The Santa Clause 2

Director: Michael Lembeck,
Starring: Tim Allen, Elizabeth Mitchell, David Krumholtz, Eric Lloyd, Judge Reinhold, Wendy Crewson, Spencer Breslin, Liliana Mumy, Danielle Woodman, Art LaFleur, Aisha Tyler, Kevin Pollak, Jay Thomas, Michael Dorn, Christopher Attadia, ,

Rate The Santa Clause 2 DVD Release:

(No Ratings Yet)

Loading...

DVD Review

The Santa Clause 2 (2002) answers the burning question that we’ve all been wondering asking ourselves: what has Judge Reinhold been up to lately? The first Santa Clause was a monster hit at the box office so a sequel was inevitable. Not having seen the first one is not crucial to enjoying this new one—of course, one’s enjoyment of this film hinges on your threshold for Tim Allen’s antics.

Santa (Allen) is hard at work making toys for the upcoming holiday season when his head elf (Krumholtz) informs him that his son, Charlie (Lloyd), is on the naughty list this year. He is also told that there is another clause in his contract that he must follow: Santa must find a Mrs. Claus and get married or he’ll have to turn in the red coat.

The Santa Clause 2, surprisingly, is not too bad as sequels go. Despite having five different people credited to the film’s screenplay (never a good thing), it plugs in all the right elements that will certainly appeal to its intended audience. Kids will love all the colourful scenery and the physical comedy (of which Allen excels at). There is enough banter between the adults (including a funny scene where Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Sandman and others debate whether the Tooth Fairy should change his name) to keep grown-ups interested.

To his credit, Allen keeps the mugging to a minimum and does a pretty good job playing Santa. He pulls a Mike Myers and plays three different roles in this film and is able to juggle them all effortlessly. It is also nice to see independent film stalwart, David Krumholtz (Slums of Beverly Hills), hamming it up as the head elf. He has excellent comic timing and he is given ample opportunity to show it off.

Special Features:

The DVD features numerous extras, all of which keep in tone with the movie and maintain the façade that all the actors are really their characters. “Inside the North Pole with Curtis,” is a 10-minute behind-the-scenes featurette hosted by Curtis, the #2 elf (Breslin). It’s a cheeky look at the making of the movie as Curtis interviews cast and crew, including a funny exchange with Bernard (Krumholtz).

“Director’s Tour of Elfsburg” is a brief visit of the impressive looking elf village by the film’s director, Michael Lembeck. It becomes readily apparent that a lot of work went into constructing the sets for this film.

There is the obligatory gag reel that features four minutes of actors flubbing their lines which really isn’t as funny as you’d think.

“True Confessions of the Legendary Figures,” is an amusing collection of interviews with the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny and others by Lembeck. Several famous actors played these characters in the film and it’s wonderful to see further repartee with them.

There are also seven deleted scenes that are introduced by Lembeck. He talks about each one and why they were cut—mostly due to running time or that they took away from the overall pacing of the film.

Lembeck also contributes an audio commentary for the movie. This track is a rare one in that it is actually targeted for kids. He explains various aspects of the movie in simple, understandable terms. This is a nice touch.

Finally, there is “Operation Toybox: Save Santa Game,” where the goal is to quiet down the noisy toys and rescue Santa before the cargo plane flies close enough to reveal the location of his toy factory. One has to answer a series of trivia questions from the movie in order to reveal the fake Santa.

The Santa Clause 2 is a harmless, entertaining holiday movie that kids will thoroughly enjoy. While hardly a classic, it is a pretty decent time waster with a wealth of extras, a crystal clear transfer and an aggressive 5.1 surround soundtrack that will give your home theatre a good workout.

J.D. Lafrance

J.D. is a freelance writer who is currently doing research for a book on the films of Michael Mann. He likes reading anything written by Jack Kerouac, James Ellroy, J.D. Salinger, Harlan Ellison or Thomas Pynchon. J.D. is currently addicted to the T.V. series 24 and enjoys drinking a lot of Sprite. This is not a blatant plug for the beverage but if they ever decided to give him a lifetime supply he certainly wouldn’t turn them down.
view all DVD reviews by JD Lafrance

 

Rating: 75%

Website: