I am not only a fan of children's Christmas films, but I love, what I would consider, as a slightly more adult version of affairs, although saying that I don't think that really applies to this film at all .I suppose I would deem this more my sort of film than the kids due to the fact they don't like this one!

The film I will now review is - "Santa Clause - The escape clause".

Now, I was and still am a huge fan of the first two of these films (I may or may not have already reviewed these!).
I think the one drawing thing is of course the two male leads, the wonderful and comical Tim Allen and the understated but hysterical Judge Reinhold, who in the 80's, was one of my favourite actors, does anyone remember Visa Versa, top film!
The fact that this film also stars the wonderful Martin Short I was truly hopeful that this would be another "keeper", (god bless Ebay!).

The basic premise of the story is a year on from their impromptu marriage, Santa (Scott Calvin, aka Tim Allen) and his other half Mrs C (Carol aka Elizabeth Mitchel), are once again on the cusp of their busiest time of year, Christmas eve.
This year though it is decided that the "in - laws" be invited to the North Pole, this will take some planning as there is to be the illusion that this is actually a themed toy factory, so as not to give away Scott's (aka Santa's) big secret.... Can't think what that might be!

During this trying and difficult time there is also another thing that seems to be taking up everyone's attention, the fact that Mrs C is 9 months pregnant and likely to "go" at any moment.

Amongst all this the disgraced Jack Frost (Martin Short) has been brought before the council of the elders to face charges of reckless behaviour, in a bid to encourage him Santa offers to take him on as an assistant, bad idea!

This is where the trouble begins, Jack discovers the secret "escape clause" that if activated could strip Santa of his, well his...... santaness!

I really wanted this to be a great film, all the elements were there, Christmas, Santa, Tim, Judge and Martin, mythical elders and elves, I was I'm afraid to say a little disappointed.

I know this is an incredibly stupid thing to say but this is the only way I can describe it.... It was too far fetched!! (I know, told you it was stupid).

The first film was literally Tim Allen being persuaded that there was a chance he was a mythical person, the second not quite as good, but fun none the less, this one really had no direction.
Martin Short was farcical as a baddie, I know this is aimed at the slightly younger audience, but even they would have found it hard to believe he was a baddie! There was no explanation as to why the "escape clause" was there, when it had never ever been mentioned or referred to before, and the way the Santa could be defrocked shall we say was just plain stupid!

Ok, I'm not selling this one at all am I?

The running time on this film is 88 minutes, but by god it feels a lot longer!

There are some extra's on this dvd, these being -

Various different interviews with the cast and crew involved with this film
Creating movie magic
Christmas Carol - oke, again a karaoke featuring many well known carols, with the words appearing across the bottom of the screen
Bloopers reel.

I paid £13.99 for this when it was first released, a present of my long suffering husband! I am almost 100% when I say that this will be available for pennies on Ebay or Amazon.

Do I recommend this, not really! The storyline is stale, the characters not that well acted out, though the performance that Elizabeth Mitchel puts in is very funny, even her antics can't save this one!

For more information visit - www.disneydvds.co.uk

Thanks for reading x