Disney/Franchises: The Santa Clause. The Santa Clause 2 (2002)

Throughout my childhood, I went through periods where I was all but obsessed with various movies and TV shows, and when I was in fourth, fifth, and maybe even a little into sixth grade, one of them was the live-action remake of 101 Dalmatians. Not only did I see that in the theater when it came out in 1996, but when I got it on VHS a year or so afterward, I watched that tape so many times that I even memorized the previews that came before the movie. So, when the sequel, 102 Dalmatians, came out in 2000, even though I was thirteen and getting out of that phase by that point, I was still compelled to go see it. I don't remember much of anything about the movie itself (granted, I only saw it that one time but, seriously, does anybody remember it?), I do recall one specific trailer before it: a now rather rare teaser that I hadn't seen since, until I found it on YouTube while doing this. It begins with a small Christmas decoration reenacting, in very broad, and less morbid, strokes, the moment in the first Santa Clause where Santa fell off the roof and Scott Calvin took his place. The narrator goes on to say that the new Santa has, "Made a few changes at the North Pole, and Christmas will never be the same," as the scene begins to shake and the camera pulls back to reveal it's the interior of a snow-globe, being shaken by an out-of-makeup Tim Allen. He then looks at the screen and says, "Relax. I have everything under control," before dropping the snow-globe and looking at the camera with an embarrassed expression. The teaser then touts Allen's return, as he yells, "We need an elf in here to clean this thing up!", and ends with the declaration, "THIS HOLIDAY SEASON." (I've heard there was a version of this teaser which had the subtitle The Escape Clause, which would instead be used for the third movie, but I don't think we saw that one.) I can remember smiling at this, since I loved the first one as a kid, and back then, any sort of continuation of something I loved was more than welcome. But then, I didn't hear anything else about The Santa Clause 2 for a long time, as it wasn't released until two years later (and from what I've read, it hadn't even started shooting yet at the time of this teaser, so I don't know why they made that declaration about its release).

When it finally was released, I was watching a lot of Disney Channel and saw so much promotion for it, including a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff. I particularly remember a spot where Tim Allen, in full Santa get-up, read a supposed letter from a girl named Lauren (the name of my oldest niece, who was only a few months old at the time), asking if he had any hobbies during the summer; he said that he did a lot of gardening and would, "Hoe, hoe, hoe." But what I remember most was how, because the movie was released on November 1st, Disney Channel showed a bunch of Christmas-related stuff the night before... which, you know, was Halloween, which really irritated me. (They had these wraparound bumpers with Liliana Mumy, who has a role in the movie, and the animatronic reindeer, Comet, acting as if it were spooky, but that wasn't nearly enough for me.) In any case, like the first, I didn't see this in the theater (nor did I the third, but we'll talk about that next year). There was no particular reason why, except maybe, because I was fifteen by that point, had long since stopped actually believing in Santa Claus, and my tastes were changing, it just wasn't on my radar. And, along with the third one, I never did see it, save for some clips here and there, until around the beginning of 2023, when I watched the first one on Disney Plus and then decided to go ahead and watch the sequels while I was at it. I wasn't too enthused, because I hadn't heard good things about the sequels, and from what I had seen, they did seem to lack the charm of the first. I knew what the basic story of The Santa Clause 2 was, as the moment where Santa yells, "I gotta get married!", and the explanation of the "Mrs. Clause" was in a lot of the TV spots. I'd also seen clips of Santa gradually turning back into Scott Calvin, as well as some moments with Comet (who didn't look or sound anything like he did before), a scene where the Tooth Fairy asks to be called "the Molinator," and knew there was some dilemma between Scott and the now teenage Charlie. And, when I watched the Inside Story episode on the first one and they briefly talked about the sequels at the end, I learned there was also a subplot about an "evil toy Santa," which sounded rather dumb. None of this felt particularly inspiring, but, like I said, I did bite the bullet and watch them.

And I have to say, after having now watched them several times each, I don't think either of the Santa Clause sequels are that bad. Neither are a patch on the first, obviously, and their bigger budgets and more fantastical nature make them feel far removed from the original's simpler, much more-grounded, and relatable approach, but they're not completely horrendous and unwatchable, either. Sticking with The Santa Clause 2, it is interesting to see Scott dealing with the exact opposite dilemma from what he went through in the first, and Tim Allen plays it quite well. Also, as over-the-top and ridiculous as he is in the other role of the villainous Toy Santa, he does manage to be entertaining and not entirely loathsome. The much bigger budget and higher production values are also plainly up there on the screen, I do like the new characters, and there are also some genuinely sweet moments sprinkled throughout it. However, the story feels overstuffed, with one too many subplots, and some of the dramatic dilemmas resolved a little too easily, most of the returning supporting characters don't get much of anything to do, and the humor isn't the greatest. Still, as far as Disney sequels go, you could definitely do a whole lot worse.

It's been eight years since former marketing director Scott Calvin took on the mantle of Santa Claus and, not only has he fully embraced it, but has proven to be very good at it. However, a complication arises when Bernard, the Head Elf at the North Pole, and another elf named Curtis, who serves as the Keeper of the Handbook of Christmas, inform him that there's an additional clause to the one that first made him Santa: the Mrs. Clause. He must now find a wife before Christmas Eve, which is in less than a month, or he won't be Santa any more. In fact, the "de-Santafication" has already begun, as he gradually begins to lose weight and his beard shrinks. And as if Santa didn't already have enough on his plate, he also learns that his now teenage son, Charlie, has ended up on the Naughty List. With Santa needing to leave the North Pole in order to take care of both of these matters, Curtis comes up with a plan: he uses a special pantograph to create a life-sized, toy clone to fill in for him. Returning to Illinois, Santa, now increasingly looking like Scott Calvin, meets up with his ex-wife, Laura, her husband Neil, and their six-year old daughter, Lucy, along with Charlie. It turns out that Charlie has been defacing his school with graffiti, wherein he takes shots at the very strict and uncompromising principal, Carol Newman, and her disdain for Christmas. Both he and Scott also run afoul of her, and when Charlie, despite promising not to, paints more graffiti, Scott has him perform community service and take down all of it. And as he spends more time with her, Scott finds himself beginning to fall for Carol, especially when he learns why she doesn't care for Christmas. Unfortunately, this further alienates him from Charlie, and convincing Carol that he really is Santa Claus may prove to be an impossible task. Meanwhile, back at the North Pole, Toy Santa, taking the rule-book far too literally, comes to believe that all the children in the world are naughty because of their small, everyday mistakes and don't deserve any presents. He creates an army of giant toy soldiers and takes over the North Pole, becoming a virtual dictator who plans to deliver nothing but coal on Christmas Eve. Now, despite being out of magic, Scott must return in order to save Christmas itself.

Naturally, since the first Santa Clause proved to be an unexpected smash hit, Disney immediately wanted a sequel, but the reason why it didn't happen for eight years was because of Tim Allen. While he was ultimately proud of the movie, making it was so miserable for him, due to the makeup and costume, combined with the broiling heat of the summer during which they shot, that he wasn't too eager to go through that again. From what little was said about the sequel in the Inside Story episode, it was Allen's idea for Scott Calvin to go through a de-Santafication so he wouldn't have to wear the makeup and costume for much of the movie. Unfortunately for him, the studio then came up with the idea of the Toy Santa character, which more or less doubled Allen's time in the makeup chair, and with even more elaborate makeup to top it off! And he himself has admitted that there was one moment while making this film that he snapped and dropped the F-bomb in front of the kids! (He did admit that he felt bad and worked to never do that again.) In any case, while Leo Benvenuti and Steve Rudnick, the two standup comics who came up with the first movie, are credited with writing the story for The Santa Clause 2, the same isn't true for the actual story, which has a total of five writers credited. In their interview on the Inside Story, Rudnick says that, by the time the sequel finally came about, everybody at Disney who'd supported them was no longer there, which is probably why they didn't have much input into its screenplay.

