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Snagged by the 'Mrs.' clause
[Photo: Disney
Standing, Spencer Breslin, David Krumholtz and Tim Allen star in The Santa Clause 2, a follow-up to the 1994 film. |
By PHILIP BOOTH, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published October 31, 2002
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After eight years, Tim Allen is back as the affable holiday hero Kris Kringle, who has 28 days to find a wife.
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Despite sterling work as the voice of Buzz Lightyear in the Toy Story movies, Tim Allen isn't about to win any awards for the range of his acting. Two words: Big Trouble. Two more: Joe Somebody.
The former star of television's popular Home Improvement nevertheless acquits himself admirably as a likable Joe Nobody turned Kris Kringle in The Santa Clause 2. The follow-up to a holiday film that racked up $145-million at the box office in 1994 has survived several rewrites and stops and starts. Television veteran Michael Lembeck (Off Centre, Cursed, Stark Raving Mad) has replaced John Pasquin, director of the first installment of the franchise. The supporting actors, including David Krumholtz as a high-ranking elf and Judge Reinhold as a snide psychologist, are back for round two.
The long break between the two movies is unusual, particularly in these days of instant (and sometimes simultaneously filmed) sequels. Eight years later, the young fans of the first flick may be doing their best to sneak into The Ring, rather than buying tickets for a movie about Santa.
But Lembeck's movie may just be the salve for Allen's languishing career. Allen makes a modest, affable holiday hero in an efficiently organized, attractively photographed family comedy that effectively borrows a plot device used more than once in movies, and in television shows ranging from Star Trek to Seinfeld: The lead character has been cloned, and the copy isn't at all like the real thing.
But that's jumping ahead. The primary crisis facing Scott Calvin (Allen), also known as St. Nick, this time has to do with his marital status. It's the "Mrs." clause: Unless he finds a bride by Christmas Eve, 28 days away, the gigantic underground toy factory at the North Pole will shut down, and the magical distribution of gifts will end forever.
Scott has regular troubles too, namely his teenage son Charlie (Eric Lloyd, a returnee from the original), who scrawls graffiti at his high school and whose principal is attractive, no-nonsense Carol Newman (Elizabeth Mitchell).
Those problems are on the agenda when Santa meets with the Council of Legendary Figures: Kevin Pollak is a miniature Cupid; Peter Boyle is a world-weary Father Time; Aisha Tyler is a regal Mother Nature; Michael Dorn is an out-of-it Sandman; Art LeFleur is an insecure Tooth Fairy; and Jay Thomas is a wisecracking Easter Bunny. It's one of the movie's most amusing sequences. The rabbit sympathizes with Scott's woes: "I have 33,000 offspring, all in private school."
The half-dozen writers credited with the screenplay dutifully drop a variety of obstacles into the path of Santa/Scott, including a would-be love interest (Molly Shannon) from the blind-date-from-hell department, a megalomaniac faux Santa whose lines might have been borrowed from Alexander Haig ("I'm in charge here"), and an army of lifesize, potentially lethal toy soldiers.
Baby boomers may most appreciate a bit about secret-Santa gift-giving at an otherwise drab faculty Christmas party. The administrators and educators go gaga over presents straight out of childhood memories, including Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots, Creepy Crawlers and a Holly Hobbie oven. If you have to ask . . .
The Santa Clause 2
- Grade: B-
- Director: Michael Lembeck
- Cast: Tim Allen, Elizabeth Mitchell, Eric Lloyd, David Krumholtz, Spencer Breslin, Wendy Crewson, Judge Reinhold
- Screenplay: Leonardo Benvenuti, Ken Daurio, Ed Decter, Cinco Paul, Steve Rudnick, John J. Strauss
- Rating: G
- Running time: about 100 mins.
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