The Santa Clause 2 (2002) Disney/Comedy-Fantasy RT: 104 minutes Rated G (some mildly frightening moments) Director: Michael Lembeck Screenplay: Don Rhymer, Cinco Paul, Ken Daurio, Ed Decter and John J. Strauss Music: George S. Clinton Cinematography: Adam Greenberg Release date: November 1, 2002 (US) Cast: Tim Allen, Elizabeth Mitchell, David Krumholtz, Eric Lloyd, Judge Reinhold, Wendy Crewson, Spencer Breslin, Liliana Mumy, Art LaFleur, Aisha Tyler, Kevin Pollak, Peter Boyle, Jay Thomas, Michael Dorn, Molly Shannon. Box Office: $139.2M (US)/$172.8M (World)
Rating: ** ½
The magic dissipates somewhat in The Santa Clause 2, the sequel to the hit 1994 film. Tim Allen returns as Scott Calvin/Santa Claus. It’s been eight years and he’s settled in at the North Pole. He loves his job, but who wouldn’t love a job where you work only one night a year. Johnny Carson didn’t even have it that good.
Unfortunately, some complications arise that threaten Santa Scott’s contentment as well as the Christmas holiday. It seems that a clause has been overlooked; specifically, “The Mrs. Clause” which states that Santa has to find a Mrs. Claus and get married before Christmas Eve. If he doesn’t, then Christmas will cease to exist. This is brought to his attention by Curtis (Breslin, The Cat in the Hat), the keeper of the “Handbook of Christmas”. Santa Scott has only 28 days to find his Mrs. Clause.
In addition to that, he receives bad news from home. It seems that his son Charlie (Lloyd) has made the “naughty” list this year. Now a teenager, Charlie has been acting out, defacing school property with graffiti. Scott shows up just in time to attend a meeting with Carol Newman (Mitchell, Frequency), the icy school principal. She wants to suspend Charlie from school, but good old Dad convinces her to try an alternate punishment, cleaning graffiti off walls around town and in the school.
Charlie’s mom and stepdad, Laura (Crewson) and Neil (Reinhold), now have a young daughter Lucy (Mumy, Cheaper by the Dozen) who really looks up to Charlie. She has no idea who her Uncle Scott really is…. or does she?
In Santa’s absence, Curtis creates a life size robot to assume North Pole duties while Scott tends to family business. Naturally, it turns out to be a complete disaster. Toy Santa (Allen) takes his job a little too seriously, deciding that every child in the world is naughty and will all be receiving coal instead of toys. He creates an army of enlarged toy soldiers to enforce this new policy.
The search for Mrs. Claus is shockingly easy given the time crunch. Scott goes on one bad date before starting a romance with Principal Newman. This, of course, doesn’t go over well with Charlie who feels betrayed by his father. Then there’s the matter of convincing his new girlfriend he’s Santa Claus. That goes as well as you’d expect. On top of that, he’s dealing with the “de-Santafication” process which involves reverting to his old self and losing his powers.
Directed by Michael Lembeck, The Santa Clause 2 isn’t as magical as its predecessor, but it’s not completely without joy. In one of the movie’s better scenes, Scott livens up a dull and dreary faculty Christmas party at Carol’s school by handing out gifts to everybody. They’re not just any gifts; they’re toys and games they all wanted as children. Within minutes, everybody’s having a jolly old time playing with their new toys.
I find it interesting that The Santa Clause 2 somehow managed to get a G rating. While there’s nothing offensive or inappropriate in it, I would think the toy Santa Claus might frighten smaller children as will his toy soldier army. The first movie was PG and there’s nothing even remotely scary in it. It’s just further proof of the arbitrary nature of the ratings board.
What I admire about the Santa Clause movies is the level of maturity. In the first, we get a subplot about Scott’s loss of visitation rights over his ex-wife’s concern for his mental state. What normal person thinks he’s Santa Claus? In The Santa Clause 2, there’s the whole finding a wife storyline. Scott goes on a blind date with a woman (Shannon, SNL) who’s really into Christmas, even more so than Scott who sits there embarrassed while she sings a Shania Twain-inspired carol she wrote (sort of) right there in the middle of the restaurant. Then he gets involved with Carol. Their relationship follows the usual trajectory. Stuff like this won’t appeal to most kids, but it won’t completely elude them either.
I’ll tell you what I really like about The Santa Clause 2. Early on, Santa Scott hosts the annual meeting of the Council of Legendary Figures. The group includes Mother Nature (Tyler, Bedtime Stories), the Tooth Fairy (LaFleur, Cobra), Father Time (Boyle, Young Frankenstein), Cupid (Pollak, The Usual Suspects), the Easter Bunny (Thomas, Mr. Holland’s Opus) and the Sandman (Dorn, Star Trek: The Next Generation). It’s actually a pretty cool idea putting all these legendary figures from childhood together. I got a real kick out of the Tooth Fairy wanting to change his name for reasons you can probably guess. I’m not sure if “The Molanator” has the same ring to it, but okay. In any event, the actors look like they’re having fun. It should have been the set-up for a spin-off, but that hasn’t happened…. yet.
Allen seems to enjoy the role of Santa Scott and his evil robot version. He’s been lucky with his family-oriented films, the Toy Story franchise in particular and the hilarious sci-fi send-up Galaxy Quest. We won’t talk about Christmas with the Kranks. Mitchell is good as the love interest. Her transition from cold-hearted Grinch to potential Mrs. Claus is nice. Reinhold’s character is more likable this time. He brings the goofy quality we loved in Beverly Hills Cop I & II. Lloyd is pretty good as Charlie, a teen angry about having to keep his father’s profession a secret. Mumy is adorable as the kid sister.
The Santa Clause 2 is enjoyable even though it lacks the sense of wonder and awe that defined the 1994 original. Sure, the filmmakers brought something new to the table with the whole Mrs. Clause thing, but it seems like they didn’t try very hard to develop this idea beyond a single bad date. The makeup effects (for Toy Santa) and animatronics (the reindeer) are well done, but the CGI effects leave something more to be desired. It’s a decent enough sequel though. it’s not a bad way to spend one of the nights before Christmas.
