Tis the season to be Soppy (The Santa Clause (DVD))

Member Name: 2Quizzy

Product:	The Santa Clause (DVD)
Date:	23/11/03 (37 review reads)
Rating:

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Disadvantages: **

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ho ho ho! a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a.
a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. a. ho ho ho!


'Tis the season to be soppy.. and there's no better way to spend a festive evening than watching a good Christmas movie.

Now, a "good" Christmas movie has to be sentimental enough to make you feel warm and sentimental without nausea and sweet enough to make you feel good about the world without going into movie-diabetic shock. It should have a few tense moments and enough laughs to keep you watching and a good festive message of love and goodwill to all mankind.

Given these criteria The Santa Clause rates as one of my top favourite Christmas movies.

What's it about?

Scott Calvin, played by Tim Allen, is a world-weary man. His wife has divorced him to marry a man he considers an idiot, his job as a company executive a toy company leaves him harassed and he's finding being a part-time dad to his young son Charlie, Eric Lloyd, frustrating in the extreme.

..and to make matters worse Santa has just died falling off his roof.

He finds out that dearly departed Santa has changed his life forever. The Santa Clause ? that anyone being "responsible" for Santa's death has to pay by taking his place and becoming the next Santa.

The next morning he thinks it's all a bad dream? until weird things start happening.

I won't spoil the fun by telling too much. There's nothing worse than knowing all the "punch lines" before you get to see a movie. Basically Scott's life turns crazy as his body starts transforming itself into "Santa". He craves milk and cookies instead of beer and pizza, he's putting on weight at the speed of sound and every time he shaves.. a few hours later a full snowy beard grows back!

Scott thinks he's seriously
ill, his work-mates think he's having a breakdown and his wife's new husband thinks he's delusional and therefore a danger to Charlie and an unfit father.

Judge Reinhold plays the new husband Dr Neal Miller, a successful smugly self-satisfied psychologist. He and Scott's ex-wife Laura, played by Wendy Crewson, have life all worked out. They are calm and organised where Scott is rushed and ruffled. They are cool and rational where he is human and emotional. They both view Scott's normal humanity as signs of his being a failure in life, something that irritates Scott intensely. His sarcastic comments on his wife's new husband are great.

Laura: "All Neil told him was that Santa was more of a feeling. More of a state of mind than an actual person."

Scott: "Kind of like Neil."

Actually, Scott's quick dry comments are a big part of what makes this movie funny. When he gets whipped off to the North Pole and forced to give out gifts all over the world his cynical observations and general disastrous half-hearted efforts are a scream. I particularly loved his first trip down a chimney and the bit with the surf board.

In the far North he also meets up with the elves, in particular Judy, Paige Tamada, and Bernard, played by David Krumholtz. Neither are your typical Santa elves. Judy is as quick with the one-liners as Scott and Bernard reminds me of a character out of a Mickey Spillane story. They're a bit overdone, in my opinion, but the effect is amusing. Charlie, Scott's son, was the blandest character as far as I'm concerned. Americans seem to pick their child actors on cute rather than acting ability and although he never was jarring to the story line he really doesn't add much either. The two who make the movie are ultimately Scott and his wife's new husband, Neil.

Neil's so irritatingly serene and mentally perfect. He has the wise smug-intelle
ctual psychological answer to everything. You just can't help but dislike him as much as Scott and he makes a perfect foil for Scott's sarcastic one-liners.

This was the feature film debut for Tim Allen and it's a pity that most of his movies after this seem to have been on a downward curve. I like Tim Allen and in this movie he's at his best. He's sharp and funny and a character you really feel you could invite home for a beer. He's "real" and that's what makes his transformation into a fantasy figure that much more impelling.

As Scott struggles to keep his identity from exploding into Santa his life begins to fall apart. His job is on the line and, worst of all, his wife and Neil decide he's a danger to Charlie and start proceedings to get his rights to see his son taken away from him. No matter how hard he fights there seems no way he can stop his life from snowballing into disaster. Charlie's attempts to help him by insisting his dad really IS Santa only make things worse.

The ending is typical Hollywood. The build up of disasters and unjust treatment,of the "hero" the big climax and the magical happy ending. Maybe this one is a bit different in that the happy ending comes at the cost of Scot having to finally decide who to "sacrifice", Scott Calvin or Santa?

Watch the movie and see for yourself. The special effects of Scott delivering presents are clever and funny, the sleigh ride through the skies with Charlie are magical and the ending has all the right mushy gooey festive cheer to make the whole family come away smiling.

The Santa Clause 1994 Running time: 1 hour 37 min

MOVIE TRIVIA

When Scott and Charlie are leaving the North Pole in the sleigh and pass by the moon; the moon has a distinct Mickey Mouse logo on it.

PS - I see there is now The Santa Cause 2 out on video as well. I haven't seen this new one yet. Mi
ght give it a shot over the holidays although I'm a bit wary of sequels.

Summary: