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30 years after its premiere,The Santa Clauseremains a holiday classic. We all know the story. After accidentally killing Santa Claus, Tim Allen’s Scott Calvin has to take his place. Pretty bold start to a kid’s movie when you think about it. The original film received two sequels,The Santa Clause 2andThe Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause. While the first outing earned mainly positive reviews, critical and audience reception dipped as the franchise went on.
The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clausewas regarded by many as the weakest of the three. Since no fourth film was ever commissioned, it looked like that was whereSanta would hang up his jacket. But a decade-and-a-half later, we revisited the world withThe Santa ClausesTV series. The show didn’t necessarily earn rave reviews, but it was hailed as a welcome return to form for the franchise. It did so well on Disney+ that a second season was ordered after the first was initially billed as a limited series. While there’s been no news of a third season,the show did do its job of giving this franchise a more respectable ending. So, let’s take a look.
‘The Santa Clause’ Trilogy and Weak Third Movie
The Santa Clauses
As mentioned,The Santa Clausefranchise starsTim Allen as Scott Calvin/Santa Claus. The toy company executive suddenly finds himself taking the reins of Santa after the previous holder fell off his roof. Additional cast members include Elizabeth Mitchell, Wendy Crewson, Eric Lloyd, David Krumholtz, and Judge Reinhold.
In the first film, Scott believes the encounter with Santa was a dream. That is, until he spends the rest of the movie physically changing into St. Nick. By the second, Scott discovers that he needs to find a wife, or else he loses the Santa gig.The third and final entry sees Scott renounce his position after being tricked into it by Jack Frost. Jack replaces Scott, who immediately regrets the decision. He manages to trick Frost into giving up the job, too and is able to reclaim his Santa mantle.
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The second movie did okay with critics, but the third unmistakably fell into rotten territory. Martin Short gave it his all as Jack Frost, but most reviewers agreed that the plot just rehashed jokes and slapstick from the previous films. The story felt phoned in as if they were only making it to say they completed a trilogy. It even took nearly an hour just to get to Scott’s giving up of the Santa job. Some reviewers were kinder, saying thatThe Escape Clauseimproved on its predecessor. Audiences rated it at an average B+, not that bad.But the overwhelming consensus is thatThe Santa Clause 3was a cheesy, tired, and overdone sequel to an already “meh” franchise.
‘The Santa Clause’ TV Series Fixed the Ending
In January 2022, a limited series follow-up titledThe Santa Clauseswas ordered for Disney+. The first season follows Scott as he approaches his 65th birthday. With clear signs of aging, Scott makes plans to retire. After neither of his sons want the job, Simon Choksi (Kal Penn) is chosen as the new Santa. However, Simon commercializes Christmas, leading to Scott’s unretiring. The second season follows Eric Stonestreet as the Mad Santa, a medieval Santa Claus who is summoned back to life. At the same time, Scott begins training his son Cal to one day succeed him as Santa.
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The Santa Clausescurrently sits at a 55% on Rotten Tomatoes.Not exactly acclaimed, but far better than the 17% forEscape Clause. The show dialed back some of the more campy slapstick elements of the movies and focused primarily on the Calvin family. That’s what worked so well about the first film and, to an extent, the second. Scott was an average dad who had to balance his new family with his unexpected new Santa responsibilities. The franchise suffered when side characters and more wacky magical hijinks took away from the family unit. However, it couldn’t please everyone, as some viewers weren’t fans of the new elves or Kal Penn’s character. Butthe majority of viewers seemed to agree that this series was a faithful callback to the original film.
Two seasons were released in 2022 and 2023. There were discussions of a third season, but nothing materialized. It’s possible it may be delayed to accommodate the cast’s schedules, as Tim Allen is busy working on hisnew ABC sitcomShifting Gears. However, rumors ofAllen’s bad behavior on set, as well as the fact that Disney has been so quiet, are not good signs. If there’s an announcement in the next few months, it’s possible that a new season could be ready for next Christmas. Though if not, at least this series gave the Calvin/Claus family a better resolution than Martin Short’s campy Jack Frost movie.All threeSanta Clausefilms, as well as the TV series, can be streamed this holiday season onDisney+.
