What’s Streaming

KLAUS (2019) Stream on Netflix. The abrupt drop in temperatures across the Eastern United States this week may make this animated Santa origin story uncomfortably relatable, as it is set on an island above the Arctic Circle. The movie centers on Jesper, a mailman voiced by Jason Schwartzman who partners with a hermitlike toymaker named Klaus (J.K. Simmons) to deliver trinkets to children on the island. It is the first feature directed by Sergio Pablos, an animator and screenwriter whose decades-long history working with Disney informs this movie’s look. “It all moves along so amiably, and offers such consistently delightful visuals, that the conventional plot points, up to and including an inevitable ‘but I can explain’ bit, are entirely digestible,” Glenn Kenny wrote in his review for The New York Times. “These clichés inhibit ‘Klaus’ from achieving instant-classic status, but the film is winning enough that it’s worth a place in a family Christmas-movie library (not that, as a Netflix offering, it will take up any physical space).”

SNOOPY IN SPACE Stream on Apple TV Plus. For a secular alternative to “Klaus,” consider this new animated series with characters from Charles M. Schulz’s “Peanuts” comics. Charlie Brown enthusiasts will be glad to hear that, while this story involves space travel and is delivered via Apple’s shiny new streaming service, the series sticks to the familiar animation style and jazzy score.