ALIEN XMAS

ALIEN XMAS is an animated special on Netflix where Santa tells a “Crazy” story about Christmas after he’s exhausted the traditional list. Santa tells the children listening that it all began long ago with an alien species called the Klepts. The Klepts used to live on a beautiful planet full of life and color. The Klepts were greedy, though, and destroyed their planet because they stole everything for themselves. They stole so much that they lost their color. The Klepts then hopped on a space ship and traveled around the galaxy, plundering planets to indulge their greed.

The smallest and sneakiest of the Klepts is a little fellow named X. He was often picked on because of his size. The other Klepts would beat him up to steal his spoils. Supreme Leader Z announces that the Klepts are going to plunder Earth. In order to steal the most stuff, they will build a gyrotron located at the magnetic North Pole. The gyrotron will disable Earth’s gravitational pull and then all the stuff will float into space for the Klepts to steal. X volunteers to go to Earth to build the gyrotron and prove his worth.

When X arrives at the North Pole at a village called Christmas Town, he steals everything in sight. X even programs a robot called a SAMTU to build the gyrotron for him while he steals more stuff.

Meanwhile, an elf engineer named Obie is building a super sleigh to help Santa deliver all the toys on time. The super sleigh has a few malfunctions, and Obie is desperate to repair it in time. Obie’s daughter, Holly, misses her father, but knows he’s working hard to help Santa. Her dearest Christmas wish, however, is for her family to be together.

X stumbles into the sleigh workshop to steal things. Obie thinks he’s a doll of some kind and gives it to Holly as an early Christmas present. Holly loves and cuddles X, even though she knows he’s not a real doll. When X tries to leave, Holly gives him a gift, and X suddenly realizes that stealing stuff is empty and meaningless. X learns it’s better to give and receive gifts than to steal. However, the Klepts still have an alien invasion planned.

ALIEN XMAS is an adorable Christmas special reminiscent of Dr. Seuss’ HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS. The animation is superb, and the simple dialogue and actions make it easy to follow. ALIEN XMAS presents a strong moral, redemptive worldview that rebukes greed and extols kindness, family, sacrificial love, and generosity. It’s also incredibly pro-life, with Santa telling the residents of Christmas Town how wonderful babies are. The special’s one fault is it never directly addresses the birth of Jesus the Messiah, the true meaning of Christmas. For this, MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for younger children for ALIEN XMAS.