Little Brother, Big Trouble: A Christmas Adventure

Little Brother, Big Trouble: A Christmas Adventure (also known as Niko 2: Little Brother, Big Trouble, or simply Niko 2), is a Finnish-Danish-Irish 3D computer animated comedy/adventure film, produced by Finnish Anima Vitae[3] and Cinemaker OY[4] with co-producers Ulysses (Germany), A. Film (Denmark), Tidal Films (Ireland). The animation was produced in Finland, Germany and Denmark, with post-production carried out in Ireland. It is the sequel to The Flight Before Christmas[5] and is written Hannu Tuomainen,[6] and Marteinn Thorisson and directed by Kari Juusonen and Jørgen Lerdam. It was released in Finland in October 12, 2012.[7] Anima Vitae and Cinemaker OY were nominated for Cartoon Movie Tributes 2013[8] in the category “European Producer of the Year”. Like a predecesor, it is one of the most expensive Finnish films.

Little Brother, Big Trouble: A Christmas Adventure
DVD Cover
Directed byKari Juusonen
Jorgen Lerdam
Produced byHannu Tuomainen
Petteri Pasanen
Antti Haikala
Emely Christians
Moe Honan
Ralph Christians
Bernhard zu Castell
Written byMarteinn Thorisson
Hannu Tuomainen
StarringErik Carlson
Juhana Vaittinen
Mikko Kivinen
Vuokko Hovatta
Aarre Karen
Music byStephen McKeon
Production
company
Anima Vitae
Cinemaker
A. Film A/S
Ulysses
Magma Films
Distributed byGlobal Screen
BAC Films
Nordisk Film
Universum Film
Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Release date
  • 12 October 2012 (2012-10-12)
(Finland)
9 August 2013 (Japan)
Running time
79 minutes
CountryFinland
Denmark
Germany
Ireland
LanguageFinnish
Budget7,316,273 €[1]
Box office1,384,148 €[2]

Plot

The sequel takes places a couple of months after the events of the first film, and follows the story of Niko the reindeer. Hemust deal with his mother Oona getting remarried. He gains a stepbrother named Jonni, whom Niko hates at first. However, when Jonni gets kidnapped by eagles, Niko flies off to rescue him.

During his journey, Niko is joined by an old, near-blind reindeer named Tobias, who is revealed to be the former leader of Santa's Flying Forces. However, standing in Niko's way is also White Wolf, Black Wolf's younger sister, who is the leader of the eagles and wants revenge on Niko for her brother's death.

Now, Niko and the rest of the team must come up with a plan to save Jonni, defeat White Wolf and return home. At the end of the film, Onna is revealed to have given birth to an unnamed female fawn and introduces Niko and Jonni to their new half-sister.

Cast

English Version
  • Matthew Boyle as Niko
  • Darragh Kelly as Julius
  • Ned Dennehy as Tobias
  • Callum Maloney as Jonni
  • Michael Sheehan as Lenni
  • Niamh Shaw as White Wolf
  • Susan Slott as Oona
  • Aileen Mythen as Wilma
  • Carly Baker as Saga
  • Roger Gregg as Dasher
  • Paul Tylak as Prancer

Finnish Version

Release

Little Brother, Big Trouble: A Christmas Adventure was shown at the Hamburg Film Festival[9] on 29 September 2012.

It was released in Finland on October 12, 2012. The film opened in 115 theatres and was seen by 150,889 viewers, grossing €1,384,148.[10]

It was released in Japan on August 9, 2013 after being shown at the Kinder Film Festival.

It entered into limited European distribution in November and December 2013 in Germany, Denmark, Poland, France, Iceland, Netherlands, Russia, Belgium, Estonia, and in Asia in Korea, Israel in March 2013.

Later in the fall of 2013 it was released in Croatia, Serbia, Turkey, Portugal, Hungary, and Sweden.

In 2014, the film was released in Kuwait, China, Spain (limited), and Peru.

The film was released in the U.S. via Grindstone and Netflix in October 2013.

