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The Santa Clause 2
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USA, 2002. Rated R. 110 minutes.
Cast:
Tim Allen, Elizabeth Mitchell, Eric Lloyd, David Krumholtz, Spencer Breslin,
Wendy Crewson, Judge Reinhold, Liliana Mumy, Kevin Pollack, Molly Shannon
Writers: Ken Duario, Ed Decter, Cinco Paul, Don Rhymer, John J.
Strauss
Music: George S. Clinton
Cinematographers: Adam Greenberg, Craig Haagensen
Producers: Robert F. Newmyer, Brian Reilly, Jeffery Silver
Director: Michael Lembeck
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have to hand it--whatever it is--to Tim Allen. When it comes to family entertainment,
this man, who normally comes off as a general bonehead on screen, shines. If
you didn't think Allen's voice over for Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story was
charming, there's something wrong with you. Likewise, if his performance as
The Best Santa Ever in The Santa Clause 2 doesn't make you want to sit
on his lap (please remove your mind from the gutter) and unravel your six-page
list of must-have toys, you need professional psychiatric help.
As Scott Calvin/Santa Clause, Tim Allen has generated a warm, charismatic performance
that is the highlight of The Santa Clause 2. When various children run
up to him and automatically assume that this man, who looks nothing like Santa
at that point of the story, is old St. Nick, I never doubted why. Allen is just
so appealing in Scott-Calvin-as-Santa-Claus (or vice versa) 
mode
that those childish antics never came off as the heavy-handed plot device they
really were (ok, so maybe it occurred to me that they were trying a wee bit
too hard to show Scott as being The Perfect Santa).
The Santa Clause 2 is an unfocused sequel to 1994's wonderful (yeah,
I said wonderful) The Santa Clause, in which semi-deadbeat dad Scott
Calvin (Allen) kills the real Santa Claus and reaps the benefits (let's overlook
the fact that this was all by accident, and Scott hardly thought highly of the
"benefits" of Santa-dom as he got them). Eight years later, Santa satisfaction
is at an all time high, and Santa must face what could be the most grueling
task ever: How to stretch himself out through three plots. There's plenty of
Santa to go around, yes, but now Scott, in Plot #1, must find a wife in 28 days
because of a "Missus Clause" or risk losing his title as Santa forever. Plot
#2 has Scott discovering his son, Charlie (Eric Lloyd), on the naughty list
due to an unexplained turn as Upper Middle Class White Suburban Graffiti Artist.
Plot #2, gets Scott out of his North Pole house and meets chicks, most namely
his son's militant Hitchcock-blonde of a principal, Carol Newman (Elizabeth
Mitchell). Plot #3, which has no logical connection to the story whatsoever,
has one of the most pathetic villains ever--a fake plastic Santa (also played
by Allen)--replacing Santa in the North Pole, becoming a fifth rate dictator,
and threatening to give every single child in the world coal for Christmas because
they've all been "naughty."
The Santa Clause 2 barely manages to be a good sequel by the grace of
its cast. Where the movie sags, the cast picks up. The performances from Allen
and Mitchell make their characters and their relationship more understandable
than they would have been otherwise. Plot #3 benefits from David Krumholtz and
Spencer Breslin, playing elves Bernard and Curtis, who make those awful Plot
#3 North Pole scenes watchable. Poor Plot #2 just can' t win, though, because
repeat performers Lloyd, Wendy Crewson, and Judge Reinhold can't fly with the
material they're given. Plot #2 comes off as a cutesy, overacted family sitcom.
The talents of the cast can' t conceal the poor script--the writers foolishly
give an equal amount of time to each plot (which makes me wonder if they ever
heard of a subplot) and eliminate any clarity or conflict. The movie also lacks
something very important--action. There are only a few moments (most notably
a sequence where Scott literally works his Christmas magic to woo Carol) where
the movie leaps off the screen. Otherwise, and most disappointingly during the
lackluster climax, the movie is too static to be truly entertaining. For now,
all you can do for some genuine cinematic family Christmas cheer is to bask
in the glow of Tim Allen's Santa Claus… and wait for Home Alone to come
on TV.
Review
© November 2002 by AboutFilm.Com and the author.
Images © 2002 Disney. All Rights Reserved.
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