By: Jesse Striewski
After all these years, Tim Allen finally returns as the big guy in red, although I wasn’t sure if it’d work after 2006’s embarrassing Santa Clause 3 (I still couldn’t tell you if I’ve ever sat through that one from start to finish). But surprisingly, it held my interest long enough to make it through all six episodes of the new sequel series.
The concept is nothing all too revolutionary; Santa (Allen) is poised to retire, but must first find his replacement. After ruling out his own offspring, he quickly pics a single father (Kal Penn), whose innovative intentions quickly prove to be more harmful to Christmas than anyone could have ever expected.
Along with Allen, Elizabeth Mitchell also returns as his wife, Carol Calvin, and Eric Lloyd briefly returns as his oldest son, Charlie. Allen’s real life daughter, Elizabeth Allen-Dick also appears as his teenage daughter. There’s plenty of seasonal in-jokes along the way and appearances from everyone from the O.G. Saint Nicholas of Myra (Mitch Poulos) and Krampus (Dirk Rogers).
I can remember going to see the original Santa Clause when it came out in theaters back in 1994; it wasn’t a flawless Christmas movie by any means, but decent enough for what it was. I suppose the same can be said about The Santa Clauses; although it’s not perfect, it brings back some of that magic that was missing from its two lackluster sequels.
Rating: 3/5 Stars
