Hitchcoc Tim Allen is a marvelous comic presence. But this all belongs to the producers and creators of this film. The script allows for an explanation why Allen becomes Santa Claus. He inadvertently causes the old guy to fall off the roof and the "clause" in the contract forces him to take over the job. He must put on the suit. What happens after this is the integration of Allen into the Santa Claus routine. He begins to get chubby. He gets rosy cheeks. The whole nine yards. He is taken to the North Pole after learning to drive the sleigh. He gets good at distributing presents. The hang up is parental rights to his son, Charley. Judge Reinholdt is the humorless new husband of Allen's former wife. The crazier Allen appears, the more it plays into Charley being kept from his father. An elf named Bernard (who has a Bronx accent) is Allen's right hand man, and he orchestrates things the way he wants them.

n-mo It is difficult for me, for personal reasons which I suppose readers will easily deduce, to give a positive review of a "Christmas" movie with no religious connotations. Nevertheless, "The Santa Clause" does manage to capture something charming if banal and fleeting of the tender deconfessionalized "holiday season" folklore of a Middle America that now seems an ever-more-distant memory.Perhaps its passing was inevitable, and perhaps even a good thing in at least some respects, but the nostalgia for the snow, Santa Claus imagery and brightly-wrapped toys is hard to shake, and "The Santa Clause" delivers well on those points. It's an amusing take on the pop culture Santa folklore of old Grinch/Rankin-Bass-type Christmas specials, where the "magic" of the North Pole appears to be taken in stride by all the civilians who cross its path. The adults in "The Santa Clause" suppose themselves to live in a straight-laced, Newtonian world in which "magic" does not exist, and the juxtaposition of their cynicism with the "reality" of Jolly Old St. Nick and his operation is fun to watch. Tim Allen is perfect as the fun-loving but inattentive and distant father suddenly forced, ironically, to "grow up" as he is thrust into the ultimate role of responsibility within the world of the childhood imagination, and the support cast's reactions to his irresponsibility, his confusion and his frustration is impeccable.And whatever the film lacks in conveying the ACTUAL meaning of Christmas, it does perhaps make up for in its subtle commentaries about the state of America and of the American family by the 1990s: lack of attachment, obsession with careerism and conformism, stiff-necked and anti-paternal divorce and custody policies, devaluing or discounting of creative imagination and so forth.Nowadays it is often considered a Christmas classic. I probably won't show it to my own children, but it's a fun trip down memory lane for those of us who remember that old, simpler America in its twilight.

soundtechpro I love this movie and do not understand why it doesn't get a higher rating. I was 29 years old when this movie was released and I thought it hit all the right notes. I expands the story of how Santa Clause continues forever and answers all the questions that kids ask. The scene where Tim Allen's character (Charles Calvin) is reading "The Night Before Christmas" and Charli begins asking how do reindeers fly, how does Santa get down the chimney, what if they don't have a chimney is just precious because every child has asked those questions. And Calvin's answer that sometimes you just have to believe is so appropriate. I love the magic snow globe that allows Charlie to call for his dad at anytime. I love the storyline, love getting to see the North Pole and Santas home. The only one part I felt took away from the movie a little and that was the jail rescue. But I understand they needed a little more drama for the movie to be longer. Overall this is a Fantastic Family Friendly Movie. Tim Allen is a fantastic in this movie. Anyhow, I purchased this to add to my Christmas movie collection. And watch it every year along with: It's a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story (reminds me of my family at Christmas...I am one of six children and grew up in the 70s),Miracle on 34th Street (the original), A Christmas Carol (TNT-starring Patrick Stewart which I feel is the best version ever), How The Grinch Stolr Christmas (both animated and Ron Howard starring Jim Carrey), Charlie Brown Christmas, and ELF.

Robert W. The Santa Clause is all around the perfect family Holiday film. I don't mean to imply its a perfect film because it is of course silly, implausible, full of product placement (good ol' Disney), but its also sweet and fun and magical. Watching our main character's transformation into Santa is easily one of the most memorable in Christmas film history. The movie really has everything you could possibly want from a Christmas film right from square one with familiar Christmas classics, a middle aged divorced father more concerned with his career than his family, Santa, presents, North Pole, elves, magic...you name it. It is all here. There is also a ton of hidden little Easter Eggs (pardon the pun) in the film from Mickey Mouse's hidden face in the moon to elves hiding amongst the humans throughout the movie. Its a fantasy adventure comedy that kids will absolutely adore and adults can still smile even if its a guilty little pleasure. Best of all the film is full of magic and morals and is squeaky clean save few a couple of stupid fart jokes in the beginning (I hate fart jokes but they are there for better or for worse.) Tim Allen blew everyone away with his comedy on Home Improvement in the 90's and with this film he proved his chemistry could translate to the big screen. Allen really is fantastic in this movie. He goes from the selfish single Dad to Santa in all the right ways and makes the unbelievable believable. Eric Lloyd does a great job as Allen's son. He isn't amazing but this is really one of his first films and he is absolutely right for the part. The chemistry between him and Allen is perfect and fits the film. Wendy Crewson is Allen's ex-wife and she is good in the role. She doesn't get a lot of time on screen and her best scenes are towards the end when she comes around to the idea of her ex-husband being Santa Claus. Judge Reinhold is really the closest thing you get to a "villain" in the movie and he isn't quite that. He's a grown up who refuses to accept a concept like Santa Claus. They do make him awfully unlikable though which is unfortunate. However, he serves a purpose and mostly is there for Allen to make sarcastic jokes about. His scenes near the end when he comes around to Santa are really silly and poorly done in my opinion. David Krumholtz is sorely underused as the head elf. He is a very funny actor and I think there could have been more done with him and the relationship between him and Allen.Director John Pasquin had worked with Allen on Home Improvement and a few projects since then including his new sitcom "Last Man Standing." They likely know each other very well and know the style of comedy. I'm not sure he's the optimal choice for a family Christmas film but he absolutely gets it done in the right away. Perhaps my only but would be that there could have been more character development with the supporting cast and I felt like the ending is very rushed. They spend a lot of time building up this story and then it seems as though they realized they spent too much time and have to wrap it up very quickly. Nonetheless, this is a lot of fun and you will certainly enjoy watching it and you'll smile a lot. For me, it wasn't laugh out loud funny like I expected it to be but its simple and cute. There is a lot of magic for the little ones and you can't fault them at all for making something like that. Its worthy of adding to your family Christmas film rotation every year! I'm looking forward to following this up with the two sequels, one of which I have never seen. 7/10