The Flight Before Christmas (2008)

A young reindeer who suffers from vertigo learns to overcome his fear, takes flying lessons from a clumsy flying squirrel and heads to the North pole to save a troubled Santa and his fleet of flying reindeer.

Directors:

Michael Hegner, Kari Juusonen

Writers:

Hannu Tuomainen, Marteinn Thorisson

Stars:

Olli Jantunen, Hannu-Pekka Björkman, Vuokko Hovatta

5 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Olli Jantunen	...	Niko (voice)
Hannu-Pekka Björkman	...	Julius (voice)
Vuokko Hovatta	...	Wilma (voice)
Vesa Vierikko	...	Musta Susi (voice)
Jussi Lampi	...	Räyskä (voice)
Risto Kaskilahti	...	Rimppa / Uljas (voice)
Minttu Mustakallio	...	Essie (voice)
Juha Veijonen	...	Raavas (voice)
Puntti Valtonen	...	Hirvas (voice)
Elina Knihtilä	...	Oona (voice)
Juulia Rönkkö	...	Saaga (voice)
Tommi Korpela	...	Porolauman johtaja (voice)
Aarre Karén	...	Isoisä (voice)
Arttu Hämäläinen	...	Poropoika 1 (voice)
Ilmari Huhtala	...	Poropoika 2 (voice)

Storyline

A reindeer boy named Niko dreams about flying like his father, whom he has never met. Despite constant mocking from others, he sneaks out of his home valley to take flying lessons from Julius, a flying squirrel.

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Plot Keywords:

winter | flying | search for father | computer animation | wolf pack | 

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Taglines:

An all-new holiday movie about Santa and his little helpers!

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Family | Fantasy

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Certificate:

G

Details

Official Sites:

Bac Films [France] MG Film [Croatia]

Country:

Finland Denmark Germany Ireland

Language:

English Finnish

Release Date:

10 October 2008 (Finland)

Also Known As:

The Flight Before Christmas

Filming Locations:

Finland

Box Office

Budget:

€6,100,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cinemaker Oy, Anima Vitae, A. Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film was the first voice acting role for Finnish actor Hannu-Pekka Björkman.

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Goofs

When Wilma and Julius use an old log to block the river flow, Julius jumps on it in search of Niko, but suddenly an ice block hits the log, causing him to lose his balance. As soon as the shot changes, Julius's left hand penetrates into the trunk.

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Quotes

Niko: You didn't want me to come here.
Julius: Of course i did.
Niko: You didn't want me to find dad.
Julius: Niko...
Niko: You didn't want me to fly.
Julius: Lower your voice!
Wilma: [worried] Guys...
Niko: [gets upset] You ruined everything!
Julius: I forbid you to...
Niko: [interrupting] You can't forbid me anything! You're not my dad!

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Crazy Credits

At the end of the credits: 21.858 liters of beer were consumed during the making of this movie!

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Alternate Versions

Alternate version spoken in Finnish.

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Connections

Featured in Troldspejlet: Episode #40.15 (2008)

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Soundtracks

Tie tähtiin
Written by Stephen McKeon
Finnish lyrics by Annamari Metsävainio
Performed by The Filmharmonic Orchestra Prague and Choir Prague & Totti Hakkarainen

User Reviews

Good Animation - Questionable "Christmas" message

First off, the animation is beautiful. Very very well done. Possibly one of the best CG animation jobs on a Christmas Special ever! But I have to agree with some of the other American reviews on this board. Santa's reindeer are a bunch of womanizing pigs. One of them stops by and impregnates the star's (Niko's) mother. She never sees him again. Niko doesn't know which of the reindeer is his father, and when he finally meets up with the team, he asks if any of them met a lady on one of their flights...and they all proudly say yes and pretty much tell us that they all impregnate as many deer as possible.

So, Santa's reindeer like to have sex and not a relationship with a female.

Is that appropriate for a Christmas special? Not in the USA. It might be in other TV shows and movies...but come on...a Christmas special...and reindeer that are on Santa's team? Santa represents family and kids, and magic...all that's good...is this special from the creators of "Bad Santa"? At least that was a comedy.

For you Finns that are saying that Americans like to sugar coat stuff and aren't being realistic to the world...um...not all of us are from the trailer-park and make guest appearances on The Jerry Springer Show. I am a father and actually don't have one night stands and actually married the woman I fell in love with and had kids "after" we were married (novel concept eh?). Plus I actually want to have a relationship with my kids. Maybe men aren't that way in Finland, but there are a good portion of us that are good family men in the USA.

Even though the womanizing reindeer part of the story went over the head of my 4 year old, it's really not a message I want her to see at that age...let alone in a Christmas special.

I'd rather her grow up thinking men are good, and not all dead-beat-dad wanna-bees.

What's next? Showing a new take on the Little Drummer Boy and how he was sexually abused by a religious authority figure? That happens too, but not something I want to celebrate at Christmas time with my kids by having it forced into a story where it didn't need to be. I know...what about showing what really happened to the three "wise men" on their journey to Bethlehem? Maybe they stopped by a brothel? Perfect for the kids! Men do that all the time, so it's okay to show in a children's holiday special!

It's a shame this good animation and the voice talent was wasted on this story. A story that could just as easily been changed so that the father was just a "glory hound" or a "workaholic" or even like it's "his duty" (like a soldier that's off at war and can't visit his kids...which is happening now to kids all over). Something to think about.