A key creative behind the first movie who had no involvement at all with the sequels was director John Pasquin. Instead, the studio went with Michael Lembeck to direct The Santa Clause 2. Much like Pasquin, was a television director who was making his feature directorial debut with this movie. Having actually started out as an actor, in the Clint Eastwood movie, Hang 'Em High, and best known for the sitcom, One Day at a Time, Lembeck had switched to directing in the late 80's, having done episodes of shows like Coach, NewsRadio, Ellen, Everybody Loves Raymond, Veronica's Closet, Mad About You, and Friends, among many others. As also happened with Pasquin, while The Santa Clause 2 would prove to be quite successful (though not nearly as much as the first), Lembeck's feature directing career wouldn't quite pan out. Notably, though, he would return to direct the third movie several years later.

In my review of the first film, I talked about how, when you look at it as an adult, Scott Calvin's slow transformation into Santa Claus is really disturbing, as it happens completely against his will and upends his life, and he unknowingly entered into the actual clause in the first place. I don't think it stops the movie from maintaining its reputation as a beloved staple of the Christmas season, and I still have fond memories of watching it as a little kid, but, yeah, it is unsettling. Thus, despite the twisted way in which he got here, I think one of the best things about the sequels is seeing how Scott has not only accepted but fully embraced his role as Santa. When this film begins, we see him completely in his element at the North Pole, personally taking charge in order to avoid being discovered by a passing C-130 Hercules transport plane that picks up the sound of the elves working on their sonar. After that, we see him show concern for Chet, a reindeer in training who suffers a bad crash, personally fix a problem with a mini-hot rod intended as a gift, and compliment some elves at their workstation for, "Thinkin' outside the box." Also, when one cute little elf comes up to him and asks if he wants a cookie, he says, "Do I want a cookie? Yes," then tells her when he takes it, "Sweet, just like you," before showing another elf why a certain toy he's working on keeps falling over. He even sometimes enjoys playing "tinsel football" with the elves out in the courtyard, playfully talking trash with and ribbing them. After all the problems it caused him in the first movie, it's really nice to see how he's not only made peace with being Santa, but loves it. And by all accounts, he's great at it, as he's told that kids all over the world are now 86% happier since he took over. So, when he learns about the "Mrs. Clause" and how he'll no longer be able to continue being Santa if it's not fulfilled, he's crestfallen. Not only is he thinking about himself, saying that being Santa is all he wants to do, but he asks Bernard and Curtis, "What about the kids? What about the elves? Wha... what about you guys?" And of course, on top of that, he learns that Charlie is now on the Naughty List and he has to go back to his old home to take care of it.

What's interesting is how we have the reverse situation of the first movie here: Santa is going through a gradual de-Santafication process and turning back into Scott Calvin, and is actively fighting against it. He's also given a special watch that measures how much magic power he has left and is told it will drop if he has to use it for any reason, and if it reaches zero, he won't be able to make it back to the North Pole. Upon arriving back in Lakeside, Illinois, he meets up with Laura and Neil at the high

school, and attends a parent-teacher meeting with Charlie and Principal Carol Newman. Blaming himself for Charlie's acting out, he figuring that his spray-painting graffiti on school property is likely a means of getting his attention, due to his absence in Charlie's life. He also decides that the lack of any holiday decorations in the school's decor is probably adding to his son's foul mood. But, while he says he wants to get to the true root of the problem, with the Mrs. Clause hanging over him, he speeds through the 

meeting, finally getting Charlie to promise that he won't do it again. Afterward, when Scott tells his family about his dilemma, they try to help him, with Laura looking through the phone-book for any woman that Scott didn't piss of back when he was younger, while Charlie says his school is full of many divorced mothers who would date anyone. As for Neil, he tries to help out by encouraging Scott that he has a "great capacity for love," and loans him one of his sweaters when he does get a date. Unfortunately, said date, Tracy, proves to be a little too into 

Christmas, and makes an uncomfortable spectacle at the restaurant where they meet up. And then, Charlie paints more graffiti on the school, and is threatened with suspension. To avoid this, Scott gets him to perform community service by cleaning up the graffiti and doing the same for all of the lockers.

Scott drives Charlie to a local rec center that Saturday where, as part of his community service, he has to clean up graffiti with a detention group. While there, he has a much friendlier interaction with Carol Newman, not only having some banter with her but also bringing her coffee. And when a little girl named Pamela comes out of nowhere to tell him that she's been very good that year, he goes along with it in a very friendly manner, which further impresses Carol. Shortly afterward, Scott asks her out for dinner, but

instead accompanies her to a faculty Christmas party. Using his magic, he conjures up a horse-drawn sleigh for them to ride in, and livens up the completely dead party by gifting everyone with presents, which happen to be things from their childhood that they always wanted. He does the same for Carol, which means a lot to her especially, before using his last bit of magic to create a mistletoe that he kisses her under. But, unfortunately, just when it seems like things are looking up, Scott, in his desperation, later tells her that he's Santa Claus. Thinking he's scared about their

developing relationship and is trying to push her away, she forces him to leave. On top of that, Charlie becomes upset with him over his dating Carol, as well as vents about the pressure he feels from having to keep the secret that his father is Santa Claus. Then, when Curtis suddenly shows up and tells him what the Toy Santa has done to the North Pole, as well as his plans for Christmas, Scott has to get back to there and stop his mechanical doppelganger.

Like with the first movie, Amalgamated Dynamics handled the makeup and animatronic effects, and while their makeup work on Tim Allen here isn't all that different from the first, you can tell they really refined it and made it look a little more polished. When he's in full Santa mode at the beginning and when he fulfills the Mrs. Clause at the end, I think he looks even more like a classic image of Santa than he even did before. Like I said, it's also interesting to see them have to work in reverse due to the de-

Santafication process, starting with Santa gradually becoming thinner and his beard retracting. Then, when he first meets up with Laura and Neil at the high school, he's lost more weight, and his hair and beard are both shorter and gray, rather than white. The beard disappears completely, and in the scene where Charlie gets in trouble at school again, Scott looks the way he did in the boardroom meeting in the first movie. After that, he's just Allen as himself, until he becomes Santa again at the end. Looking at it, there don't seem to be as many stages as there were in the

first movie, likely in order to make things a little easier on Allen. While I do like the full-blown Santa look just as, if not even a little more than, the way it looked in the first, I can't say the same for the intermediary stages. That especially goes for when he's lost the beard but is still fairly fat, as that look here is kind of off-putting (mainly due to that hair and the ugly sweater Neil lets him borrow).

Created to run the North Pole in Santa's absence, Toy Santa is this life-sized animatronic, with a body made of plastic and a rubber face, who, according to Curtis, is supposed to act and think just like the real Santa. When he's first created, though, he doesn't have much of a personality and repeats what others say. He also has to be taught how to perform Santa's duties, with Curtis having him read the Handbook of Christmas, telling him it's the key to being a good Santa. However, Toy Santa takes things far too literally, thinking that the rules aren't being followed enough at the North Pole, that mistakes are being made as a result, and decides he needs to make some changes. Moreover, when he checks the Naughty and Nice Lists, he sees little mistakes like a kid wiping his nose on his sister's shirt, others running with scissors, not brushing their teeth, and not picking up their laundry, as reasons for them to be put on the Naughty List; in fact, he decides that all of the kids on the planet should get coal instead of toys. To ensure that his rules are enforced, he uses the pantograph that created him to create an army of huge, toy soldiers and takes over operations at the North Pole. Now in full dictator mode, including his uniform (he even calls himself a despot at one point), he orders the elves to shut down toy production and work on the lumps of coal instead. When Bernard tries to expose him as a fake to the elves, Toy Santa has him placed under house arrest, forcing Curtis to flee the North Pole and try to find Scott.

