‘THE SANTA CLAUSE 2’
Please feel free to comment on my review.
Tim Allen’s Santa Claus needs a Wife
The second film of ‘The Santa Clause’ trilogy called ‘The Santa Clause 2’ – also called ‘The Santa Clause 2: The Mrs. Clause’ – was released at cinemas in 2002. I didn’t see this film on the big screen.
I don’t think I was that interested in seeing a Christmas movie on the big screen when it came out in 2002. Also, I was sceptical regarding a sequel made to a film I enjoyed watching on VHS in the 1990s.
I eventually saw ‘The Santa Clause 2’ on DVD at a friend’s house. I enjoyed watching the film. It’s not as good as the first ‘Santa Clause’ film, but it was so fun and entertaining to check out when I saw it.
My parents and I currently own ‘The Santa Clause 2’ on DVD in the trilogy box set which my Dad purchased in 2010. I get a nice feeling in checking out ‘The Santa Clause 2’ on DVD over Christmas. 🙂
With the first film directed by John Pasquin, the second film is directed by Michael Lembeck, who would later go on to direct the third film. You can see the change of direction in the second movie. 😐
From the get-go, the North Pole setting is very different compared to the first film. I wonder why Michael Lembeck didn’t keep the consistency of Santa’s world in the North Pole from the first film. 😐
In ‘The Santa Clause 2’, Tim Allen as Scott Calvin has been Santa Claus for eight years. His loyal elves consider him the best one ever. But Scott’s world as Santa is about to be turned upside down here. 😦
He receives two sets of news. First, his son Charlie has ended up on the naughty list. Second, he has to marry by Christmas Eve or else he’ll stop becoming Santa Claus forever. A bit of a tall order there!
I think one of the issues I have with this film is the love story. Whilst it’s fair enough for Santa to find a wife before Christmas Eve, couldn’t his elves have warned him about this six months in advance? 😐
The love story that Scott has with his potential wife to be – Carol – is done in about a couple of weeks. I don’t believe that’s long enough for two people to fall in love with each other in the film. 😐
Then again, Disney is notorious for quick romances in their films, particularly the animated ones like ‘Sleeping Beauty’ and 1950’s ‘Cinderella’. Therefore, should I really be that surprised by this stage?
The film also features a robot Santa who takes over the real Santa’s duties whilst he’s away seeing Charlie and his family as well as finding a wife. Tim Allen is very funny playing the evil robot Santa. 🙂
The evil robot Santa attempts to give all the children in the world ‘coal’ for Christmas. He considers them to be all naughty. He has giant-sized toy soldiers to do his work. They are much like the Cybermen! 😀
Most of the cast from the first ‘Santa Clause’ film are back in this film. As well as Tim Allen, there’s Eric Lloyd back as Charlie. It was nice to see an older Charlie interact with his dad in the second film.
There’s also Wendy Crewson as Laura Miller and Judge Reinhold as Dr. Neal Miller. These two have accepted Scott Calvin/Santa Claus into their lives and try to help him out in finding a brand-new wife.
David Krumholtz returns to play Bernard the Head Elf. He’s joined by Spencer Breslin as Curtis, who may take over from him. Spencer Breslin would later work with Tim Allen in 2006’s ‘The Shaggy Dog’.
Elizabeth Mitchell stars as Principal Carol Newman, who catches Charlie out when he vandalises her school. Scott and Carol fall in love with each other, as Scott reveals to her that he’s actually Santa. 😐
There’s also Liliana Mumy as Lucy Miller, Laura and Neal’s daughter. Lucy is the sweetest little girl you could ever meet, as she’s very fond of Scott Calvin and is convinced that he’s truly Santa Claus. 🙂
Danielle Woodman stars as Abby the Elf, who takes over from Judy, the elf who provided Santa hot chocolate. There’s Molly Shannon (who’s been in ‘The Grinch’) as Tracy, whom Scott has a date with.
There’s also Aisha Tyler as Mother Nature, Peter Boyle as Father Time, Jay Thomas as the Easter Bunny, Kevin Pollak as Cupid, Art LaFleur as the Tooth Fairy and Michael Dorn as sleepy Sandman. 😀
It was amazing to see Michael Dorn (Worf from ‘Star Trek’) in this film. I’m disappointed the reindeer became more CGI than usual compared to the first film. Otherwise, this second film is good.
The DVD special features are as follows. There’s the making-of featurette ‘Inside the North Pole with Curtis’, a ‘Director’s Tour of Elfsburg’, a gag reel containing bloopers from the cast, ‘True Confessions of the Legendary Figures’, an audio commentary with the director Michael Lembeck, deleted scenes from the film, and the ‘Operation Toybox: Save Santa’ set-top game. There’s also an Easter Egg to check out on the DVD disc.
‘The Santa Clause 2’ rating – 8/10
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