Santa Clause 2

Once again Tim Allen dons the Santa suit in this Disney sequel that seems to be trying to cash in on the popularity of the original film. Like most sequels (especially Disney) this isn't quite as good as the original but is still better than a fair number of other Christmas geared entertainment.

Santa seems to be having a couple of problems lately despite his success as the current..Santa. It seems that his son Charlie went from being young and innocent to a trouble making teen and lands on the 'Naughty' list. To make matters worse Bernard and a new helper elf inform Santa that he needs to fulfill one thing that was overlooked in the first film, he needs to get married. One must wonder though where the previous Mrs. Claus went when her husband fell off the roof in the first film......

Needing to fulfill his duties as a father, get married and keep on track as Santa, Scott decides to make a rather big mistake. Going along with a plan thought up by the new elf, Santa brings in a toy Santa to cover for him at the North Pole while he goes to get things sorted down. Bernard helps out by giving him a watch to show how much magic he has left and tells him if he runs out that he can never come back as well that he only has until Christmas Eve.

Santa Clause 2 isn't really a great film, there's a lot of small things that just add up to detract from how good it could have been. For one we not only get Comet back, but also have a second reindeer in training named Chet join us. Chet is.....annoying instead of comedic like intended and his humor largely comes from crashing or yelling gibberish. As well we get fart jokes from Comet. Things have changed a bit and are a bit more technological this time around instead of having a more fantasy base. The opening kind of drags on a bit and the romance a bit rushed considering Santa has to convince a woman to marry him and his choice is.....lacking the Christmas spirit. While it does have it's good moments there's just a bit too much to keep it from the great level.

The Santa Clause

When Santa Claus falls off of Scott Calvin's (Tim Allen) roof, he discovers that he must now don the suit and take over as the new Santa Claus. Bit of a hard one to explain to kids that he's the new Santa because the previous died......probably not Disney's best idea.

Scott Calvin soon finds that he has only one year to prepare for his new job as Santa, despite his constant denial of the fact he's the new Claus even after finishing the guy's job and being sucked down chimney's. With begrudging reluctance he begins looking over the enormous naughty and nice list, packs on weight and earns a fast growing beard all in time for the new holiday season.

Through all of this, Calvin has to juggle dealing with his estranged wife, her more new age husband and his neglected son, the latter of which is the only one who believes he's Santa thanks to joining him in the previous years exploits. While trying to juggle his new responsibility and assuring his son he is not Santa Calvin goes on a series of misadventures until he finally accepts his role.

A rather light hearted film, the majority of the cast is really not all that memorable perhaps save for the head elf Bernard and Tim Allen as Santa. The movie avoids trying to heap on the sentimental feelings and instead goes straight for a Christmas fantasy which works out rather well in the end.