THE SANTA CLAUSE 3: 

THE ESCAPE CLAUSE

REVIEWED BY CHARITY BISHOP

Our rating: 5 out of 5

Rated:

Studios never quit while they're ahead. If a movie is good, they ruin it with a sequel. If they're lucky, the sequel is good... but a third time around, the plot starts falling a bit flat. That is the unfortunate fate of the third Tim Allen Santa movie. For a twenty-something, it was mostly boring ... all except for Martin Short, who saves the film from being a total waste of time.

The North Pole is a flurry of activity as the holidays start rolling in, but this year Santa (Allen) has something more to be concerned about: his wife (Elizabeth Mitchell) is expecting their first child! With his constant attention needed in the workshop, Santa is feeling a bit guilty about not having much quality time with his wife. After she bemoans how lonely she is, he agrees to allow her parents to come and visit over Christmas. There's just one catch: they cannot be told the truth, and so the elves hustle about preparing the town to look like a Canadian toy factory. Dropping in on his son Charlie (Eric Lloyd), Santa is suckered into letting the entire family come up for Christmas too, including his adorable niece Lucy (Liliana Mumy).

All this transpires while the Council of Legendary Figures is attempting to decide what is to be done with the rebellious Jack Frost (Short). Jealous that Santa has a holiday all to himself, his recent antics have enraged the likes of Mother Nature and Father Time. Rather than suspend him indefinitely, Jack appeals to Santa to intervene and agree to let him help out at the North Pole. Santa foolishly agrees, little realizing that the frosty fellow has it in for him. What results is an entertaining but occasionally dull return to the characters we all grew up with. Charlie is in college now, Santa is sporting a few more laugh lines, and the script is more than a bit in need of repair.

What perplexed me the most was how not about Santa the movie was. Sure, he's the main character, but when it comes right down to it, he didn't have any of the humorous lines that we're accustomed to, and was pretty much lost in the background of more minor characters. He has a few good scenes, most of them with children, but the film would have been better titled Jack Frost. Short is fabulous, from his blue hair (totally cool) to his diabolical little schemes to create chaos. I was almost sorry to reach the end and say farewell to him. That being said, there are some fun moments to be found, mingled with a decent amount of melodramatic family arguments. Anne Margaret makes an appearance as Santa's mother-in-law that is quite charming. And there's nothing inappropriate for kids aside from a couple of flatulent reindeer. Still, it's not nearly as good as the original, and we can only hope is the last attempt to cash in off a good idea.