"You can make the impossible possible."
Hello everyone!
Well, I say final, but of course I have no idea if the studio that made the current trilogy has any plans on further sequels, which, after seeing this movie, I honestly think could very easily happen.
I mean, Niko's just transitioning from childhood to adolescence, he's still got WAYS to go before he can actually call himself an adult.
That means there's still PLENTY of time for him to have a bunch of other adventures, not to mention mishaps, along the way.
But I digress.
For tonight, we're not talking about the future or what-ifs, because we're going to be talking about the here and now.
Which is the third, and - currently - final movie, Beyond the Northern Lights!
By this point, you should all know Niko, who's saved Christmas two times before tonight, and is on the road to doing it yet again in this review.
He's a happy big brother at the start of the movie, playing with Jonni and their sister Lili, when the Flying Forces (God, please, SOMEONE TAKE THAT DITTY OFFLINE FOREVER) come to pick him up.
See, he's going to be joining the Junior division, which means at least a year of not seeing his family again, and of course his mom Oona's a bit miffed about THAT bit. But she makes the mistake of calling Niko a kid, which he's been trying to argue with everyone about not being anymore, so he leaves with his dad Prancer in a huff.
Arriving at Santa's Fell, however, he has competition: Stella, another young flier, who demands she be given equal chance, so Dasher's like, you know, the Ancient Rules do say this is acceptable, so here we go.
The first test is them pulling a small "sleigh" down a race course, during which Niko saves Stella, but she beats him to win, eternally ungrateful. The second test is for them to fly through the Northern Lights and pick up the presents left there to bring them back.
Dasher warns them not to open their eyes while flying through said lights, but also to not fly too far out BEYOND them, or they might never return (because, you know, the air gets thinner, colder, and even Santa's flying reindeer can't withstand that bit).
So that's what they do, and Niko accidentally opens his eyes, revealing that the Lights will play on your insecurities and fears. Stella goes back to save him, making them even, but he beats her in this trial, after which she feels all dejected and sad, so he offers to show her Santa's sleigh, hidden behind a complicated maze of corridors and levers.
Any viewer worth their salt is shaking their head at the kid, but hey, he's trying to impress a girl, so I guess we should cut him some slack here.
Because by morning, the sleigh's gone.
Where is it? Not where the Forces are looking, that's for sure, because Stella took it back home, even further north than Santa's Fell, where her dad and the Storm Forces live.
The Storm Forces are flying reindeer rejected during the competitions held for Santa's fliers, and their leader, Ilmar, has a bone to pick about that, because his plan is to have Christmas cancelled, the Forces fired, and then he and his goons can take over! Stella's aghast by the thought that her dad would actually cancel Christmas, because she thought he only wanted a chance to pull the sleigh.
Ah, childhood naivete.
Meanwhile, Niko follows after her with Wilma and Julius, but they get separated along the way and he gets there alone, ending up in the locker with Stella after Ilmar catches them trying to liberate the sleigh. But Niko has noticed that the Storm Forces' home looks like an exact replica of Santa's Fell, and when Stella tells him that Ilmar and Prancer used to be BFFs, until Prancer left Ilmar tangled up during the competition for Santa's Flying Forces, rather than helping him, which prompted today's rage and revenge, Niko's aghast.
Even when Prancer eventually arrives to find his son, that helps very little because Niko's always looked up to his father, but hearing how he treated Ilmar has shattered the heroic illusion he's always had for Prancer.
Determined, however, he takes the sleigh while Prancer and Ilmar argue, and with Stella's help they get it the heck outta there, but crash-land after Ilmar hits them, and the Flying Forces arrive to take on the other reindeer. Morton, Stella's older brother, takes the sleigh and yeets it BEYOND, because he kinda misunderstands what Ilmar's telling him (not the brightest, that boy), and Niko, who's followed after Stella, is terrified to see her where she's all frozen and supposedly a goner.
The reindeer get tangled by their antlers, and only Ilmar and Prancer manage to untangle on time to hear what Morton did, which prompts both fathers to hustle up into the skies, correctly guessing that the kids would have gone after the sleigh.
They do in fact get the kids out from the Beyond, after which they go get the sleigh but nearly petrify themselves; Prancer puts Ilmar on his back and manages to get them both into a free-fall they eventually wake up in, which saves them, and in the meantime Stella and Niko manage to stop the careening sleigh from dropping.
Morton, however, isn't finished, and bumps the sleigh which sends all the presents scattering across the North Pole. So while Ilmar and Prancer make up as buddies, the presents seem lost forever, until Julius and Wilma arrive, with millions of Lemmings in tow.
See, the Lemmings appear mid-movie, convinced Julius is their leader, and by the point in the movie where all's in despair, he's kinda gotten used to the idea too, so he asks the Lemmings to find the presents and bring them back. This accomplished, the only thing left is for Niko and Stella to complete their competition, which they patently refuse, because they value their friendship over their position on the Forces.
Dasher finally decides the Ancient Rules should be shelved, and both the reindeer groups can take turns flying the Sleigh on Christmas, while the rest take the holiday off. Since they don't know what to do with themselves, Niko takes them back home to his family and herd to celebrate, and he and his dad mend their relationship.
He and Stella then take off for a friendly race while Santa ho-ho-hos across the sky, and that's where we'll leave them!
A movie that teaches the values of others before self, and friendship before glory, Beyond the Northern lights is a worthy successor to the previous two movies, and I feel like Stella's addition is a very colourful one. I wish we could have had Tobias there to knock some sense into both groups of fliers, but can't have it all I guess!
So I encourage you to watch these, because they're both entertaining and educational, and the animation is top notch.
Absolutely recommend for the holiday season!
xx
*images and video not mine
No comments:
Post a Comment