Merolliv
I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.
Aneesa Wardle
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
Yash Wade
Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.
TownRootGuy
Not that that's saying much. It has eye candy, decent FX AND it gives the gift of laughter throughout but it was better in the 90's. Crewson was hot in this one so that helps. There's just too much kid-targeted junk to rate this any higher. Still, it's good enough to make the 2 - 3 year re-watch rotation.
Hitchcoc
Tim Allen is a marvelous comic presence. But this all belongs to the producers and creators of this film. The script allows for an explanation why Allen becomes Santa Claus. He inadvertently causes the old guy to fall off the roof and the "clause" in the contract forces him to take over the job. He must put on the suit. What happens after this is the integration of Allen into the Santa Claus routine. He begins to get chubby. He gets rosy cheeks. The whole nine yards. He is taken to the North Pole after learning to drive the sleigh. He gets good at distributing presents. The hang up is parental rights to his son, Charley. Judge Reinholdt is the humorless new husband of Allen's former wife. The crazier Allen appears, the more it plays into Charley being kept from his father. An elf named Bernard (who has a Bronx accent) is Allen's right hand man, and he orchestrates things the way he wants them.
xsophietaylorx
The Santa Clause deserves so much more credit then it gets I really disagree with how low the rating is on IMDb. Every Christmas I find myself looking forward to watching this film, I've grew up watching it & it really makes me feel very festive. The film is just really lots of fun, entertaining and puts you in the Christmas spirit. Tim Allen is great in it, and you find yourself falling in love with all the cast. The way the sets are set out the effects the santas work shop is just magical to watch. The Santa clause tells the story of a man who begins to transform into Father Christmas. I laughed a lot through out this film and feel it really is something for all the family to enjoy! With a lovable cast a great storyline you feel yourself beginning to fall in love with the film, I certainly did. Great for adults and children a must watch at the Christmas time of year!!
Robert W.
The Santa Clause is all around the perfect family Holiday film. I don't mean to imply its a perfect film because it is of course silly, implausible, full of product placement (good ol' Disney), but its also sweet and fun and magical. Watching our main character's transformation into Santa is easily one of the most memorable in Christmas film history. The movie really has everything you could possibly want from a Christmas film right from square one with familiar Christmas classics, a middle aged divorced father more concerned with his career than his family, Santa, presents, North Pole, elves, magic...you name it. It is all here. There is also a ton of hidden little Easter Eggs (pardon the pun) in the film from Mickey Mouse's hidden face in the moon to elves hiding amongst the humans throughout the movie. Its a fantasy adventure comedy that kids will absolutely adore and adults can still smile even if its a guilty little pleasure. Best of all the film is full of magic and morals and is squeaky clean save few a couple of stupid fart jokes in the beginning (I hate fart jokes but they are there for better or for worse.) Tim Allen blew everyone away with his comedy on Home Improvement in the 90's and with this film he proved his chemistry could translate to the big screen. Allen really is fantastic in this movie. He goes from the selfish single Dad to Santa in all the right ways and makes the unbelievable believable. Eric Lloyd does a great job as Allen's son. He isn't amazing but this is really one of his first films and he is absolutely right for the part. The chemistry between him and Allen is perfect and fits the film. Wendy Crewson is Allen's ex-wife and she is good in the role. She doesn't get a lot of time on screen and her best scenes are towards the end when she comes around to the idea of her ex-husband being Santa Claus. Judge Reinhold is really the closest thing you get to a "villain" in the movie and he isn't quite that. He's a grown up who refuses to accept a concept like Santa Claus. They do make him awfully unlikable though which is unfortunate. However, he serves a purpose and mostly is there for Allen to make sarcastic jokes about. His scenes near the end when he comes around to Santa are really silly and poorly done in my opinion. David Krumholtz is sorely underused as the head elf. He is a very funny actor and I think there could have been more done with him and the relationship between him and Allen.Director John Pasquin had worked with Allen on Home Improvement and a few projects since then including his new sitcom "Last Man Standing." They likely know each other very well and know the style of comedy. I'm not sure he's the optimal choice for a family Christmas film but he absolutely gets it done in the right away. Perhaps my only but would be that there could have been more character development with the supporting cast and I felt like the ending is very rushed. They spend a lot of time building up this story and then it seems as though they realized they spent too much time and have to wrap it up very quickly. Nonetheless, this is a lot of fun and you will certainly enjoy watching it and you'll smile a lot. For me, it wasn't laugh out loud funny like I expected it to be but its simple and cute. There is a lot of magic for the little ones and you can't fault them at all for making something like that. Its worthy of adding to your family Christmas film rotation every year! I'm looking forward to following this up with the two sequels, one of which I have never seen. 7/10
