Brilliant and touching

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Seriously one of the worst Christmas movies I have ever seen. One of "Santa's Flying Forces" has a one night stand with a doe which results in Niko. Apparently Niko's mom doesn't bother to ask his name though (probably a common mistake among doe groupies trying to get laid by Santa's Flying Forces).Movie includes: - A pretty scary pack of wolves with plans to eat Santa, Santa's reindeer, and children of the world. - A bar scene (yep, a reindeer bar scene) where none of Santa's reindeer remember Niko's mother ("Sorry kid, this is the world famous flying forces you're dealing with. We're gonna need more details.") - A a pink poodle subplot that might have belonged in another movie.We watched with our 9 and 11 year-old sons and the only fun we had was making fun of how bad the movie was. They hated it, but I suspect for totally different reasons than my husband and myself, lol.I have no problem with a Christmas movie that's a little bit raunchy (love Christmas Vacation and Bad Santa), but targeting a movie towards kids about one night stands that result in kids, Santa's reindeer in bars, and a scary wolf pack out to eat Santa is just sort of creepy.

After reading the reviews I must say that how can you judge the daddy reindeer for something he didn't even know to begin with! Yes, he may have had a one night stand with Oona, but Oona never told him about Niko. If Oona had told him it would be a whole different story. You don't know, maybe he would even stopped his job and be a father to Niko. Now you're thinking that "but Oona didn't know where the Santas workshop is", might be, but if Niko found it, then Oona would have found it too, if she would have wanted! Yes, the Santas FlyingForces might be a bunch of womanizers, and to be honest, this was something that caught my attention too at first, but then I actually forgot it because of the story taking me so deep into itself. In spite this little "problem" you seem to have towards the daddy, you have to agree that the movie was Great!

Nothing at all to do with Christmas or the Christmas spirit. A bastard reindeer child searched for his "father" who flew into town one evening, impregnated his mother, and left the next day. Seriously? This has to be some sort of joke. There is no moral, no feel good ending, nothing at all to do with the spirit of Christmas. As I watched this on CBS my wife and I kept looking at each other in disbelief at the things that were said and the actions of some of the characters. This has to have been written as a joke and then produced to prove what suckers Americans are for good animation and and "b list" voice overs. Don"t waste your time or money if you are looking for a good children's Christmas story.

Niko and the Way to the Stars is an animated story of a young reindeer boy Niko, taking place somewhere in Lapland. Niko's father is gone, and his mother tells him dad is a member of Santa's Flying Reindeer Squad. Niko is supervised and taken care of by a flying squirrel named Julius who believes Niko will be able to fly someday, just like his father. The reindeer aren't allowed to go outside the valley because of the wolves who stalk there. After his disobedient visit outside the valley and a consequent incident with the wolves which forces the reindeer to move on, Niko decides to run away and look for his father further north where Santa resides. Adventure ensues.From a Finn's standpoint this film felt a bit odd. It's written, produced and animated in Finland - yet the Finnish version of the film feels like an American animation film that has been translated and dubbed into Finnish. I wondered about this, but a friend explained to me the film is actually primarily intended for the international, mainly American market, and was written and lip-synced accordingly. Considering the country of origin, I was expecting a bit better Finnish translation though. The characters' lines were full of clumsy Anglicisms. Because of this, I have a feeling that native English viewers will enjoy this film more than Finnish viewers.At a standard issue family entertainment level this film performs competently. There's family friendly humor and family values, there are no odd quirks, cussing or violence. It's exciting at times, but not too scary for young children. Perhaps with all this it is a bit bland, but still likable.If you're looking for something to watch with your kids around Xmas, I can recommend this. However, if you're looking for something odd, quirky, eye-opening or original, look somewhere else.