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Movie · Fantasy, Comedy, Animated · 2019 · PG

Klaus: parents' guide

7+our pick

Best for ages 7 and up. Rated PG for rude humor and mild action.

A gorgeously animated Santa origin story that suits most school-age kids, though its gloomy first act is darker and creepier than a typical holiday cartoon. A spoiled young postman is exiled to a frozen island town where two families have feuded for generations, and his friendship with a lonely woodsman slowly turns the place around. Expect slapstick brawls with axes, spears and kitchen tools (no blood), eerie sets that include a noose and skeleton toys, and a sad story about the woodsman's late wife. Language and romance are minimal. Age 7 reflects the early menace and the grief.

What's in it

Violence

Mild

Cartoon brawling: villagers answer a war bell with axes, spears, hammers and knives, a rifle is cocked, rivals set traps for each other, and there are jokes about chopping people up. Nobody is injured and no blood is shown.

Language

None

No profanity. Expect name-calling such as idiot, loser and brat, a shouted shut up, and a single Oh God near the end.

Sex and nudity

Mild

Very mild. Two couples flirt, kiss and marry; a bathing man tumbles out of a tub with bubbles covering him, and a row of bare cartoon bottoms pops out of a wall.

Drinking, drugs and smoking

Mild

Very little. A boat captain drinks what looks like beer, and there are passing jokes about sherry. Nobody is shown drunk.

Scary or intense scenes

Moderate

Creepy early on: a gloomy town of glowering villagers, a gallows noose used as a bell rope, skeleton toys and walls of knives in a dark house, and a near fall from a cliff. The woodsman's grief and the bittersweet ending are sad.

Worth talking about

The film argues that one kind act tends to spark another. Talk about a time someone's kindness changed how your child felt or behaved.

Where to stream →

On our lists

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Checked October 24th, 2026 against Common Sense Media, Plugged In, bbfc.co.uk, childrenandmedia.org.au. The age is our judgment, not an official rating, and every family draws its lines differently: read the notes, not just the number. Spotted something we missed? Tell us. How we rate.