A young reindeer named Niko dreams about flying like his father, whom he has never met. Despite constant teasing from others, he sneaks out of his home valley to take flying lessons from Julius, a flying squirrel.
Niko & The Way to the Stars is a 2008 animated Christmas film directed by Michael Hegner and Kari Juusonen. It revolves around a young reindeer named Niko who must overcome his fear of flying by heading to Santa Claus' fell to save him and his fleet of flying reindeer from a pack of wolves. The film was a Finnish production with co-producers in Denmark, Germany and Ireland. It was produced by Anima Vitae, Cinemaker Oy, A. Film A/S, Ulysses Films, and Magma Films. The animation was produced in Finland, Germany and Denmark, with post-production carried out in Ireland. A 45-minute television edit in American English was produced in the United States for CBS under the title The Flight Before Christmas.