It must be coming up to 25 years since I last watched ‘The Santa Clause’ on a murkey VHS over at my cousins place. and honestly, the memories were pretty fuzzy. The irony being the thing I most remember about it, is how little I ACTUALLY remember about it. So sitting down to revisit this one this year I was wondering if this was something I just maybe wasnt in the headspace for back then, or if it was something a bit more remarkable…The answer?…Ehhhhh…
The plot follows somewhat useless, but relatively kind hearted Dad Scott Calvin who, while sharing custody with his son on one christmas eve night, hears a clatter on his roof, goes outside and finds Santa tumbling to the ground. Perplexed the pair make it up to the roof and get into Santas sleigh, completing his rounds, while Scott (who went to check out what the noise was in just his undies and a PJ top) puts Dead Santas clothes on to keep warm, inadvertently triggering a contractual agreement.
See, in this universe, if Santa dies, and you put his suit on. YOU become Santa and set in motion a 12 month Cronenbergian transformation in which your hair turns white and cant be dyed, you grow a permanent beard and mustache which cant be shaved and you gain 200lbs that cant be shed. It also alters your personality, making you more whimsical, jolly and caring. In any other genre this would be the makings of an absurdist body horror piece…but its christmas, so we’re supposed to laugh along as Scott slowly loses his identity, his old life, his job and access to his child for the greater good of…making some kids happy one day a year?…
Honestly? I just found this thing weird. The plot focusses WAY too much on the ‘transformation’ of Scott into Santa, and as I say, in ANY other light this would be horrifying. And is still a bit unsettling here. Because it focusses primarily on that…there isnt really much of an ACTUAL plot to go off…just several b-plot threads they try to mush together into a workable story. Like Scotts kid being fully handed over to his mothers custody, or Santa being arressted and needing to be busted out of jail. Non of these are big enough overall elements to feel satisfying and the film ends quite bluntly and unaturally. Leaving me almost as cold as the snow outside.
The tones all over the place, its trying to be whimsical and goofy while ALSO being thoughtful and a little reflective. but they dont balance it well and it really starts to feel more like a series of vignette pieces than a coherent and intertwining world. The humour is incredibly hit and miss, with a handful of gags raising a chortle…but very little else. The act structurings a bit wonky too, with the first act running for longer than the second, and not really saying or doing much…Honestly if it wasnt for my policy to try my damnedest to see a film from tail to snout, i’d have bailed on this first act for how slow and plodding it is.
Luckily the second act does pick up a bit more of a pace, but at the same time it locks into a repetative one liner gag of ‘HE’S FAT! HE’S FAT BECAUSE HE’S TURNING INTO SANTA!! HA! LOOK! HE HAS MAN BOOBS! LOL!!!’ which wears thin VERY quickly before it eventually dumps us into a third act that feels kind of like it has no place to go really.
The sensible end to this film would have been having Scott as Santa resolving his issues and differences before heading out of the North pole as THE santa. But instead we spend a bit of awkward time following him doing the start of his route, then he gets caught and bust out of jail, then he has to fix things with his ex-wife on the fly, before THEN heading out on his run (again) only to THEN be dragged BACK to the family home because his kid wants to see him.
Theres way too much stopping and starting honestly, and given they’d pretty much already agreed a sequel was a given at this point, to me? it would have made sense to make this film JUST ‘Scott accidentally becomes Santa and has to come to terms with that’ with the sequel actually dealing with the highs and lows of ‘global santa delivery’. Its still a flawed and somewhat nightmarish premise…but at least it would have been consistent.
The direction is pretty solid, its kind of gentle, which I think christmas films should be, but its maybe a little *too* gentle for its own good, to the point that it kind of begins to lose a sense of distinction or identity…it just kind of, exists in the myre of christmas films unique enough to be remembered, but not distinctive enough to be an immediate ‘go to’. the cast directions suffers a same fate, everyones more or less fine, there are some fun deliveries and some decent physical bits…but nothing that really sets it apart from any film made in a 10 year radius of this one coming out…and as such it just kind of blends in with the ‘Jingle all the ways’ and ‘Home Alone 3’s’ of the day.
Also; will just say the decision to 90s-ify the elves and the workshop PAINFULLY backfires. as it dates the film horrendously.
Cine is a little better, its a studio flick so I expect polish and polish this does indeed have. The CG elements are starting to creak a bit in the year of our lord 2024. But its not the worst the era had to offer…Not by a long shot. It does however in places feel a bit more like a tech demo than a movie. with entire scenes seemingly only existing so they can show off how CG ‘warp’ tools work…which is a bit of a shame.
The production also kind of fails to find a colour identity too…with the palette being strangely muted for a christmas film, especially given the aforementioned 90s-esq elves workshop being vivid to the point of garishness…but purposfully muted in post…its weird…
As for casting, Tim Allen is solid as Scott, but it doesnt exactly feel like a stretch for Allen here, who seems to yawn through most of this. Judge Rienhold seemingly was my favourite playing a sickly psychiatrist who slowly loses his marbles over the whole ‘Santa thing’ if nothing else he gets my favourite line delivery in the whole film in the 3rd act…which has got to amount to something.
The soundtracks kind of unmemorable. Christmassy sounding orchestral instrumentals mashed up with 50s christmas classics…and thats about it. I wasnt particularly won over.
I dont think ‘The Santa Clause’ is a BAD production, I just feel like its an inherently FLAWED production. a film that underplays the strengths of its cast, turns a body horror plot into a comedy bit and under directs and doesnt fully deliver on the festive brief.
Its ‘fine.’ As a film, I dont think its unwatchable…far from it. But in many ways thats worse, because it makes it ‘inessential’…and if your christmas movie isnt in the forefront of my mind during the holiday season, then it likely isnt going to be in regular rotation. Its been 25 years since I last watched ‘The Santa Clause’ I fully assume it’ll probably be the same amount of time till the next screening.
source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/the-santa-clause/
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