Friday, March 14, 2014


Movie Review

The Santa Clause 2 (2002)

November 1, 2002

FILM REVIEW; Santa Cheers Up a School and Marries the Principal

Published: November 1, 2002

Perhaps you have been asking yourself: how can I fill up that dead time between Halloween and Election Day? Well, the thoughtful people at Walt Disney, fresh from their World Series triumph, have just the answer: a Christmas movie, the very first of the season. I'm obliged to report that ''The Santa Clause 2,'' which opens today nationwide, captures the true spirit of the holiday. It's mildly sentimental, unabashedly consumerist (with anything-but-subliminal advertisements for McDonald's hamburgers and NestlÃ© candy tucked inside), studiously inoffensive and completely disposable.

It's like one of the heavily advertised, much coveted toys that become garage-sale fodder before the tree has even been dismantled. But the movie's early release is therefore something of a mercy. Get it out of the way now, and by the time the actual holiday rolls around you can hire a sitter and go see ''The Hours'' or ''Gangs of New York.''

Do I sound like a Grinch? Oh well. As I recall, that green meanie learned that Christmas ''doesn't come from the store,'' that maybe it ''means a little bit more.'' Don't you believe it for a minute, pal. That kind of socialist nonsense just won't fly around here. And why should it? This is a movie about a Santa Claus (Tim Allen), who brightens the lives of a group of miserable high school teachers by handing out vintage swag like Rock'em Sock'em robots and Toss Across at the faculty Christmas party -- ''antique'' toys (how old that made me feel!) that restore the innocent joys of childhood to these gloomy adults.

Curiously enough, this is the most touching scene in the movie; it acknowledges the undeniable emotional power that cheap, mass-produced plastic objects can exert over children, and the nostalgia that they continue to exercise over grown-ups.

Speaking of the power of toys, it seems that a molded plastic Santa, built by an enterprising elf named Curtis (Spencer Breslin) to serve as interim C.E.O. up at the North Pole, has run amok and staged a coup d'Ã©tat. This ersatz Santa, also played by Mr. Allen, institutes a zero-tolerance policy for naughtiness, which means that the children of the world will receive coal in their stockings.

His seizure of power, and the attempts of the elves and the real Santa to stop it, constitute the movie's child-friendly plot line. For the parents, there is some gooey business between Santa and the tough blond high school principal (Elizabeth Mitchell) who is destined to become the new Mrs. Claus.

Please don't think that I've given anything away. Santa's terms of employment require him to be wed by Christmas, so he pops back to his snowy suburban home, where he quickly sheds pounds and facial hair and turns back into Scott Calvin. You may recall from the first ''Santa Clause'' movie, an enormous hit eight years ago, that Scott became Santa after an accident befell his predecessor.

Now Scott, who is amicably divorced, discovers that his teenage son, Charlie (Eric Lloyd), is having some trouble at school, the sources of which can be traced to his dad's stressful job and the burden of keeping it a secret. The target of his anger, though, is the principal, who has banned all manifestations of Christmas spirit from her school.

This seemed to me a perfectly sensible (and admirably constitutional) policy, but it turns out to be the expression of -- what else? -- a childhood hurt that only Santa can cure. Which he does, just in time to save Christmas from his coal-dispensing doppelgÃ¤nger.

Which leads me to a scholarly observation. Mr. Allen, in ''Toy Story 2,'' played two Buzz Lightyears, one ''real,'' and one an impostor, and in this sequel he does almost exactly the same thing. Fascinating, isn't it? To any graduate student in film studies out there in search of a dissertation topic, may I suggest ''The Theme of the Double in the Sequels of Tim Allen.'' Don't forget to footnote this review.


Directed by Michael Lembeck; written by Don Rhymer, Cinco Paul, Ken Daurio, Ed Decter and John J. Strauss, based on a story by Leo Benvenuti and Steve Rudnick; director of photography, Adam Greenberg; edited by David Finfer; music by George S. Clinton; production designer, Tony Burrough; produced by Brian Reilly, Bobby Newmyer and Jeffrey Silver; released by Walt Disney Pictures. Running time: 98 minutes. This film is rated G.

WITH: Tim Allen (Scott Calvin/Santa/Toy Santa), Elizabeth Mitchell (Carol), David Krumholtz (Bernard), Eric Lloyd (Charlie Calvin), Judge Reinhold (Neil Miller), Wendy Crewson (Laura Miller) and Spencer Breslin (Curtis).

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