The Santa Clause Review

 

        For as long as I can remember, I always thought that Santa Claus always had an “E” in the end. Due to this film, I have been spelling Saint Nick’s name wrong. This is one of those good Disney live-action films in the 90s. To put it into context, Disney had a dry spell of terrible live action films that resulted in movies based on classic television shows. The Santa Clause and Straight Story are a few exceptions to the good Disney live action films. It’s another holiday classic that manages to put a spin on the Santa Claus myth. SPOILERS will appear in the review. 

1. Story

        The film stars comedian Tim Allen playing toy salesman Scott Calvin. He is a divorced man who sees his son Charlie for the holidays. His ex-wife tells him that Charlie needs to start phasing out the belief in Santa. Scott objects by saying he wants to be involved and not left out. While Charlie and Scott are asleep, the boy hears a noise. Scott checks it out and startles Santa causing him to fall. 

        Scott is apprehensive about it since he thinks the Santa is a crazy person. He picks up a business card and wears the suit while Charlie tags along. Scott does a terrible job but enjoys it and the reindeer take the father and son to the north pole. They are greeted by the elves and the head elf Bernard played by David Krumholtz, who explains what Calvin unintentionally agreed to. 

        Throughout the film, Charlie begins to tell his Mom and stepdad about his adventure to the north pole. While Scot slowly turns into Santa Claus. This movie belongs in a very elusive film list of good Santa Claus films such as Miracle in 34th Street and The Polar Express.  Where the main idea is having the belief of Santa Claus’s existence. I’ll explain more on why the motif makes the film great.

2. Seeing is Believing 

        Throughout the film, the overall theme of belief is a recurring one. Since it’s about the myth of Santa Claus and how much he means to the children, the film does put in a unique spin of it. With Scott Calvin, he lies a lot to his son about believing in the figure. The whole ordeal is treated as a strange dream since Scott wakes up back at his place but wearing the pajamas one of the elves had gave to him. 

        When Charlie starts to tell everybody, people are skeptical about it and just laugh it off. Scott tries to tell Charlie to say that it was just a dream until he changes it by saying it’s a secret. The whole moment is interesting since we get a reason as to why Charlie’s Mom and new Dad stopped believing. By saying that they wanted a specific gift but never got it, thus prompting them to not believe anymore. 

        Eventually, the Mom and stepdad decide to get the police involved which results in Scott to embrace his role as Santa Claus and inevitably reveal to everyone that he is real. The overall arc of Scott Calvin is unique since he doesn’t embrace his role until realizing that he can’t change his hair or try to lose the fat. He is convinced by his son that he is Santa. While it’s not that deep, it has a child-esque sense of belief.

3. What it got right

        The overall simplicity and playing it straight is what makes the film great. The film isn’t bogged down with multiple subplots that don’t go anywhere. It’s just about Scott having to deal with him being the new Santa. A small detail that I’ve noticed is that the a few elves live among the humans. The times that I saw them was in the beginning and when Charlie is in school. I think it can be interpreted as they are looking for candidates or making sure which kid is naughty or nice. With that, why did the sequels get progressively worse?

4. Why make a sequel?

        Before I watched the film, I watched the sequels that was playing on TV. What I saw was just what was lost in the succeeding sequels. Most of them didn’t have that very simple approach to Christmas. They showed more of the North Pole, but I feel that it should’ve just been limited to the workshop. More so that they added more to the Clause by adding that Santa needs a Mrs. Clause. 

The third one, it’s just bad. That one involved time travel and Alan Aarkin just being not interested at all. It’s just bad. 

5. Overall

        The Santa Clause is one of those films that somehow manages to work. Tim Allen does a good job and looks like a Santa Claus with the prosthetics in his body. The film has heart with the themes of belief and just the joy of Christmas. It’s an enjoyable Christmas film that has the hallmarks of a Disney movie. 

The Santa Clause gets a four out of five.