I'm trying
something different to get in the holiday spirit this year. Every
day, from now through Christmas, I will be watching a different
Christmas movie or television special. I have compiled the list of
features ahead of time and am drawing one, at random, from my
Christmas stocking everyday to determine what gets watched. Thank
you for joining me in this endeavor. Let's find out what the
twenty-second feature is.
The Santa Clause
(1994)
I have only seen this movie one
time, on VHS, way back in the holiday season of 1995. My mother
arranged to have someone place a package from Santa in our tree while
we were out doing whatever holiday activities we were up to 21 years
ago. That package was a VHS copy of The Santa Clause. My family
watched it together that night. I remember enough about the story to
know that I didn't hate it but it also didn't become something I
watched in future years. If I was that lukewarm on it at age 10 it
doesn't bode particularly well for me now. But, maybe I'm wrong,
let's find out.
Synopsis
It is Christmas Eve; Scott Calvin,
a divorced toy executive, has custody of his son, Charlie, for the
holiday. Charlie would prefer to spend Christmas with his mom,
Laura, and her boyfriend, Neal. For his part, Scott doesn't really
know what to do to make Christmas special. He burns the turkey
necessitating a run to Denny's for the Christmas Eve meal and then he
stumbles his way through a reading of T'was the Night
Before Christmas. With both of
them feeling discouraged, Scott puts Charlie to bed.
Soon, however, Charlie is awoken by
a sound up on the roof. He goes to wake up his dad. At first, Scott
doesn't believe him but then he hears the sound as well. They go
outside and spot Santa on the roof. Scott calls out to Santa which
causes him to lose his footing and fall off the roof and die. Scott
finds a card in the deceased Santa's pocket telling him that if
anything happens to Santa whoever is reading the card should put on the
suit and the reindeer will know what to do. With that the body
vanishes and, with some prodding from Charlie, Scott does indeed put
on the suit and they end up making the rest of Santa's deliveries.
 |
| It is the rare Christmas movie that has Santa die an ignominious death inside of its first 15 minutes. |
With the deliveries completed the
reindeer bring them to the North Pole. It is here that Scott is made
aware that his life has been forever altered. In fine print, along
the outside edge of the card that was in Santa's pocket, is printed
the titular Santa Clause. By putting on the suit and entering the
sleigh, Scott has given up all rights to his previous life and has
become the new Santa. Scott is in disbelief and falls asleep at the
North Pole still protesting this chain of events. He and Charlie
wake up back at the house and Scott is beginning to think that it was
just a dream until he realizes that he is wearing the pajamas that he
got at the North Pole.
The film then speeds us through the
year leading up to the next holiday season. Scott undergoes magical
changes that make him look his new part. Charlie fully believes in
what happened even before Scott does making his mom and Neal wonder
if Scott might be an unhealthy influence on him. Laura and Neal
successfully petition to have Scott's visitation rights revoked. In
spite of this, Charlie returns with Scott to the North Pole at
Thanksgiving to prepare for the coming Christmas creating a kidnapped
child situation. Because of this, Scott gets grabbed
by the police when he arrives to fill the stockings at Laura's house.
Charlie and some special forces elves break Scott out of jail and
Scott returns Charlie to Laura and Neal. Laura suddenly believes
Scott's story and burns the documents revoking his visitation rights.
This somehow makes everything better and Scott leaves to make the
rest of his deliveries, confident and assured in his role as Santa.
 |
| "You took my son for a month without telling me where he was, I want you to see more of him for some reason" |
Final Thoughts
The first thing that strikes me
about this film is the way Tim Allen goes about playing Scott Calvin.
I get that he is trying to play a redeemable asshole type character
a la Bill Murray in Groundhog's Day but he simply lacks the charm
necessary to do so. He just comes off as wholly mean spirited. A
second point is that this movie simply oozes nineties cliches. The
entire plot is constructed around a legal contract regarding Santa
Claus. I can't imagine this being dreamed up outside of the overly
litigious era of hot coffee lawsuits. Further the film tackles that
frequent topic of nineties family movies: divorced parents. To its
credit, they don't end up back together at the film's conclusion,
which is refreshing. All in all, not the worst thing I've watched
for this project but there are simply too many logical
inconsistencies and too much sloppy writing for me to add it to my
regular rotation. It will likely be another 21 years before I seek
this one out again. On the plus side, it is available on Netflix.
So, if you have a subscription and are desperate for a holiday
feature, this film is there for you. See you next time.
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