While he's hardly an actual threat to be reckoned with, Toy Santa is entertaining because of how over-the-top Tim Allen's performance is. He speaks in an exaggerated, pompous-sounding phony manner, and initially looks like he's having a stroke after being first created, with the face and sounds he's making. Once he's up and working, he can be seen practicing how to best come off as the real Santa, and proves to have a few quirks. When Curtis tells him to "take a look" at the handbook, he glances at it, says, "Nice!",

and then goes back to looking at himself in the mirror. When Curtis then specifies that he means for him to read the book, Toy Santa literally memorizes it, using a magnifying glass to make sure he doesn't miss anything. Becoming a real stickler for rules, he tends to go on about how much he "likes" them, telling Bernard in one scene, "That's the rule. I like the rules. I think you're aware of how I feel about that... I'm a rule maker. I like the rules. Santa likes the rules. I thought I explained this to ya!" Also, when Curtis

tells him early on that he thinks things have gotten sloppy around the North Pole, Toy Santa loudly exclaims, "Yes! And sloppiness means mistakes. Mistakes aren't a good thing!" And, when he begins to decide that all the kids in the world deserve to be on the Naughty List, he tells Bernard, "There's a lot of mistakes on this list. I'll give you a big fat 'for instance!' In Denmark, there's a guy named Sven Halstrom, right here. He's a Dane, apparently, who's wiping his nose on his sister's shirt. Yuck!

That's not very nice! And yet, he's on the Nice List!... It looks like kids are misbehaving everywhere. They're running with scissors. They're always sticky. 'I'm not gonna stop this car!' 'No, we're not there yet!' 'Brush your teeth!' 'Pick up those clothes!' It goes on and on." Toy Santa's craziness isn't helped by his love of hot cocoa, which he guzzles down when first given a cup, despite it being steaming hot, and proceeds to yell, "Ah! Whoo! That's delicious! I like cocoa! Cocoa's a superior refreshment! Get me some more cocoa! Whoo! Oh, whoa! I think Santa feels a little

buzz! Whoo!" Later, when he's about to create his army of toy soldiers, he talks about how he couldn't sleep because he was thinking about the rules, adding, "Couldn't have been the three gallons of cocoa I had." He also mentions cocoa when he's explaining his soldiers, as they come stomping in and take everyone hostage.

When he plays some tinsel football with the elves, as per Bernard and Curtis' suggestions, Toy Santa proves to be much more of a bully about it than the real Santa. Curtis tells him that, to play the game, "If you don't have the ball, get it. If you have the ball, punt to the end-zone," and, again, he takes things far too literally. He charges into the middle of an ongoing game, roughly tackling the elf with the football, mocks the others, "Alright! I got the ball! What are you gonna do about it?! Who's gonna stop me?!

Come on!", and proceeds to floor every player who runs at him, exclaiming, "This is a lot of fun!" He mocks one whom he knocks on his butt, sarcastically going, "Oh, so sorry!", and when another goes to tackle him but misses, Toy Santa stands on his back and makes a mocking gesture. He dares the last elf remaining to come at him, and proceeds to chase him when he runs off, throwing the ball at him while chasing him up the stairs and diving for him on the landing. This is something of a prelude to how much 

of a controlling megalomaniac he becomes when he decides that none of the kids in the world deserve toys and takes over the North Pole, becoming a dictator. When he has his army of giant toy soldiers come into the workshop, he tells the elves, "They don't have a good sense of humor like. I would do what they ask you... which is pretty much what I'm gonna tell ya!" And after Bernard is taken away under house arrest, Toy Santa and the soldiers pour big lumps of coal in place of the toys, as he repeatedly yells, "Merry Christmas!", and ho-ho-hos. Later, he has the elves

working like coal miners, as he walks around the workshop, singing, "Dashing through the snow/In a strip-mining machine/Flatten the hills we go..." He tells one of the elves, whom he calls a "little troll," to smile, then tells them a joke he claims will cheer them up: "Knock, knock." "Who's there?" "Aren't ya?" "Aren't ya who?" "Aren't you supposed to get back to work?! All of ya, you little idiots! Back... to... work!"

Despite Scott eventually managing to return to the North Pole, Toy Santa comes very close to ruining Christmas for everyone. Both Scott and Curtis are captured shortly after they return, and Toy Santa declares himself to be better at it, prepares to deliver the coal, adding, "I don't want those naughty kids to suffer!", and laughing cruelly. He manages to take off in a sleigh loaded down with all the coal, and it finally comes down to a mid-air battle between him and Scott, the latter trying to stop him from reaching

the hole at the top of the giant dome housing Santa's workshop and village. In the end, they crash back down into the village, and Toy Santa is captured and shrunk down to six inches by the pantograph, before ending up on sale with some other toy Santas. Even then, he tries to be in charge, ordering the other toys about how they should dance, and getting frustrated when he gets no response. And when that doesn't work, he tries to impress an offscreen female shopper, only to apparently scare her off.

As hard as the regular Santa Claus makeup and costume were for Allen, Toy Santa had to be even more taxing, as he had to wear rubber prosthetics that included his hair, beard, and face, as well as his hands in some shots. His eyes were probably the only parts of his body that weren't completely covered in this getup, and that had to have sucked under those hot studio lights. The only ones who had it just as bad, or even worse, were the guys who played his toy soldiers, as they had to wear these fiberglass suits 

that weighed over forty pounds and, according to them, were both hard to move in and not pleasant to wear. Still, they worked out well, as those soldiers do come off as threatening due to their large height, robotic, herky-jerky movements, and really creepy, painted on faces. Unfortunately, during the climax, they prove to be very easy to taken down.

When Principal Carol Newman (Elizabeth Mitchell) is introduced as a cold, harsh, and uncompromising authority figure whom Scott says he doesn't like, you'll likely expect her to become Mrs. Claus by the end... and you'd be right. But fortunately, Mitchell makes the character so endearing that it doesn't matter. After she catches Charlie spray-painting graffiti on the gymnasium wall, her real introduction is when Scott arrives at the school, and she criticizes him for not being there for Charlie and keeping him from acting out like this. He tells her, "Maybe, but then I wouldn't get to spend more time with you. It's always such a pleasure," to which she retorts, "Oh, a battle of wits. It's a shame that you come unarmed." She then stops a kid named Picardo, who's skateboarding in the school, with her stare being enough to do it, and they have this exchange: "Mr. Picardo, I want you to look into my eyes. What do you see?" "It's dark... and it's cold." "It's your future, Mr. Picardo. Keep this up, and you will spend the rest of your life stabbing trash by the highway. Do I make myself clear?" "Yes." "So what are you gonna do?" "I'm going straight to third period geometry." "Have a nice trip." During her meeting with Charlie and his parents, Carol threatens to suspend him if he doesn't straighten up. She also guesses correctly that he's trying to get the attention of someone, specifically his father, but Charlie himself refuses to verify her suspicions, for obvious reasons. Moreover, when Scott talks about how there aren't any Christmas decorations to be found in the school, she says she doesn't find the idea of creating a feeling of holiday cheer important enough to spend money on (and yet, they have a Christmas party for the faculty later). Much to her frustration, Scott ends the meeting when he gets Charlie to apologize and promise not to do it again. On the way out, Scott leaves behind some money, telling her to buy a wreath. But then, when Charlie sprays more graffiti, which further emphasizes her apparent disdain for Christmas, Carol threatens to suspend him. Per Scott's suggestion, however, she instead has him clean off the graffiti, as well as clean every single locker in the school, and show up on Saturday to join a detention group in doing the same for a local rec center.

