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The Santa Clause 2
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Superficial, but moderately enjoyable, live-action fantasy in which Santa (Tim Allen) must tend to his misbehaving 16-year-old son (Eric Lloyd) and satisfy a contract to marry by Christmas Eve. A sequel to 1994's "The Santa Clause," it presumes a familiarity with the original movie and features five of the same major characters. Minor menace. A-I -- general patronage. (G) 2002.
Full Review
"The Santa Clause 2" (Disney) presumes a familiarity with its 1994 predecessor, perhaps correctly for a young audience raised on video collections and TV showings.
Tim Allen, one of at least six returning cast members, again portrays Scott Calvin, a former ad executive who, eight years before, gave up his unhappily harried life to become the official full-time Santa at the North Pole.
Scott's ex-wife Laura (Wendy Crewson) seems happily married to psychologist Neil Miller (Judge Reinhold); both of them were in the original. They're raising their 6-year-old daughter Lucy (Liliana Mumy, playing with Hollywood adorability) as well as Laura's son by her earlier marriage to Scott, Charlie (Eric Lloyd, also returning), now 16 and therefore twice his earlier age.
David Krumholtz reprises his portrayal of Santa's head elf, Bernard. Peter Boyle, who acted as Scott's boss earlier, makes a brief appearance here as Father Time.
New to the mix are Spencer Breslin as Curtis, a rotund 900-year-old elf who wears glasses and looks youthful enough to be an adolescent; Art Lafleur as the unhappily named Tooth Fairy; and Elizabeth Mitchell as Carol, an attractive and conveniently unmarried school principal.
Carol sets out to punish student Charlie for his repeated infractions with graffiti, but mellows when she finds his father, Scott, sincerely concerned. It won't even take children long to pick out the next Mrs. Santa, first lady of the North Pole.
The elves and Scott's immediate family understand that Santa and Scott are one and the same (a variation on the dual identity of Clark Kent and Superman).
Allen plays more than two roles but not quite three by also portraying a duplicate Santa -- a robot designed to keep toy production on track, but one who turns into a tyrant.
All of the main characters are presented sympathetically. Minimal emphasis is placed on the Calvins' earlier divorce. Nor is there any question that Laura is a contender for Mrs. Santa.
Younger viewers especially may become impatient with Michael Lembeck's flat direction of talky, uneventful scenes. The performers are uniformly appealing, especially Allen, whose whimsical persona is highly adaptable to the animated quality called for in his portrayal of contrasting Santas. The functional nature of most of the roles limits the ability of cast members to stretch beyond the narrow range required.
Surprisingly, for a Disney-produced sequel to a profitable original, the special effects look cheap and dated. Though all-new, technically the movie looks as if it could have been produced many years ago. A lot of it takes place on one massive, somewhat unimaginative set representing the toy factory.
Children might be startled by the menacing wooden soldiers deployed near the end, but in "The Santa Clause 2" all problems are resolved with minimal threat.
The picture makes a good point about adults cherishing the child in themselves, but, as in the original, the sequel is limited to a secular view of Christmas.
Minor menace. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops classification is A-I -- general patronage. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is G -- general audiences.
Movies have been evaluated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishop's Office for Film and Broadcasting according to artistic
merit and moral suitability. The reviews include the USCCB rating,
the Motion Picture Association of America rating, and a brief
synopsis of the movie.
The classifications are as follows:
- A-I -- general patronage;
- A-II -- adults and adolescents;
- A-III -- adults;
- A-IV**
- L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. L replaces the previous classification, A-IV.
- O -- morally offensive.
** Discontinued classification. All archived movies that were originally in the A-IV category are now classified as L.
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