It took 8 years for The Santa Clause (1994) to get a sequel, but the wait was worth it. While this sequel may not be the pure Christmas classic the first film was, it is still a yuletide delight.
In this sequel, Scott Calvin (Tim Allen) is incredibly happy in his new role as Santa Claus. However, things go south when he finds out that he must get married to continue to be Santa Claus. If he doesn't, he will lose his Christmas magic and have to go back to being a regular man. At the same time, he finds out that his son Charlie has found himself on the naughty list. He decides to go back home to both find out what is happening with his son and find love. To run the North Pole while he is gone, he and two of his main elves create a toy Santa. However, the toy Santa believes all children are naughty and believes that they should all get pool.
This sequel is cornier, sillier and more over the top than the first movie. However, it knows exactly what it is, which makes it a lot of fun. In fact, humor is the one area where this film may improve over the first. The scenes with the toy Santa are incredibly over the top and funny. While this may not be a franchise that necessarily needs villains at least we have a very entertaining one here. This allows Tim Allen to let out his over-the-top comedic side without distracting from the film's story. There are also plenty of slapstick gags throughout and most of them work very well.
While the movie is more over the top in the comedy department, it still has a lot of heart. The romantic story is actually very sweet and heartwarming. Elizabeth Mitchell and Tim Allen have great chemistry and the romance between them is very believable and surprisingly touching. Another great addition to this film was Scott's niece Lucy. Played wonderfully by child actress Liliana Mumy (who now in her adult career has been providing voices for cartoons for years (most recently as the voice of Leni Loud on TV's The Loud House), she is a sweet and adorable child who feels completely natural and never cloying. Her relationship with both Scott and Charlie feels completely real and earned.
I only really have two complaints about this film. One is that there is too much going on with multiple storylines. This takes away some of the simple charm if the first movie. The other complaint is that many of the songs on the soundtrack seem to be trying too hard to be hip and cool. This can make the movie feel too much like the early 2000's that it takes away from the timeless quality this type of Christmas film should have.
This movie was directed by Michael Lembeck. Like John Pasquin (the director of the first movie), he is much better known for his work in TV. He worked on TV as both an actor and director. As an actor his best-known TV role is as Max Horvath on the sitcom, Max Horvath. As a director he directed episodes of such popular shows as Mad About You, Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond and Baby Daddy. He would also go on to direct the third film in this series. In this movie the Tooth Fairy plays an important role. Lembeck would later direct Dwayne Johnson in The Tooth Fairy (2010).
This may be a corny and silly movie. However, with a mug of hot coco it makes for delightful Yuletide viewing on a December night.
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