It's at the rec center where we start to see that Carol isn't quite as mean and heartless as she initially appears. When some guys show up to play some hoops at the center, she comes to the students' defense when they're referred to as "gang-bangers" and "delinquents," and appreciates it when Scott gives her a cup of hot coffee. She's also impressed with how he disciplines Charlie when he complains about how hard the graffiti is to get rid of, and how nice and friendly he is when the little girl named Pamela

randomly runs up to him and starts talking about how she's been a good girl. But it's when Scott asks her out and accompanies her to the faculty Christmas party that you start to see her more charming side. Not only do they discover that they have some things in common, like an interest in cars, but Carol is delighted when she sees the horse-drawn sleigh that he uses to take her to the party. And you also learn the reason for her dislike of the Christmas season, which she used to love because it was the only time of the 

year when her parents would try not to fight. What's more, her father would go through an elaborate ruse to make her think that Santa Claus was real. But then, after she got into a fight with some kids about it, which left her with a bloody nose, her parents flat out told her that he didn't exist. Naturally, that devastated her, as she tells Scott, "A person just wants something to believe in, you know?" So, when Scott uses some of his remaining magic to liven up the dead party, acting as a secret Santa and getting everyone the gifts they loved as children, including Baby Doll, a toy that

holds special meaning for Carol, as it was the last one she received when she still believed. Overwhelmed by this, and wondering just how Scott pulled it off, she truly starts to fall for him, especially when he, unbeknownst to her, makes a mistletoe magically appear above them.

Unfortunately, no sooner does he start to win her over than he alienates her by trying to tell her that he really is Santa. Thinking he's using this sensitive part of her childhood to mock her, intending to push her away because he's scared of feeling something for her, she makes him leave. It takes Charlie showing her the magic snow-globe that Bernard gave him in the first movie to convince her, and when he does, she is absolutely delighted, giggling and smiling like a little kid. She and Charlie then get the Tooth Fairy to take

them to the North Pole, where they rescue Scott and Curtis, and help take down Toy Santa. Once it's all over, Scott tells Carol about the dilemma he's in concerning his continuing to be Santa. At first, she's not happy about the idea of his needing to marry her just for that, but when he properly proposes, telling her that he loves her, and assures her that Santa was always there for her in the past, she accepts and officially becomes Mrs. Claus. (Though she's only introduced in this film, she would become a mainstay of the franchise going forward, appearing in both the third movie and the Disney Plus show, The Santa Clauses.)

In an interesting spin, Charlie (Eric Lloyd) is not only now a teenager but is not the wide-eyed, good-hearted, innocent kid he was before. While not a juvenile delinquent, he is getting himself in hot water by spraying graffiti all over the school, which serves as his way of taking shots at Principal Carol Newman and her dislike for Christmas. In fact, he goes to pretty extravagant lengths to do it, such as repelling down through the gymnasium skylight in order to paint some graffiti on its wall, which is where Carol catches him. She correctly guesses that he's doing so to get his father's attention, bur while it is because Scott is never around for him like most fathers, that's only one part of it. As he tells Scott late in the movie, "Okay, I don't live a normal life... My friends get to go around saying, you know, 'My dad's a plumber.' 'My dad's a pilot.' 'My dad's a dentist.' Well, you know what? My dad is the best thing of all, and I can't tell anyone about it. You have no idea how hard that is, walking around with that secret for all these years. And now, on top of everything, you're going out with Principal Newman... I mean, and you don't even tell me about it! My whole life has become about secrets, and I hate it!" That's another thing: Charlie feels especially betrayed when his father not only takes Carol's side and has him punished for spraying more graffiti, but is then dating here. Following that angry tirade, when Scott tells him it's all over with both Carol and his being Santa, Charlie bitterly says, "Who cares anymore?"

Unfortunately, Charlie is one character who suffers from the underdeveloped screenplay, as that scene is the only major insight we get into the drama and conflict going on with him; otherwise, it's just the bare minimum. It's clear he doesn't like how Carol won't allow any Christmas decorations to put up in the school, but we don't go any deeper into it other, and the same goes for just how he feels betrayed by his dad when he begins to date her. There's also a scene between them where Charlie tells Scott about

his growing feelings for this girl he's known for a long time (presumably the girl who's with him at the gym at the beginning, whom we barely see again afterward) and describing how she makes him feel, with Scott later saying some of it to Carol. Scott then sees the snow-globe that Bernard gave Charlie in the first movie and how he told him that he just needed to shake it whenever he wanted to see his dad... which, it's alluded, hasn't been the case lately. But nothing more is made of either of these points after this scene,

and the conflict between Scott and Charlie is resolved far too easily. All it takes is a conversation between Charlie and his little sister, Lucy, who suspects that Scott is Santa Claus, to make him decide to not only stop being angry with his dad but to prove to Carol that he is Santa by showing her the snow-globe. After that, he and Carol, with the help of the Tooth Fairy, head to the North Pole, where they help Scott defeat Toy Santa and his soldiers, leading to Scott marrying Carol and becoming Santa again. At the end of the movie, Charlie takes Lucy downstairs, where it's

revealed to her that Scott is indeed Santa. They also break it to her that she can't tell anyone, either, and Charlie now says that not being able to is actually a gift, adding, "You know, most kids stop believing in Santa when they grow up. But I get to believe him forever." I appreciate that sentiment, but the journey to get there doesn't earn it.

As disappointing as Charlie's return here is, at least he gets a bit of an arc, which is more than I can say for Wendy Crewson and Judge Reinhold, back again as Laura and Neil. On the plus side, they're no longer antagonistic towards Scott (not that they would have a reason to be), and it's nice to see Neil, who was so against the very idea of Santa Claus in the first movie, having warmed up to him (when they first meet, he says, "Come here, big guy," and gives him a loving hug). In fact, Neil is even more lovably dorky than before. During the meeting with Carol in her office, she gets him going by asking if he has any ideas about Charlie's acting out, leading Scott to bang his head into the side of a filing cabinet when he starts talking. Later, when they're talking about Scott's dilemma, Neil tells him, "Whether you believe it or not, you have a great capacity for love. I know you can find somebody wonderful to spend the rest of your life with. Don't let the facts that you have no time, no prospects, and a paralyzing fear of intimacy get you down." Both of them also try to help him out, with Laura looking through the phone-book to try to find a suitable blind date, while Neil loans him one of his sweaters (which are ugly as sin, but it's the thought that counts). And when Scott needs to summon the Tooth Fairy so he can get back to the North Pole, Neil, very enthusiastically, tries to help him lose a tooth; fortunately, Lucy naturally loses one, solving that problem. But that's really all Laura and Neil are good for, and they disappear completely during the third act. (They don't get much more to do in the third one, but at least there, they get to go to the North Pole.)

Lucy (Liliana Mumy) not only adores her "Uncle Scott," but suspects that he's Santa Claus. She even flat-out asks him, saying it's because he brought along Comet, whom she loves playing with. She also asks later Charlie, though in this instance, she says she can't explain why she feels this way. During this conversation, Lucy asks about the fight the two of them had the night before and whether or not they'll make up. These questions quickly irritate Charlie, as he says they're hard to answer, but to that, Lucy exclaims, "No, they're not! They're easy. And you can't be mad at him forever, Charlie. He's your daddy, and you love him." She comes close to learning the truth when Curtis shows up and she notes his pointy ears. In denying that he's an elf, he nearly traumatizes the poor girl when he says his pointy ears are because he doesn't eat green vegetables, then asks, "Do you eat your green vegetables?" Horrified, she puts her hands over her ears, feeling them, and runs inside, yelling for Scott. He tells her that he and Curtis work together in a firm in Buffalo, and that they need to talk business in private. To that, Lucy grumbles, "Soon, I'm gonna be seven, and then, I can know things." She also unknowingly gives Scott and Curtis a way to get back to the North Pole when she loses a tooth, prompting a visit from the Tooth Fairy, who gives them a lift. And at the end, Lucy is finally allowed to learn the truth about Scott, and has no problem keeping the secret.

David Krumholtz also returns as Bernard, but this time, he plays the role as a lot more jittery, nervous, and not nearly as tough as before. That's especially true during the beginning, when he and Curtis are arguing about telling Santa of the Mrs. Clause (when Curtis demands to know why he specifically has to be the one to do it, Bernard tells him, "Because, I'm the Head Elf. I don't give bad news. It's one of the perks of my seniority,"), and he's especially horrified at the idea of putting Santa through the pantograph to create Toy Santa, covering his eyes when he goes through. Bernard also has to convince the other elves that Toy Santa is the real Santa, who's just decided to go with a different look, and while Curtis initially thinks he's going to work out fine, Bernard is the first to see the problems that are going to come about. And when Toy Santa declares that he intends to give the kids of the world nothing but coal, Bernard tries to out him as a fake, only to be put under house arrest. Fortunately for him, Scott and the others release him and he leads the others to defeat Toy Santa's soldiers. 

Curtis is played by Spencer Breslin, who seemed to be everywhere during this period: staying purely on the topic of Disney, he was also in The Kid with Bruce Willis, the Disney Channel movies The Ultimate Christmas Present and You Wish!, he did some voice-acting for Return to Neverland, and would return in The Santa Clause 3 (he was also in The Cat in the Hat, but let's ignore that). In any case, he plays Curtis as an intelligent, snarky elf who's all about efficiency and following the Handbook of Christmas. At the beginning of the movie, he almost causes them to be discovered by the passing C-130 Hercules, as he's playing around with a Santa figure that dances and plays a Smokey Robinson version of Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town, while everyone else is trying to be quiet. Despite being told, "You're 900 years old! Grow up!", Curtis insists he did nothing wrong, as the handbook says elves are encouraged to listen to music to be more creative and productive. Notably, he comes up with the idea of creating Toy Santa to manage the North Pole while the real Santa is taking care of things with Charlie and trying to find a Mrs. Claus. Confident that it will work out, as he made it to where Toy Santa will think and act like the real one, Curtis initially thinks his creation is doing a good job. But, like Bernard, he starts to see the problems that are arising, and realizes things have gone too far when Toy Santa declares that all kids are naughty because of simple mistakes. Curtis also later laments having created him, saying it was due to his pride blinding him. In any case, after Toy Santa takes over the North Pole, Curtis uses a special jet-pack to escape and heads to Illinois to find Scott. While it takes some doing, they do manage to return and take down Toy Santa.

The movie introduces the Council of Legendary Figures, whom Santa has an annual, year-end conference with. Among them are Mother Nature (Aisha Tyler), who seems to be the one in charge, as well as a bit sassy (when Santa brings up the Mrs. Clause, she tells him, "Don't mess with me, Santa. I'm pre-El Nino,), and officially marries Scott and Carol; Peter Boyle, who played Scott's employer in the first movie, as Father Time, who doesn't really do anything but stand around during the meeting, though

he, unsurprisingly, proves to be very precise in calculating time, saying, "It's what I do,"; the Easter Bunny (Jay Thomas), who's mainly memorable for Thomas' extreme makeup job, as well as for being quite enthusiastic and chipper, and for this line when they're talking about Santa's issue with Charlie: "I have 33,000 offspring, all in private school,"; Michael Dorn as the Sandman, who's initially snoozing during the meeting, and says he understands Santa's dilemma with Charlie, noting, "How to balance work and children. More people lose sleep over that than

anything else,"; and Kevin Pollack as Cupid, who tells Santa, when he suggests shooting him with one of his love arrows, that they don't work on mythical figures like them, adding, "Believe me, if they did, I woulda shot myself in the butt, met a nice girl, left the business years ago. Alright?" They also all empathize with him when he tells them of his dilemma with the Mrs. Clause and don't want him to stop being Santa. Significantly, Father Time notes, "Well, you can't be in two places at once," which gives Curtis the inspiration for Toy Santa.

The most notable of the Legendary Figures is Art LaFleur as the Tooth Fairy, whose gimmick is that he's embarrassed by his name and rather sissy get-up, especially his tiny wings. During the meeting, he immediately tries to get them to approve a new name for himself, something he's apparently done before and which the others are sick of. He's suggested "Tooth-Man," "Tooth-Guy," and just "Tooth" in the past, and his latest ideas are "Captain Floss," "Plaque Man," and, randomly, "Roy." Again, all of his suggestions are laughed at, with Cupid saying nobody will put down some money for "Roy," as the Tooth Fairy comments, "This from someone who wears a diaper and shoots arrows in people's butts." That's when Santa suggests "the Molinator," which the Tooth Fairy is all for, but everyone else gives it a thumbs down, including the Sandman, who was asleep until just then. Overall, he comes off as a really pleasant, friendly guy, and during the third act, proves vital to Scott and Curtis in getting back to the North Pole. When Lucy loses a tooth, the Tooth Fairy, wearing an old aviator cap and goggles, comes to collect it and leave a coin, only to be caught by Scott and Curtis. It takes a bit for Scott to convince him that he is Santa, but once he does, he's willing to do whatever he needs. Though he does fly them both back to the North Pole, Scott gets to hold onto his back, while Curtis has to hang from his underside by a string of lights, and because the Tooth Fairy can't fly too high because of the added weight and his tiny wings, Curtis bangs into every possible obstacle on the ground. Though the Tooth Fairy leaves after dropping them off, he returns shortly afterward with Charlie and Carol, the former having summoned him by yanking one of his own teeth out. Before leaving again, he tells Charlie, "Brush between meals, and don't forget to floss," and tells Scott that Carol, "Has a beautiful smile." He's later present at their wedding.

Molly Shannon appears in one scene as Tracy, Scott's blind date who really loves Christmas. Besides wearing a sweater with an image of Santa on it (Scott's own face, I might add), and a charm bracelet, which she says she wears throughout the year, "To keep the spirit alive," she tells him that she's an aspiring singer/songwriter. Scott asks what kind of music she likes and she mentions country/western, then proceeds to sing a Christmas-themed version of Shania Twain's Man! I Feel Like a Woman, with lyrics like, "The best thing about/singing at Christmas/Is the cocoa, caroling, and fun," and, "Go totally yuletide/Takin' a sleigh ride/Santa shirts, reindeer skirts..." However, she really goes overboard, as she gets up in the middle of the restaurant and does a full-on performance that she also pulls Scott into, which proves really awkward for him. Once she's done, she quickly senses that he didn't enjoy it, with him admitting, "You kinda scared me a little bit." He then tries to smooth things over, but she rants at him, "I totally put myself out there doing that, and that was not an easy thing to do, and if you're the kind of man that can't support a woman's ambition, then I don't think there's any reason to continue this date," and storms out.

While the first Santa Clause started out as a very grounded movie that became more fantastical as it went on, the sequels, due partly to their much larger budgets (this one had $65 million to work with, as opposed to the first one's ultimate cost of just $22 million) but also just by the nature of their stories, crank the fantasy up to the nth degree and maintain it for basically the duration. This is reflected in their very look, with The Santa Clause 2 being much brighter and more colorful than the first, and that's definitely true of Santa's village and workshop at the

North Pole. In the first movie, when Scott and Charlie were brought there by the reindeer, they descended from the surface directly down into the multi-level, underground chamber that served as both a workspace and a living area for the elves and Santa; here, it leads down into a big, wide landscape within a gigantic dome below the polar ice caps, with Santa and his sleigh entering and exiting through a hole up in its ceiling. This landscape is made up of an enormous village, with Santa's workshop, and the big courtyard and village square out in front of it, sitting atop a

large rise in the center of it. Like Carol Spier's work in the first movie, the production design for the interior of the workshop, this time the work of Tony Burrough, is very colorful and magical, and uses the much larger budget to expand greatly on what we saw in the first. Again, the toy room is a big, bustling, multi-level chamber, full of elves who are walking around, putting together toys and placing them on conveyor belts, and delivering supplies, and with a large spot in the center, behind the two small

staircases and their landing, which houses the large pantograph that creates Toy Santa. There's one room in the building that's like the command center in a submarine, complete with radar and sonar, as well as a 3-D readout of the entire place. This is also where Santa pushes the actual North Pole up onto the surface and use it as a periscope to keep an eye on the plane that passes overhead in the opening (it was while filming that scene that Tim Allen lost it, as these two kids wouldn't stop fighting and messing up 

the shot). The reindeer stables, while still not all that colorful, look much more appealing than they did before, with a corridor that leads outside, which is where the sleigh takes off. And Santa's bedroom, while featuring much of what we saw before (the toy train, a bunch of other toys, including a Mickey Mouse in the right-hand corner of the screen in its establishing shot, and the Punch and Judy show), is not only bigger and brighter, but also now serves as his office and is where he holds the meeting with the Council of Legendary Figures.

