The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006) Disney/Comedy-Fantasy RT: 92 minutes Rated G (some comic violence) Director: Michael Lembeck Screenplay: Ed Decter and John J. Strauss Music: George S. Clinton Cinematography: Robbie Greenberg Release date: November 3, 2006 (US) Cast: Tim Allen, Martin Short, Elizabeth Mitchell, Judge Reinhold, Wendy Crewson, Ann-Margret, Eric Lloyd, Spencer Breslin, Liliana Mumy, Alan Arkin, Aisha Tyler, Peter Boyle, Art LaFleur, Kevin Pollak, Jay Thomas, Michael Dorn, Abigail Breslin. Box Office: $84.5M (US)/$110.7M (World)
Rating: **
I didn’t see The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause at the cinema. In fact, I didn’t see it until a few years after its 2006 release. I never felt particularly compelled to watch it. When I finally did, I hated it. In my opinion, it lacked the charm and creativity of the first movie, a Christmas classic in many homes including mine. It was more appalling than appealing. I wrote a scathing review and figured I’d leave it at that. Well, I didn’t.
Maybe it’s the masochist in me, but I decided to give The Santa Clause 3 another go. I watched the first two movies the previous two nights and impulsively decided to complete the trilogy. A funny thing happened. I kind of liked it this time. Oh, it’s the weakest of the three films alright. It’s not as much fun as the others. Most of the time, it feels forced. The main players look bored with the whole thing. It’s the cinematic equivalent of a stale Christmas cookie.
At the same time, I can’t outright dismiss The Santa Clause 3 as Christmas folly. It has to be Martin Short’s campy performance as the film’s antagonist Jack Frost. Somebody described him as “an evil cross between Liza Minnelli and Liberace”. That’s an accurate description. I could even see this character becoming a gay icon. He’s that out there.
Directed once again by Michael Lembeck, The Santa Clause 3 is basically a variation of It’s a Wonderful Life. It would be a vast understatement to say Scott Calvin/Santa Claus (Allen) has a lot on his plate this holiday season. Like a lot of folks, he’s trying hard to balance family and career. He’s behind on his work and for good reason; he’s anxiously awaiting the birth of his first child with Mrs. Claus (Mitchell, Frequency). It could happen at any time.
Afraid that he won’t be there when the time comes, Santa Scott invites the family to spend Christmas at the North Pole. In addition to his own family- ex-wife Laura (Crewson), her husband Neil (Reinhold) and their daughter Lucy (Mumy, Cheaper by the Dozen)- he also invites his in-laws, Bud (Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine) and Sylvia (Margaret, Viva Las Vegas). Now here’s the rub. Her parents don’t know he’s Santa and he’s not supposed to tell anybody outside his immediate family. What’s a guy to do? He has the elves redo the North Pole to look like Canada. That ought to fool them.
In other news, it seems that Jack Frost is going around stirring up trouble. He’s tired of being a supporting player in the Council of Legendary Figures (yep, the whole gang is back!). He wants recognition. Mother Nature (Tyler, Bedtime Stories) wants to suspend him, but Jack convinces her to let him do community service at the North Pole as Santa’s helper. Naturally, he has ulterior motives. He wants to trick Santa Scott into invoking the “Escape Clause” which would enable him to take over as Father Christmas. All it takes is for Santa Scott to say “I wish I had never become Santa at all.” while holding a magic snow globe. Jack succeeds in his mission and Christmas becomes a nightmare as George Bailey…. er, Scott gets to see what things would be like if he didn’t put on the red suit that fateful night in 1994. It isn’t pretty. It’s on Scott to figure out how to set things right again.
In the alternate reality where Scott didn’t become Santa, Jack has turned the North Pole into a gaudy tourist trap where parents have to pay to put their kids on the nice list. Ever the showman, Jack performs a number called “North Pole, North Pole” replete with miserable-looking elf back-up dancers. It’s one of the few times The Santa Clause 3 comes to something resembling life. As hard as Lembeck tries, the movie has a lazy, half-assed feeling to it. Allen appears especially bored. Anyone can see he’s just going through the motions this time. Eric Lloyd, who plays his son Charlie, is absent for most of it. Of course, he comes back at the end when his extended family needs him most. I wish I could say the same for David Krumholtz as head elf Bernard. He couldn’t come back due to his commitment to his TV series Numb3rs. His absence is deeply felt.
The only one who looks like he’s having any fun at all is Short. He takes devilish glee in playing a real meanie who will do anything to be as famous as his fellow LFs. His malicious behavior might upset a few smaller children, but is he any worse than any antagonist in any given classic Christmas special? Is sabotaging ops at the workshop any worse than attempting to steal Christmas? Okay, there is the scene where he freezes Lucy’s parents after she threatens to blow the whistle on him. It might unsettle a few of the little ones, but it’s nowhere near as traumatizing as the fate of Bambi’s mother or Simba’s father. In any event, Short’s flamboyant villain is kind of fun.
It isn’t just the overall indifference of the cast and crew that keeps The Santa Clause 3 from flying high. The bad CGI increases the manufactured feel of the whole enterprise. I look at the scenes with the sleigh and reindeer and all I see is a bunch of computer jockeys tapping away at their keyboards. Where is the artistry in that? These effects aren’t special at all. I much prefer what the Salkinds did in 1985’s Santa Claus: The Movie. They made you believe a man in a sleigh could fly. Well, I believed it. I just didn’t get that feeling from The Santa Clause 3.
I don’t hate The Santa Clause 3 in any way. I simply think they shouldn’t have even bothered given the bored nature and forced feel of the whole movie. It’s not a lot of fun and it won’t delight children the same way the original movie did. It has one thing going for it and while it’s campily fun for adults, I doubt the kiddies will respond the same way. This is one of those movies you put on hoping it will keep the rugrats occupied long enough for you to wrap presents.
