The Santa Clause Movie Trilogy on Blu-Ray - Courtesy Disney Home Video, 2012
Now if by some fluke or mere coincidence you've never even heard of this film series, allow me to shine some light on the subject. In the original "The Santa Clause", Tim Allen plays Scott Calvin, your average nice middle-aged guy, father of young Charlie (Eric Lloyd) and divorced from wife Laura (Wendy Crewson). Scott works at a toy company as an executive, and tries to make whatever time he can spare to spend with his son.
One night, on Christmas Eve, to be exact, Scott and Charlie hear a thud on the roof of their suburban house. When they head out to investigate, they see a jolly looking fellow in a red suit, white hair and beard, sleigh and reindeer. When Scott calls out to him, the mystery visitor slips and falls off the roof. Once he hits the ground, he vanishes into thin air, leaving behind the Santa-like garments. Inside the man's red and white coat is a card stating that whoever finds this coat should put it on, especially if the former wearer has gone missing. Logically enough, and to please his kid, Scott tries on the coat. And poof. The adventure begins.
Eric Lloyd and Tim Allen try to rationalize their predicament in the original THE SANTA CLAUSE - Picture Courtesy Disney Pictures, 1994
The puzzled single father finds himself transported to the North Pole (via flying sleigh and reindeer, naturally), where a senior elf worker named Bernard (David Krumholtz, in a great role) explains the "Santa Clause", whereby whoever put on the coat is to replace the previous wearer, thus becoming Santa. Being given a deadline of the following Thanksgiving to tie up loose ends in the "normal world", Scott is to become Santa permanently, with all of the perks and abilities included therein.
Of course, the journey to the following holidays is fraught with potential problems including a custody fight with his ex over Charlie, a case now gone complicated as Scott must explain that he hasn't gone insane. The bulk of the film explores the perils and challenges Scott faces while he decides whether or not he's ready for the awesome responsabilities the role of Santa requires.
In the 2002 sequel "The Santa Clause 2", Scott Calvin is still Santa, and eight years have passed since the first film. The administrative elves at Santa's workshop discover a fine print to the original clause: The "Mrs." Clause. Santa must get married by the following Christmas, or the holiday dies altogether.
Santa and Bernard examine the Naughty List, in THE SANTA CLAUSE 2 - Picture Courtesy Disney Pictures, 2002
If this little pickle wasn't enough of a problem, Scott also has to deal with his now teenaged son Charlie (still played by Lloyd), who apparently appears on the Naughty List, due to some destruction of property on high school grounds. Scott/Santa must travel back to the normal world in order to help his son redeem himself, all the while keeping an eye out for Mrs. Right, which in this case would become Mrs. Claus.
Lightning figuratively strikes when Scott meets Charlie's principal, Carol Newman (Elizabeth Mitchell). Though the two don't exactly hit it right off, Scott is immediately smitten by her and uses whatever Santa magic he has left at his disposal to woo her. While he does so, unbeknownst to him, all hell breaks loose up North. Hoping to conceal Scott's absence while he's off grounds finding love, the shop workers have built a robot Santa in Scott's likeness to replace him. The problem? This faux-Santa does things a little too literally, and is slowly taking over the entire operation, threatening to destroy Christmas before the real Santa returns with good news to fulfill the requirements of this sub-clause.
Finally, in the latest installment "Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause", Scott (Allen) meets his match when he butts heads against the chilly Jack Frost (Martin Short, overacting on purpose). In a plot that could have been picked right out of "It's a Wonderful Life", "Santa Clause 3" sees Scott and Carol expecting a child at the North Pole. Scott invites his ex-wife, her husband Neil (Judge Reinhold) and daughter Lucy (Liliana Mumy), as well as Carol's parents (Alan Arkin and Ann-Margret).
Santa show Jack Frost around his home and work area, in THE SANTA CLAUSE 3 - Picture Courtesy Disney Pictures, 2006
Trying to keep Carol comfortable as things get busier around the Santa estate, Scott also gets summoned to an important meeting of Legendary Characters, where he must help Mother Nature, Father Time, The Sandman, The Tooth Fairy and The Easter Bunny render judgment unto Frost (Short), who's been bitter about not having his own holiday theme in modern lore and has been trying to steal some of the Christmas thunder from Scott. Receiving sentence to perform community service by helping around Snta's workshop, Frost proceeds to try and ruin Christmas through various acts of sabotage, until he finds another bit of fine print to the Santa gig: The Escape Clause.
Frost tricks Scott into invoking said clause, sending both Scott and Frost back to Christmas 1994 (in the very first scenes of the original film, actually) where Frost gets to the coat first, turning into Santa instead. This causes both men to travel back to the present day, where Santa is now an opportunistic and tyrannical slave-driver at the North Pole, while Scott sees his alternate life as a regular man whose job at the toy company continued, but had little rapport with his now estranged son. It's up to Scott to travel up to the North Pole to try and reverse this entire series of events, before Jack Frost ruins happy holidays forever.
I never thought that one could ever buiild upon the great and original story that was the first film. After all, it had an inventive premise, an endearing set of characters, plenty of witty but family-friendly dialogue and double-entendres, and a fuzzy and warm d'enouement.
Then again, the writers who came up with each subsequent clause for the following films got more and more clever, finding the means to eclipse each previous film. Though the third film seemed to borrow from other established holiday classics, it was still nice to see a comedic legend like Martin Short pit himself aginst a lovable goof like Tim Allen.
The trilogy's other strength lay in its ability to retain most of the original cast from movie to movie, over a twelve-year span. This allowed for welcome familiarity tying each installment into the next. So often have movie franchises decided to switch actors mid-series causing anger and frustration, not to mention confusion amongst kids who couldn't grasp the concept of central casting. Even the absence of David "Bernard" Krumholtz is explained in the third film (the actor was under contract on another project), simply by having the writers promote another helpful elf from the second film to Bernard's old position. Problem solved.
Now, if you're wondering how many new goodies are included in each blu-ray disc of this set, you might be in for a slight disappointment: Aside from some movie trailers for upcoming films found on the first film's blu-ray disc, all extras appear to have been rehashed from the original DVD release. In fact, the extras found on the first two films' discs are in standard resolution, likely recycled from their original home video versions. Only the third and most recent film shows any sign of high resolution content.
Nonetheless, all three films look great on screen, with excellent DTS sound offered on all installments. You'll also find bloopers, interviews and the usual assortment of interactive, kid-friendly games.
Is this set worth buying for the family? Only if you didn't own any of them and have run your previous DVD or VHS versions ragged from repeat viewing. It's certainly a chance to keep the kids busy for half a day at least, and newcomers will get to see the whole saga in crisp, crystal clarity. Ho ho ho indeed!
"3.5 OUT OF 5"
Published: Saturday, October 27, 2012 - 4:54pm
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