While there was a fair amount of blue screen and matte work to create some big, wide vistas and horizons in the first movie, the sequel really expands upon it in the scenes at the North Pole. Besides those huge establishing shots of Santa's village and workshop, you also have shots where you can see the dome's huge walls off in the distance, and there are plenty of beautiful-looking wide shots of the North Pole itself during the opening, often with the Northern Lights glowing and shimmering up in the sky; in fact, the movie literally opens up on one, which is what you're seeing right here.

Like the first one, The Santa Clause 2 was shot in Canada, this time mostly in Vancouver and Burnaby (the latter of which is where the studio work was done), and naturally, the location work, meant for the scenes that take place back in Lakeside, are where the sequel gets back to the first's more ordinary feel. All of these places, like Charlie's school (particularly the hallways and the drab-looking gymnasium, which is also where the faculty Christmas party is held), Laura and Neil's suburban home, Carol's home, the outside of the rec center, and the high class restaurant where 

Scott has  his blind date with Tracy, all feel very relatable. And yet, there are some images and moments during this section that manage to get across a sense of Christmas magic. Mostly notably, when Scott and Carol take the small, horse-drawn sleigh to the Christmas party, you see them going down the middle of the snow-covered street, surrounded by all the trees that are decorated with lights, and with no one else around. It's not only very romantic, but also feels very wondrous, and is not unlike how the decorated streets around where I live sometimes look

on winter nights around Christmas, including the night itself. Above all else, though, it's just a lovely image, and the most visually appealing moment in the whole movie to me, mainly because there's no obvious artifice, as there is with those wide-scale shots at the North Pole (I have read that the snow was fake, but otherwise). In fact, many of the exteriors here look really nice and appropriately Christmasy, thanks to the abundance of snow. In particular, I've always thought that the one scene with Scott, Lucy, 

and Comet outside the Miller house has a real magical quality to it in how it looks. The same goes for some interior scenes, such as when Scott and Carol kiss in the school hallway, under the mistletoe, and when the two of them are in the latter's comfortable living room. And finally, some of the nighttime interiors when the lights are out have a nice blue light coming through the windows, which is a visual aesthetic I always appreciate.

While Comet the reindeer returns from the previous movie, he now looks and sounds completely different. Like all the other reindeer, he's clearly re-designed to look cuter, with a rounder snout and bigger, more expressive eyes; by extension, instead of the deep growls and grunts that Frank Welker gave him, here, he's voiced by Bob Bergman, who's done a number of the Looney Tunes characters, specifically Porky Pig and Tweety, and speaks in short bursts of growly babbling. While he certainly wasn't a vital character before, he did have some significant moments, like

when he made it clear he wasn't happy about Scott's reluctance to be Santa and deliver toys, and later gifted him with both a rope to keep him from falling off roofs and a card to go with it. Here, Comet is just comic relief: he makes funny noises, complains about having to take Scott to Illinois, and criticizes how he decorates the outside of the Miller house with lights. He does have a soft spot for Lucy, who brings him a Nestle Crunch bar, though Scott warns her that he tends to go overboard with the sweets. He turns out to

be very right, as when Scott and Curtis need to get back to the North Pole, they find that Comet has completely gorged himself on candy, and is now swollen up like a tick and unable to move at all. When Scott admonishes him for it, he denies having eaten anything, despite his bloated belly and all the candy wrappers around him, claiming a squirrel did it. And when he tries to move "anything," as Scott asks, he ends up breaking wind. He shows up at the end of the movie, having to ride on the back of Santa's sleigh because he's too fat to fly.

The only other reindeer who gets any focus is Chet (voiced by Kath Soucie), a young, hyperactive, constantly giggling trainee who's introduced in the opening when he nearly hits Santa, Bernard, and Curtis while flying above the village square, then crashes nearby. During the climax, when Toy Santa has taken off in the sleigh to deliver all that coal, Scott has no choice but to ride Chet in order to catch up to him. Chet is, to say the least, ecstatic about this chance, and runs right into Scott when he comes barreling out of his stable and finds he's unable to 

stop. Despite realizing he did something wrong (you can hear him mumble, "Oh, Chet doo-doo-do-do,"), he's still revved up at getting the chance to fly with Santa, laughing and exclaiming excitedly as they take off. His lack of focus and exuberance make for a very uncomfortable and harrowing ride for Scott, but he enables him to reach Toy Santa's sleigh and take control of it. Chet then disappears, but he does come back at the end, taking Comet's role as part of Santa's reindeer team... and still proving to be pretty unruly. 

Like before, as with the Santa makeup, the reindeer animatronics were created by Amalgamated Dynamics, and while they were a mixed bag before, here, they feel all the more artificial, due to the less realistic designs and more cartoonish features, combined with their limited, stiff movements. I'll elaborate on this later but, what's more, the CGI that's sometimes used for the reindeer, namely in Chet's flying scenes, don't fare much better. Neither of these issues hinder how they do feel like characters, though, and it's not like the movie is going for realism, anyway.

The writing is truly where The Santa Clause 2's biggest problems lie, and not just in how one part of the movie's dramatic core is resolved far too easily. One of the most unique things about the first movie is how it took many aspects of the Santa myth and put a new spin on how they work, whereas the only one addressed here is Mrs. Claus. While a logical step for a sequel, given how Scott was divorced and Santa needs a wife, as per tradition, and I like that they give him some real, urgent incentive to find a Mrs. Claus, they could've done more with it. For instance, they 

could've explained why it's only coming up now, after he's been Santa for eight years (I originally asked why Curtis and Bernard didn't bring it up until just now but, actually, Bernard does admonish Curtis for forgetting about the Mrs. Clause, despite his being the one in charge of the handbook). They could've also gone into why Carol doesn't become an old lady as soon as they tie the knot, given how Scott certainly becomes the classic image of Santa and reverts back to it when he is married. (Okay, to be fair, Carol turning into an old lady might not have gone down 

well, but still, I would've at least liked it to be addressed.) They could've also made it more of a struggle for Scott to find someone he clicks with, instead of just one blind date. He could've gone through some women who actually vibed better with Charlie, before deciding that Carol Newman is the one. In fact, the movie might've fared better if everything with Toy Santa had been left out, and it simply focused on both Scott's search for a Mrs. Claus and the conflict between him and Charlie. Like 

I said, according to Tim Allen himself in the Inside Story, the studio added that, as they felt there needed to be a "threat" at the North Pole, but the first movie got along just fine without an actual villain or an action-filled climax. And as much as I do find Toy Santa to be entertaining, his subplot is totally unnecessary, as Scott's personal dilemmas are more than enough to fill up a story. They also make for a similarly relatable grounding like the first's, and if they'd just stuck with that, they could've made a movie that comes much closer to matching the first.

Whether the writers intended it or not, the Mrs. Clause itself is just as unsettling as the actual Santa Clause when you stop and think about it. For one, now that Scott has settled into his new role as Santa and enjoys it, he risks losing it all and, by extension, Christmas being destroyed forever, if he doesn't find a wife. For another, while he does, in the end, grow to truly love Carol, it doesn't specify that he has to actually love the woman he takes as Mrs. Claus, just as long as he finds one. Even Carol herself calls him out on this when he tells her the truth, and Scott, in 

turn, tells her, "Yes, I was looking for a wife; no, I didn't figure on falling in love." What's more, think about the woman who's to be Mrs. Claus: like the guy who unknowingly fulfills the contract to become Santa, she's suddenly faced with this decision to marry someone who may or may not really love her, leave her old life behind and live at the North Pole, and all with the knowledge that, if she doesn't accept, not only will Christmas be forever ruined but, as Scott tells her, kids across the world will stop believing, all the elves will be put out of work, and the North Pole 

will "disappear." I don't know if he means the latter literally or figuratively, but still, even Carol herself says it's all happening so fast. Scott, in his proposal, even kind of has to sell her on it, assuring her that accepting will be worth it... and then, when he finally asks her to be his wife, one of the elves, Trudy, whispers, "I will," as a not so subtle hint to her. Fortunately, we've seen how wonderful the North Pole truly is, so Scott isn't lying about it (although, when Carol asks if they have a school where she can 

be principal, he suggests that there is, though judging by the glances he and Bernard exchange, they're obviously going to have to build it), and Carol has already decided she's going to accept, but I was, again, shocked at how unsettling this idea was when I really thought about it. Like I said, at least Carol doesn't have to suffer the indignity of becoming an old woman once she's Mrs. Claus, and the proposal and marriage scenes do manage to be heartwarming, but it is amazing how morally questionable these movies can get.

