTU manages to destroy the machine, electrocuting itself in the process. Nonetheless, the Klepts triumph over the residents of Christmas Town. Z, believing that X gained the Earthlings' trust in order to lead the Klepts to their "stuff", promotes him to Vice Supreme Leader. Feeling distraught, X hands the puppy to Z as a gift, causing her to regain her pink color. The residents of Christmas Town give presents to the other Klepts, restoring them to their colorful selves.
At the break of dawn on Christmas morning, Santa laments that there is not enough time left to deliver Christmas gifts to all the children of the world. X takes to the sky with a number of other Klepts in spaceships, traveling around the planet and delivering the presents as Santa wished.
Voice cast
*
Keythe Farley as
Santa Claus
*
Dee Bradley Baker
Dee Bradley Baker (born August 31, 1962) is an American voice actor. Much of Baker's work features vocalizations of animals and monsters. Baker's roles include animated series such as ''Avatar: The Last Airbender'', '' Codename: Kids Next Door'', ...
as X
* Kaliayh Rhambo as Holly
* Michelle Deco as Noelle
*
Barbara Goodson
Barbara Goodson is an American voice actress who has done voice-over work in cartoons and shows. Her best-known role was providing the English dub voice of the main villain Empress Rita Repulsa in the ''Power Rangers'' franchise, starting with ' ...
as Z
* Jessica Gee-George as
Mrs. Claus / Reindeer / Klepts / Audience
*
Kaitlyn Robrock as Elf Kid #3 / Reindeer / Klepts / Audience
*
Jon Favreau as Obie (uncredited)
Production
''Alien Xmas'' is based on the 2006 book of the same name by director Stephen Chiodo and Jim Strain.
The Chiodo Brothers
The Chiodo Brothers (Stephen, Charles & Edward Chiodo; ; born in Bronx, New York) are an American trio of sibling special effects artists, specializing in clay modeling, creature creation, stop motion and animatronics. Known for their film ''K ...
initially pitched an animated adaptation of the book to executive producer
Jon Favreau, whom they had previously worked with on the 2003 live-action film ''
Elf
An elf () is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology. They are subsequently mentioned in Snorri Sturluson's Icelandic Prose Edda. He distinguishes "ligh ...
'', for which the Chiodos created a sequence featuring stop-motion animated characters.
Though ''Alien Xmas'' utilized
computer-generated imagery in scenes featuring spaceships, the majority of the film was produced using stop-motion animation.
Stephen Chiodo stated that "We animated mostly
on twos while maintaining the hand-made quality of
Rankin & Bass, but we gave it a 21st century value. It was achieved through a lack of detail. But we had to find that balance where we gave it enough detail in the art direction to make it look good by today's standards."
Bleeding Fingers Music
Bleeding Fingers Music is a collective of composers that create film and television scores for The Simpsons. A joint venture between composer Hans Zimmer, his business partner Steve Kofsky, and Extreme Music, the production arm of Sony Music Publ ...
worked on the music with Adam Schiff as composer.
Reception
On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of .
''
Polygon
In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed ''polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two to ...
''s Tasha Robinson compared ''Alien Xmas'' to ''
How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
''How the Grinch Stole Christmas!'' is a Christmas children's story by Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel written in rhymed verse with illustrations by the author. It follows the Grinch, a grouchy, solitary creature who tries to cancel Christmas by st ...
'', ''
Invader Zim
''Invader Zim'' is an American animated science fiction dark comedy television series created by comic book writer and cartoonist Jhonen Vasquez for Nickelodeon. The series centers on an extraterrestrial named Zim (voiced by Richard Steven Ho ...
'', and the stop-motion works of Rankin/Bass, and called the film "a harmless holiday distraction, short and cute and speedbump-free. But it's lacking any real verve or signature of its own."
Cheryl Eddy of ''
io9
''io9'' is part of Gizmodo media since 2015, and it began as blog launched in 2008 by Gawker Media. The site initially focused on the subjects of science fiction, fantasy, futurism, science, technology and related areas but over the years has ...
'' wrote that "''Alien Xmas'' message about consumerism may be simple, but that doesn’t make it any less valuable", and noted that "There are clever moments throughout that keep the movie from feeling too saccharine."
John Squires of
Bloody Disgusting concluded: "Imaginative and heartfelt, ''Alien Xmas'' is far from the first Christmas special to highlight the importance of holiday togetherness versus a consumeristic obsession with stuff, but it's a timeless message the Chiodos deliver with the genuine earnestness of filmmakers who are bringing a passion project to life rather than churning out a lifeless product."
See also
*
List of Christmas films
*
Santa Claus in film
Motion pictures featuring Santa Claus constitute their own subgenre of the Christmas film genre. Early films of Santa revolve around similar simple plots of Santa's Christmas Eve visit to children. In 1897, in a short film called ''Santa Cla ...
Notes
References
External links
*
*
{{Netflix Christmas films
English-language Netflix original films
2020 animated films
2020 science fiction films
Stop-motion animated films
2020s American animated films
Children's Christmas films
Santa Claus in film
Alien visitations in films
Alien invasions in films
Animated films about extraterrestrial life
Films directed by Stephen Chiodo
American children's animated science fiction films
American Christmas films
2020s stop-motion animated films
2020s English-language films
Christmas science fiction films