Image courtesy of www.impawards.com
Director :
Michael Lembeck
Cast :
Tim Allen”¦”¦”¦.Santa Clause/Scott Calvin
Martin Short”¦”¦”¦.Jack Frost
Elizabeth Mitchell”¦”¦”¦.Mrs. Claus/Carol Calvin
The last few years seem to have been rough on many comedians, as a new wave of comics has come out and ascended to the rarified air that men like Robin Williams used to have a stranglehold on. Some have leached out into dramatic roles, like Bill Murray. Others have tried to enter into a more family-oriented brand of comedy, chief among them being Steve Martin. Others have tried to continue to make films and failed both commercially and critically, passed along the wayside by Will Ferrell and the like. That’s the situation Tim Allen finds himself in after being one of the more successful comedians in the 1990s. After establishing himself on the long-running Home Improvement, Allen was quite successful for much longer than many had thought he would be. His chief success was in the first two Santa Clause films, holiday spectacles about a man who becomes Santa Clause after the jolly man of myth dies on his roof of an accident. After a sequel in which he had to get a wife, Allen is back again in The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause
Allen returns as Santa Clause, trying to balance his career and his family like many men. Fate intertwines when he’s given the chance to get rid of the increasing burden that is Santa Clause. Exchanging the red suit with the legendary Jack Frost (Martin Short) for his old life back inadvertently, he realizes what he missed about his old life and engages in a battle with Frost for the right to be Santa Clause.
Returning as Santa, Allen finds himself at a bit of career crossroads: Can he still be funny enough to be both a critical and commercial draw as a main star or are his days on top a thing of the past? The film’s existence itself seems to indicate that Allen is grasping at straws for his career. His biggest hits, outside of lending his voice to both Toy Story films, have been in this series and nothing else he’s done has been the sort of smash hit that the first two films of this franchise were. And with two flops so far this year in Zoom and the remake of The Shaggy Dog already, this is Allen’s final shot at being the top of the heap of family-oriented comedians.
The problem is that this material seems beyond Allen’s capabilities. At this point in the game one would imagine Allen would have moved on to more advanced roles than being in a film filled with juvenile humor aimed at the elementary school set. There’s plenty of material for the film to riff on; from Santa’s family squabbles to his life outside the red suit once it’s lost, plenty of opportunity for a more meaningful film are lost in order for a film like this to exist. Allen is game for the material, as he’s comfortable in the role that made him a bankable movie star, but the film takes what could be an opportunity for him to shine in a quality role and flushes it away to see Martin Short in a fat suit. It’s not funny at all from the first 10 minutes on, as even the requisite bodily function humor falls flat.
The other problem with the film is that it has an awkward structure. So much time is spent on the buildup to Santa losing his red suit that when it does happen it’s close to the end of the film. It’s a mad rush to get to the requisite happy ending, thus taking a lot of the effectiveness of the material away from it. When Santa becomes Scott again there’s so much material that could’ve been worked with and yet it’s rushed through to the grand finale.
It leaves a watered down effect to the film’s effectiveness, showing yet again that perhaps it’s time for Tim Allen to move to a different age-set. Family films may be something he has done well in the past but with a trifecta of bad films just in 2006 alone, perhaps it’s time for the star of Home Improvement to improve upon his script choices.
