So today I decided to take a closer look at the film and discuss why I love it. And in the interest of fairness, I will also discuss nitpicky things that even I find a tad annoying. This film is basically broken down into three acts, so I decided to look at each one separately. And there will be spoilers if somehow you still have no seen the film.
The first act of course sets up the characters and situation. We meet Scott Calvin and his estranged wife Laura. She has a new husband, a dull psychiatrist named Neil. And of course we meet Charlie, Laura and Scott’s son. It starts off like any other family film, until Scott and Charlie hear a commotion on the roof. They rush out and end up causing Santa Claus to fall off the roof. Then Scott puts the suit and proceeds to take over the job as Santa. The first act just gets better and better, the gags work and the whole thing is fun to watch. We even get new details on how Santa work which are a part of the legend to this day including how he manages to get into homes with no chimneys, can carry all the toys in one sleigh, and deliver tothe world in one night. Ok the last I first saw in Santa Claus: The Movie but Ilike the idea of time slowing down for Santa, it just works.
Then they get to The North Pole which is amazing. This is one movie which really makes The North Pole work, right down to the great casting of the kids. David Krumholtz is great as the head elf Bernard, who explains to Scott that he is the new Santa. Of course Scott refuses to believe that the experience is anything more than a dream, but the whole scene is just great. The best gag is the moment where Scott tries on a tool belt. An obvious nod to Home Improvement.
Ok, first nitpick. I could never understand why Charlie expected people to be so accepting of the fact that his father is the new Santa. Yeah I know he was a kid, but it still seems a bit far-fetched. And why don’t the kids in school tease him atall? His father has to point it out. Small problem but still worth noting. Also think Laura and Neal were needlessly worried at first anyway, what’s wrong with a good imagination?
In act two the movie goes back to feeling like an average family film. Of course that can’t be helped; the whole thing takes place during the time between holidays. The whole act is basically seeing Scott deal with anew symptom of his transformation followed by worrying about Charlie and his obsession over Santa. Scott puts on some weight…we’re worried about Charlie. Scott worried his co-workers while kids start lining up to talk to him…. We’re worried about Charlie….Scott gets the huge list….Charlie is finally taken away from Scott. Thankfully the gags and jokes work and keep the audience interested.
Second nitpick. The time span during act two goes by awfully fast. It skips over a lot and I wondered what happened during that time? Always get annoyed when movies skip ahead like that because I wonder about the stuff we missed. Did Scott accept what was going on at times? Did he see more doctors? Did he just ignore it for weeks and resume his life? Did he lose his job (we get one scene where his co-workers are concerned but that’s it). Thesis a problem with kid’s movies sometimes we don’t really know how our main characters dealing with what is happening to him. All we know is he is in denial, and worried about his son. The one scene that almost does this is after Charlie is taken away, we see Scott depressed and walking in the snow.
The third act begins with Scott finally accepting that he is Santa. The make-up is just amazing; if it weren’t for Tim Allen’s distinctive voice you’d never even know it was him. But of course the performance is not just make-up, Allen really sells the role. Since there is more time to fill we get Charlie being whisked away with Santa and the whole story of the police chasing him. This could have ruined the movie, but it works pretty well here.Mostly because it is short, and again the kid actors were very good. At last Charlie is reunited with his mother, and everyone accepts Scott is Santa. Love the scene where Laura finally accepts it, the actress did a great job youcan almost see the little girl inside her cheering.
Final nitpick. They do one thing in the end which bugs me.We learned that Neal and Laura stopped believing in Santa when they didn’t get a gift they each wanted. In the end of the film, Santa provides those gifts along with something special for Charlie. Here is my question. If Santa knew this then why didn’t Neal or Laura get they get them when were young? Was Neal or Laura on the naughty list? Was there another reason? Another Santa Claus movie did this same kind set-up but provided an explanation why the kid in that film did not get his wish originally. Here it really makes no sense.
Well despite my griping the end is a very satisfying one as Santa flies off and Scott’s character transformation is complete. One of the coolest touches in the original is that throughout the movie there are elves hiding in certain scenes. All these elves come together at the end and smile asif to acknowledge a job well done, before skipping off into the distance. That was a nice touch giving the impression that everything happened as it was supposed to.
The sequel did not have quite the heart of the first but twas still decent. The plot is that Santa needs a wife and I admit it is predictable. We know the second we meet Elizabeth Mitchell as the principal of the school how the film will end. However, I liked the love story. It is the part of the film that comes closest to feeling like the original, and there is just enough chemistry between Tim Allen and Elizabeth Mitchell to make it work.The scene with the faculty party is probably my favorite one in the film asScott gets play Santa quite literally.
The stuff with the toy Santa which goes out of control wasn't bad, but the final fight goes on a tad too long. Tim Allen does a lot more mugging in this one and you could also criticize why Bernard is so much wimpier in this one. In the first movie he takes no crap, but here he is nervous and lets the toy Santa just take over with hardly a fight. The movie also has problems including plot holes like the watch. Bernard says once Santa’s magic is gone he can’t return to The North Pole, and yet he does. I also think the director cut out a bit too much. If you check out the DVD you’ll see what I mean, and his cuts hurt the story a bit.
Another thing I liked about the sequel is the story arc for the character of Charlie. In the first film he was kind of star struck, and was so infatuated with the whole Santa Claus thing he didn’t realize the downside. By the time of the sequel he has aged, and realized there is a price to keeping such a secret. But in the end he discovers that while it causes problems, the benefits far outweigh them and knowing isn’t a curse but a blessing. This movie also has Santa go from fat to thin, but this is done with less fanfare then the first which is understandable. I do like the end when Santa gets married, and in a flash he is restored to glory. Great moment! And yes the council of legendary figures was a cute touch.
I already talked about the third film. What a wasted opportunity that was! To make this complete, here are my thoughts again. This sequel was just lousy. I am also a fan of movies which look at events from a different perspective, which is kind of what this movie does by revisiting the 1st movie. So I had high hopes. First of all, the whole movie is setting up this plot by Jack Frost. When we finally get to it the whole thing takes about ten minutes, then everything is reset and the movie is over. Too much beginning and not enough ending. I also can't believe how bad Alan Arkin and Ann-Margaret are in this film. They were truly phoning this in. Santa Claus comes off as a jerk and an idiot, and his top elf Curtis is just useless.Why would Santa make the laziest elf top elf? I could go on and on nitpicking this film. I did like Elizabeth Mitchell and Martin Short, but they weren't enough to salvage this mess.
So The Santa Clause is not a perfect movie, but it is a very good one. It’s a nice holiday film to watch with your family, and really what more can you ask for? Of course the big question this movie presents is does Santa deliver the toys or not? I always believed that Santa brought the special gifts. Any kid can figure out that their parents bought things from a store, but maybe it was Santa who provided the bike or the stuffed animal. Of course the real meaning of Santa isn’t getting gifts, it’s about believing. That is the underlying moral in the first movie. Seeing isn’t believing, believing is seeing. So if the moral of the first film was about believing,then what was the moral of the second? I think it is similar but more about faith. Believing in something is fine, but what if that belief is tested? Thatis when faith takes over, to remind you to keep believing.
Belief,faith, hope, kindness…these are all things that we need every day in life and Santa is a nice little way of reminding us of that.That’s why despite my age, I still believe in the spirit of Santa Claus.
So there you have it, my favorite holiday movie. If you didnot like please let me know I would love to hear why.
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