It moved to new territories in late October 2013.[11][12]

Home media

Little Brother, Big Trouble was released in Finland on DVD and Blu-ray on November 13, 2013.[13] It was released in the U.S. on October 29, 2013.[14]

Reception

Despite not having a rating as of yet in Rotten Tomatoes,[15] Little Brother, Big Trouble: A Christmas Adventure has received generally mixed to positive reviews. The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) gave Little Brother, Big Trouble: A Christmas Adventure[16] a 5.9 rating out of 10. Collectively, reviewers on Amazon.com have given the film a rating of 4 out of 5 stars.[17] Reception for Niko 2 in Japan was quite strong and as a result it was awarded the Grand Prix of the best film in feature section in Tokyo Kinder Film Festival.[18]

Soundtrack

The film's original score was composed by Stephen McKeon once again. The original score can be found for example in Spotify "Niko 2 – Little Brother, Big Trouble (Original Score)".[19]

References
  1. "Elokuvavuosi 2011 Facts & Figures" (PDF). Suomen elokuvasäätiö / The Finnish Film Foundation. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
  2. "Elokuvavuosi 2012 Facts & Figures" (PDF). Suomen elokuvasäätiö / The Finnish Film Foundation. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
  3. "Anima". Retrieved March 8, 2015.
  4. "Cinemaker OY". Retrieved March 8, 2015.
  5. "The Flight Before Christmas (2008) "Niko - Lentäjän poika" (original title)". IMDb. Retrieved March 8, 2015."The Flight Before Christmas (2008)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved March 8, 2015.
  6. "Hannu Tuomainen". Cinemaker. Retrieved March 8, 2015.
  7. "Little Brother, Big Trouble: A Christmas Adventure (2012) Release Info". IMDb. IMDb. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
  8. "Animation Feature Niko 2 – Little Brother, Big Trouble to the victory in Tokyo Kinder Film Festival". Anima. Retrieved March 8, 2015."Cartoon Movie Tributes: Winners 2015". Cartoon Media. Retrieved March 8, 2015.
  9. "Filmfest Hamburg 2012 | Niko 2 - Kleines Rentier, großer Held". Hamburg Film Festival (in German). Retrieved 6 December 2016.
  10. Hautamäki, Reetta; Kemppinen, Petri, eds. (2013). "2012 Facts & Figures" (PDF). Finnish Film Foundation (in English and Finnish). Helsinki. p. 15. Retrieved 6 December 2016.
  11. Barraclough, Leo (30 October 2013). "AFM: 'Richard the Stork,' 'Niko 2′ Migrate to New Territories". Variety.com. Retrieved March 8, 2015. It has already been released in France (Millimages), the U.S. (Grindstone/Netflix), CIS (MGN Films), Benelux (Bridge Rights), Poland (Kino Swiat), Germany (Universum Film) and other territories.
  12. Roxborough, Scott (29 October 2013). "'Niko 2', 'Richard The Stork' Sold to Multiple Territories". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 8, 2015. Niko 2 sold to Metrodome in the U.K.; Chinese distributor Flame; Intersonic/Abbey Road for the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Hungary; and Babilla Cine for Colombia. The film has already been released in the U.S. via Grindstone and Netflix, in France (Millimages), CIS (MGN Films), Benelux (Bridge Rights), Poland (Kino Swiat) and Germany (Universum Film), among other territories.
  13. "Niko 2′s DVD and Blu-ray release in Finland". Anima. Retrieved March 10, 2015.
  14. "Little Brother, Big Trouble: A Christmas Adventure 2012". Amazon.com. Retrieved March 10, 2015.
  15. "Little Brother, Big Trouble: A Christmas Adventure (2012)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
  16. "Little Brother, Big Trouble: A Christmas Adventure". IMDb. IMDb. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
  17. "Little Brother Big Trouble: A Christmas Adventure". Amazon.com. Retrieved March 10, 2015.
  18. "Animation Feature Niko 2 – Little Brother, Big Trouble to the victory in Tokyo Kinder Film Festival". Anima. Retrieved March 10, 2015.
  19. "Niko 2 - Little Brother, Big Trouble (Original Score) Stephen McKeon". Spotify. Retrieved March 10, 2015.
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