Going back to Toy Santa, not only is he unnecessary in the long run but, as I alluded to earlier, he doesn't make much impact as a villain. He's played completely for laughs, with his design, Tim Allen's performance, his extreme obsession with rules being the reason why he decides no kids in the world deserve toys, and even when he takes over the North Pole and becomes a dictator, with his soldiers enforcing his will by putting Bernard under house arrest and keeping the others in line, it doesn't feel like a major crisis. It comes off more like he's a

nuisance that needs to be dealt with. Also, when he's first created, there's this concern over whether or not Bernard and Curtis can pass him off as the real Santa, but it amounts to nothing, as there are no points where you see the other elves becoming suspicious about his behavior. That had some potential but, when Bernard outs him as a fake, it means very little. And finally, during the climax, where Scott chases him through the air to stop him from reaching the dome's exit, they fight for control over the sleigh, and end up crashing 

into the village square below, the stakes don't feel very high. Toy Santa keeps making lame jokes and comments the whole time, his soldiers prove to be quite easy to defeat, and once he's beaten, he has one last scene where he's still treat as a joke. In fact, I feel the much maligned third movie does better with its villain. Not to get ahead of myself but, as much as people mock both that movie and this character, Martin Short's Jack Frost proves to be very devious in how he manipulates Santa into losing his confidence,

then tricks him into wishing he'd never taken the mantle in the first place, allowing Jack to get it and use it to turn Christmas into a reprehensible farce he calls "Frostmas." Also, while Toy Santa is easily defeated, Scott has to go through a fair amount to undo the mess Jack causes. And even before all that, he literally freezes Laura and Neil and locks up Lucy when his plan is nearly exposed by them. Now, that dilemma is resolved in a way that's really cliched and schmaltzy, even for Disney, but Jack still proved to be a fairly significant villain, much more so than Toy Santa.

While it's not nearly as egregious as the first movie, due to its much shorter time-span, there is, again, that feeling that it's hard to pinpoint when certain scenes are taking place. When Santa first learns that he has until Christmas Eve to find a Mrs. Claus, they specify that it's in just 28 days, and he has his meeting with the Council of Legendary Figures just a few hours later (we know that thanks to Father Time specifying much how time there is left). Toy Santa is created shortly afterward and Santa himself then leaves for Illinois. When he gets there, he still has 27 days left,

even though the de-Santafication has significantly progressed, and continues in that very scene, when he loses his beard. But then, when it begins cutting back and forth between Illinois and the North Pole, it doesn't feel like that much time has passed, even though it clearly has, given how he's completely turned back into Scott Calvin when he starts romancing Carol, and the climax and their wedding obviously occur on Christmas Eve, with them coming in just under the wire. This is another reason why it would've been helpful to show more attempts by Scott to find a wife, as we would've gotten more of a feeling that time is running out.

As I and I know others have said, the biggest reason why the sequels don't have the legacy of the first Santa Clause is because they are so much bigger and more fantastical. While it is a good idea to bring more to the table and open things up with sequels, and I'm glad they didn't just completely rehash the first with this, having Santa's workshop and village be a virtual world unto itself beneath the North Pole, other mythical figures like the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, and Mother Nature being in contact and occasionally in conference with him, the reindeer 

looking and sounding goofier, and Toy Santa trying to take over Christmas all make this feel far removed from the charming, smaller-scale, and, surprisingly, relatable original. That's not to say it isn't cool to see how the filmmakers are now able to visualize the North Pole the way they wanted to before, as well as how they expand upon the modern, high-tech operation they had going on there, showing us the steps they take when they run the risk of being discovered, and how they duplicate toys with the

pantograph, because it is. But it also goes to show how, as is often the case, you can't catch lightning in a bottle twice, and bigger budgets and higher production values can dilute from the original's charm. Again, they had a chance to make a sequel that would've been much more in the original's vein, but they couldn't resist the urge to go bigger.

I think it goes without saying that, because it was made as a Disney movie from the start and has a G-rating as opposed to the first's PG, The Santa Clause 2 doesn't have that same dark sense of humor about it. Make no mistake, this movie is 104 minutes of Disney candy-floss, and while there's certainly nothing wrong with that, it means that it's not nearly as funny. Much of the humor consists of cartoonish slapstick, like when Santa plays tinsel football with the elves, Toy Santa does the same, Chet is zipping around like a hyperactive kid and crashing, and Scott

attempts to summon the Tooth Fairy using the old gag of tying a string to one of his teeth and yanking it out (when the doorknob method not only doesn't work but the knob comes loose and whacks Scott in the head, Neil ties it to a toaster and prepares to throw it over the stair railing), not to mention the plethora of gags and antics that make up the climax, which I'll go into detail about shortly. And when it's not slapstick, the humor is based around pure wackiness, often in how eccentric some of the characters are, like the Tooth Fairy and especially Toy Santa, as well as in the

reactions others have to Santa slowly turning back into Scott, Scott being forced to wear one of Neil's ugly sweaters on his blind date, Tracy's overzealous and embarrassing song and dance at the restaurant, the scenes with Comet, and so on. Moreover, during the ending credits, you see Carol, now officially Mrs. Claus, dancing around Santa's bedroom while wearing his coat, and then see Toy Santa, now shrunken, stuck outside a store with some discount dancing Santa figures. Also, going back to Comet, 

you have that moment where he's pigged out on sweets, becoming a virtual blimp, and lets out a loud, stinky fart, with Scott yelling, "Ya eat some roughage, will you?!" The first one did have a couple of fart jokes as well, including from Comet, and I rolled my eyes at those, as I felt they were just unnecessary. Here, while I don't find fat, bloated Comet breaking wind to be laugh out loud funny, either, I can deal with it better (I do laugh at how he groans in pain 

while Scott struggles to get his fat ass up on his feet). At least Scott himself doesn't cut one this time, which he did in the first one, while he was getting out of bed before he first saw himself changing. Finally, there is just a little bit of raunch thrown into the humor, like how Toy Santa, when he first comes out of the pantograph, is naked, and you get a close-up of his big, rubber butt And after he and Carol are officially husband and wife, Santa tells her that, for their honeymoon, they'd best not go somewhere tropical, telling her, as he motions to his big belly, "You do not want to see this in a speedo."

Once again, they can't help but make references to some of Tim Allen's past work, specifically Home Improvement and Toy Story. Case in point, you not only have Santa working to repair a little hot-rod meant as a Christmas present, as well as knowing how to repair and work with mechanics in general, but when he comes to Carol's house to take her out, the two of them start talking and get on the subject of cars, as Tim Taylor often did. And when he tells Chet, during the climax to, "Quit the chit-chat," that's meant as a reference to a moment from an episode of Home

Improvement's first season (I first thought it was a reference to the, "Cut the chatter," line from Star Wars). As for Toy Story, Toy Santa calls Scott a "sad, strange little man" during the climax. (Some also think him saying he has a buzz after drinking the cocoa is a reference to Buzz Lightyear, but I think that's a reach.) When it comes to other references, there's also a Monty Python nod when the Punch and Judy puppets in Santa's bedroom tell Curtis to get on with it when he's rambling on. And, whether or not

it's intentional, Carol actually has a lot in common with the character of Jessica in the Rankin/Bass special Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town, right down to her working at a school, receiving a doll from "Santa," and ultimately becoming Mrs. Claus.

