Christmas movies are supposed to take place at Christmas. That's the general rule of thumb. And that's generally how I remembered The Santa Clause. Lots of North Pole elves and Santa suits and the like, except that's the sequel that I'm thinking of. In fact a lot of this movie takes place during the rest of the year. That doesn't mean it's bad, just different. In a good way.
Scott Calvin (Tim Allen) is a toy company executive who isn't a Christmas person at all. He puts on the Christmas cheer for his son Charlie (Eric Lloyd) though, which is more than his mother Laura (Wendy Crewson) and stepfather Neil (Judge Reinhold) do. Neil is a psychiatrist who believes that Charlie should face the realities of life and tells him that Santa Claus doesn't exist. That is until Christmas Eve when Scott accidentally kills Santa and has to take his place. Head elf Bernard (David Krumholtz) fills Scott in on the contract that he unknowingly has signed and gives him a year to get his affairs in order before it becomes a full time job.
So The Santa Clause kind of isn't a kid's movie, although I definitely saw it when I was one. There are a lot of themes around divorce and mental illness that are an interesting step to take this kind of movie. Scott has so much animosity for his ex-wife it's unbelievable. The best part of the movie however, is the antagonistic relationship that he has with Charlie's stepfather Neil. Normally Judge Reinhold is known for playing fun loving characters, but Neil is an incredibly dark and cynical person, which is how psychiatrists were portrayed in the 90s. It is a shame that there weren't more scenes featuring Peter Boyle (best known for playing Ray Romano's father in Everybody Loves Raymond).
While there are some funny moments, especially during Scott's physical transformation into Santa, it's the darker moments of the film that are better. When Scott first gets roped into being Santa, he is incredibly reluctant about and treats the job with a level of hatred. The idea of the actual Santa hating his job would be a funny movie to watch. Kind of like Bad Santa, but if Santa was real. The movie's ending is also darker than I remember, with Scott being accused of kidnapping and is hunted down by heavily armed police. Not quite the kid's movie content I was expecting.
Apart from moments of horrendous 90s CGI, The Santa Clause is a great cynical Christmas movie to revisit - especially after the year that we've had. It may not set out to have a cynical message, I'm sure they were trying for some lighthearted fun when the made it, but it's unavoidable to miss the sad undertones about divorce and kidnapping. Not at all like that Home Alone movie.
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