Little Brother, Big Trouble: A Christmas Adventure (also known as Niko 2: Little Brother, Big Trouble, or simply Niko 2) is a 2012 animated comedy/adventure film, produced by Finnish studios Anima Vitae[4] and Cinemaker OY,[5] with co-producers Ulysses (Germany), A. Film (Denmark), and 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[6] and was written by Hannu Tuomainen[7] and Marteinn Thorisson, and directed by Kari Juusonen and Jørgen Lerdam. It was released in Finland on October 12, 2012.[8] Anima Vitae and Cinemaker OY were nominated for Cartoon Movie Tributes 2013[9] in the category "European Producer of the Year". Like its predecessor, it is among the most expensive Finnish films ever produced.
The film was followed by a sequel, Niko: Beyond the Northern Lights, which was released in October 2024.
Plot
The sequel takes places a couple of months after the events of the first film, and follows the story of Niko the reindeer. He must deal with his mother Oona getting remarried. He gains a stepbrother named Jonni, whom Niko hates at first, but 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 Claus's reindeer, Santa's Flying Forces. Standing in Niko's way is White Wolf, Black Wolf's younger sister, who leads the eagles and wants revenge on Niko for her brother's defeat.
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, Oona is revealed to have given birth to an unnamed fawn and introduces Niko and Jonni to their new half-sister.
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.[11]
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 of the same year.[citation needed]
The film was released in the fall of 2013 in Croatia, Serbia, Turkey, Portugal, Hungary, and Sweden.[citation needed]
In 2014, the film was released in Kuwait, China, Spain (limited), and Peru.[citation needed]
The film was released in the U.S. via Grindstone and Netflix in October 2013.[citation needed]
It moved to new territories in late October 2013.[12][13]
Home media
Little Brother, Big Trouble was released in Finland on DVD and Blu-ray on November 13, 2013.[14] It was released in the U.S. on October 29 the same year.[15]
Reception
Despite not having a rating as of yet in Rotten Tomatoes,[16]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[17] a 5.9 rating out of 10. Collectively, reviewers on Amazon.com have given the film a rating of 4 out of 5 stars.[18] 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.[19]
Soundtrack
The film's original score was again composed by Stephen McKeon. The original score can be found for example in Spotify "Niko 2 – Little Brother, Big Trouble (Original Score)".[20]
A sequel, Niko: Beyond the Northern Lights, was released on 11 October 2024 in Finland. In the film, Niko's biggest dream is to become a member of Santa's Flying Forces, but he gets challenged by the super talented reindeer girl Stella who shatters that dream, and Niko has to decide between trust and loyalty.[21][22]
^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.