If The Santa Clause 2 does have something in common with the first, it's those warm and fuzzy moments that you can't help but smile at (or, at least, I can't). I apologize if I come off a little too mushy here, but that one elf, with her little chef's hat and apron, who comes up to Santa and asks, in the sweetest voice, if he wants a cookie, is absolutely adorable, and it's equally heart-warming how, after he takes the cookie, he tells her, "Sweet, just like you," and pats her on the shoulder. Similarly, I also really like Abby, the sweet elf who brings Santa, as well as 

Toy Santa, some hot cocoa, breaks it to him that Charlie is on the Naughty List, and later encourages Carol to accept Scott's proposal, as well as the little girl named Pamela who comes up to Scott at the rec center, as she's able to sense that he's Santa (again, sorry for the mushiness, but these kids are beyond precious). Like I said before, the way he interacts with her is so sweet and friendly, and serves as a nice first hint to Carol that he's a good guy. Speaking of which, those moments when Scott is romancing Carol are truly heart-warming, like that lovely little sleigh 

ride he takes her on, complete with it snowing right above them, when he gives her the Baby Doll she loved as a kid, and makes the mistletoe appear above them. In fact, seeing Carol laugh and act like a giddy little schoolgirl, especially after the cold manner in which she was initially portrayed, is bound to make one smile (the Tooth Fairy is right when he says she has a beautiful one). And like I said, despite the kind of unsettling subtext, Scott's proposal at the North Pole does come off as heartfelt and touching (mostly 

due to Tim Allen and Elizabeth Mitchell's performances). Scott livening up the faculty party by getting everybody the gifts they loved as children is also really touching, and finally, I love the interactions between him and Lucy, particularly at the end, when she learns he really is Santa. Actually, that last scene in general, with Charlie bringing Lucy downstairs, the way her eyes light up when Santa appears, how he reveals who he is by alluding back to when they played a game of Go Fish, and the two of them watching him fly off into the night, makes for a lovely way to wrap it up.

Of course, before that, we have the climax where Scott has to take down Toy Santa, while the others face his soldiers. As Scott rides off on Chet, Bernard leads the others into the village square, where they're met with the soldiers. He orders everyone to make snowballs and they then pelt the soldiers with them, but that does absolutely nothing. The soldiers then march towards them and the elves all charge at them, resulting in a full-on brawl. Up in the sky, Scott has Chet get him alongside Toy Santa's sleigh, then carry him over to the lead reindeer. When they get close

enough, Scott jumps onto the lead reindeer. Undeterred, Toy Santa continues heading for the hole in the dome, but when Scott takes the leader's reins, he manages to turn him around and head back down. Back in the square, Bernard and another elf use a pair of snowmobiles and a long ribbon to whip through the soldiers, which fly apart as a result (again, shows how fragile these guys are, as they were not going all that fast). Scott makes his way across the reindeer and towards the sled, nearly falling once, and then lunges 

at Toy Santa when he reaches him. But Toy Santa pulls the sleigh upward, causing Scott to overshoot it and nearly fall over the backside. He grabs onto the railing back there and hangs on for dear life, as the sleigh flies around in a circle. Down below, the elves take power tools to some of the soldiers, dismantling them, while some others merely kick them in their legs. One soldier traps Abby, only for Charlie to repel down a line and save her. After he lifts her out of harm's way, other elves cover the soldier in silly string and he falls over backwards.

Scott manages climb up into the sleigh, only for Toy Santa to immediately make it tougher for him, as he elbows him in the face, then slams his head onto the rail in front of him. Scott grabs his leg and pulls it up, then the two of them fight over the reins, only for them to slip out of their hands. They exchange shocked glances, as the reindeer then head straight down towards the village below. However, while Scott yells at them to watch out for the buildings, Toy Santa continues making light of it, snarking, "Oh, well. The town'll break the fall." They fly directly 

above a building on the ring of the square, hitting a chimney, knocking the sleigh loose, and sending it hurtling towards the square. They crash right into one of the soldiers, then skid across the snow and slide into a line of others, causing them to instantly fall apart; all the while, Toy Santa yells various names at the soldiers, telling them to stop his momentum. They hit the stairs leading up to the workshop, flinging Toy Santa out of the sleigh and onto his back. The elves immediately run in and cover him, attempting to get their revenge. Scott tells them he has the perfect place for him, and he's put back through the pantograph, which shrinks him down to regular toy size.

Because of the bigger budget, the filmmakers were really able to let loose with visual effects this time, with lots of digital horizons, blue screen work, and CGI characters. Unfortunately, as you've already probably noticed, while these effects definitely look better than much of those used in the first, and I've definitely seen far worse, most still haven't aged all that well. The big wide shots of the North Pole surface, the landscape beneath it, and the interior walls of the giant dome, are still well-done and nice to look at, and the same goes for the split-screen work to

put Scott and Toy Santa into the same frame, but the plethora of CGI, like the flying reindeer (most notably, Chet), the gradual de-Santafication process, Scott immediately turning back into Santa once he's married, the mistletoe appearing above Scott and Carol in the school, the shot of the fireplace opening up in the Miller house's living room at the end, and such, don't look so great. Similarly, there's a lot of painfully bad blue screen shots and compositing, like what you can see the outside of the plane's windows

during the opening, the sequence where the Tooth Fairy flies just above the street with Scott and Curtis, and, honestly, any time the characters are photographed with digital environments in the background. This is especially true for those kinds of shots during the climactic midair battle between Scott and Toy Santa, and the sleigh crashing afterward.

Like original director John Pasquin, composer Michael Convertino didn't return from the first Santa Clause. Instead, the music here is by George S. Clinton, who, by this point, had scored the two Mortal Kombat movies, all of the Austin Powers movies, Wild Things, and another Tim Allen movie, Joe Somebody (and like director Michael Lembeck, Clinton would also return for The Santa Clause 3). His music for The Santa Clause 2 isn't as memorable as what Convertino did for the first, but it's one of those scores that, if nothing else, is functional, nicely accentuating the heartwarming and comedic moments. What's more, because of the bigger scope and setpieces, Clinton is able to come up with a fair amount of adventurous music, especially for the climax. Naturally, there's an abundance of Christmas songs on the soundtrack, including some classics, like when Curtis listens to a Santa toy that plays Smokey Robinson & The Miracles performing Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town at the beginning; another version, by Steve Tyrell, which plays out the ending credits; and Run, Rudolph, Run by Chuck Berry when the faculty party is in full swing. You also hear Naughty, Naughty Christmas by Danger Danger when Charlie is first seen doing the graffiti in the gym; Everybody Loves Christmas by Eddie Money and Ronnie Spector, which the new Mrs. Claus, as the Punch and Judy puppets, dance to at the beginning of the ending credits; Santa Clause Lane by Hilary Duff during the last bit with Toy Santa afterward; and, following that, Santa's Got A Brand New Bag by SHeDAISY (which comes off as rather sensual in its lyrics).

Despite what you may have heard, The Santa Clause 2 is far from a horrible movie; rather, it's just a very flawed one. It suffers from a script that's underdeveloped in many of its characters and dramatic core, has an unnecessary subplot that deviates from what it should be focusing on, a villain that's entertaining but never feels like a threat, more kid-friendly humor, a lot of not so great visual effects, and its being so fantastical that it doesn't have the same appeal as the first. But, all that said, Tim Allen is still great in the role and it is nice to see his character get some significant development, it's good to see some of the returning characters (despite some of them not having much to do), all of the new characters are likable, the big budget and higher production values are certainly up there on the screen, the production design for the North Pole sets are awesome, the score and soundtrack are just fine, and, above all else, there are some truly sweet, heartwarming moments and scenes, as well as some visuals that are magical. If its not so stellar reputation has chased you away for this long, give it a chance, but don't expect it to live up to the first one.