It’s hard to believe that the Tim Allen holiday classic ‘The Santa Clause’ turned 30 this year! ‘The Santa Clause’ became a big hit and ultimately spawned two sequels, along with a recent Disney Plus series.
For next year’s holiday review series, I might go through the remaining follow ups. So, let’s go and revisit this 1994 holiday classic!
Divorced dad Scott Calvin has custody of his son on Christmas Eve. After he accidentally causes a man in a Santa suit to fatally fall off a roof, they are magically transported to the North Pole, where an elf explains that Scott must take Santa’s place before the next Christmas arrives.
Scott thinks he’s dreaming, but over the next several months he gains weight and grows an inexplicably white beard. Maybe that night at the North Pole wasn’t a dream after all - and maybe Scott has a lot of work to do.
After all these years, Disney’s 1994 holiday classic ‘The Santa Clause’ is still a lot of fun. This was the first time watching this movie in quite some time and it’s still very amusing and even heart-felt at times.
‘The Santa Clause’ still delivers quite a few amusing moments, especially when Scott (the new Santa) and his son have their first North Pole visit. Tim Allen does what he does best to make people laugh in this movie and even his making fun of Judge Reinhold’s awful sweaters becomes a humorous running gag.
Once we see Scott slowly become Santa, the movie becomes more heart-felt as he gets closer to Charlie. This movie also has quite a few memorable moments and a few one-liners that will really have you laughing.
Scott’s first night as Santa (not long after the old Santa fell off the roof) is still one of the funniest bits of the movie. And, just in case no one has noticed, when Scott says “Ho Ho Ho” after his first Santa run in the beginning of the movie, he almost sounds like Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor from ‘Home Improvement.’
There’s also some good character development for Tim Allen’s character as he goes from being someone who mainly cares about business to someone who really cares about everything.
In between all the funny moments ‘The Santa Clause’ offers, there are some that can be a little emotional, such as when Scott briefly loses custody of Charlie. It’s also a little bittersweet when Scott/Santa and Charlie become really close once again. Sure, there are a few jokes that might go over the kids' heads. But, this Disney holiday classic is loads of fun and will give everyone who has grown up with the movie (myself included) a nice nostalgic feeling!
Cast: Tim Allen (Scott Calvin); Judge Reinhold (Neal); Wendy Crewson (Laura); Eric Lloyd (Charlie Calvin); Peter Boyle (Mr. Whittle); Judith Scott (Susan); Larry Brandenberg (Detective Nunzio); David Krumholtz (Bernard)
Writer/director: Leo Benvenuti (writer); Steve Rudnick (writer) (both writers have also written ‘Kicking & Screaming’, ‘The Santa Clause 2’ and ‘Space Jam’); John Pasquin (director) (‘Home Improvement’; ‘Last Man Standing’)
Trivia: ‘The Santa Clause’ marks Tim Allen’s movie debut and the character of Scott Calvin was written with Bill Murray in mind. The 1994 movie eventually spawned a franchise: ‘The Santa Clause 2’ (2002), ‘The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause’ (2006) and ‘The Santa Clauses’ (Disney Plus series). I don’t really remember the sequels and haven’t watched the Disney Plus series so, like I said, I might save them for the next holiday series!
Where to find the movie? You can stream all of the ‘Santa Clause’ movies on Disney Plus!
*** I hope you have enjoyed the holiday review series that I have been working on throughout the month of December! For the next couple editions, I will be working on a few new releases that the Dietrich Theater will be showing, along with my annual best films of the year list. I will also be checking out a couple recent releases that I haven’t gotten around to checking out, along with a few throwback classic comedies to get us through the cold month of January!***
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