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There may be some bias on my part as I grew up with this movie, but in my mind, this is a real Christmas classic.
The story line is probably very familiar to a lot of you. A divorced dad named Scott Calvin is watching his young son, Charlie, on Christmas Eve, when Santa Claus falls off of his roof. Santa disappears and all that is left of him is his clothes. The dad puts on the clothes and finds out that doing this means that he is the new Santa Claus. He wakes up the next morning believing that this is all a dream. However, his son also remembers it and wants to tell everyone that his dad is Santa Claus. As the next Christmas comes closer the dad is still skeptical that the whole thing happened, even when he starts to physically turn into Santa.
To me the real charm about this movie is its sense of imagination. This is especially true about the scenes in the North Pole, which are very visually pleasing and feel like something that came from a child's imagination. The premise of a regular man becoming Santa Claus is a very clever one and the film take perfect advantage of it. I love how he matures and grows into the role as the film progresses. This character arc makes the character feel completely believable and heavily endears him to us. His relationship to his son is also very sweet and endearing. How much he loves his son also makes this character incredibly likable to us, even when he is in denial over what happened or fighting with his ex-wife's new husband. While much of the credit for this movie is often given to the adult cast, Eric Lloyd as Charlie is the real heart of this movie. He pulls on our heartstrings without every feeling cloying.
Of course, with Tim Allen as the star, there is a lot of comedy throughout. For the most part it works quite well. The best comedic moments come from simple sight gags, such as when Scott is followed by deer or finds a whole bunch of children lining up to tell him what they want for Christmas. Judge Reinhold as his ex-wife's new husband also gets some truly great laughs here. The humor sometimes falls flat when the movie can turn into almost a stand-up routine for Tim Allen. I know Tim Allen is a very popular comedian and he was at the height of his career, but these bits seemed unnecessary, especially as with this movie Tim Allen proves he is a very good actor. When the movie asked him to play a scene straight, he does so seemingly effortlessly.
With how well Tim Allen does in this role, it is strange to think that he wasn't the only one considered for playing Scott Calvin. Both Chevy Chase and Bill Murray where briefly considered. Chase wasn't able to do it due to scheduling conflicts and Murray didn't want to do another Christmas movie after Scrooged (1988). In November 1992 Disney's Hollywood Studios acquired the script and started reworking it as a vehicle for Tim Allen.
Director John Pasquin was already familiar to Tim Allen as he had directed and produced episodes of Allen's popular sitcom, Home Improvement. He would continue working with Tim Allen with such movies as Jungle 2 Jungle (1997) and Joe Somebody (2001). He also was one of the main directors and producers of the later Tim Allen sitcom, Last Man Standing. He can be seen briefly in this movie as one of the Santa's in the line-up.
Though this movie was originally going to be released under Disney's Hollywood Pictures but when Disney saw that they had a huge hit on their hands, the released it under the Disney banner. It was a massive hit. It grossed $19.3 million on its opening weekend become the second highest grossing opening weekend of 1994.
One scene you will not see in the movie today involves Scott Calvin stating, "1-800-SPANK-ME. I know that number." This turned out to be a real adult hot line and it was pulled from DVD and streaming versions of the film as well as TV airings.
Resources Used
https://www.vulture.com/2011/09/the-lost-roles-of-chevy-chase.html
https://variety.com/1992/film/news/h-wood-aims-to-nail-allen-for-clause-101652/
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