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| Santa Clause 2, The |
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  (7/10)
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Runtime: 95 |
| Public Rating: 7.71 (24 votes) |
Director: Michael Lembeck |
MPAA Rating:  |
| Genre: Comedy/Family |
Year: 2002 |
| Writer(s): Leonardo Benvenuti, Ken Daurio, Ed Decter, Cinco Paul, Steve Rud |
| Reviewed by: Greg C. |
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Normally, when sequels take more than three or four years to get made, one wonders what the problem is; taking so long to get stars back on board is a bad sign, which reflects onscreen with average to poor performances. Another problem could be the script, and how many writers it goes through before the finished product is presented (A good rule of thumb: if the script has seen more wirters than it has years between installments, it's probably going to be pretty stenchy.) Many times the story itself is the problem; instead of continuing the adventures of the characters, the story seems doomed to repeat the same formula that made the first one a success, only with fewer box ofice returns. We all witnessed this earlier this year when "Men in Black 2" was released and left a bad taste in everyone's mouth.
Thankfully, "The Santa Clause 2" does not fall into the sequel trap, even though it comes to us a whopping eight years after the original (not to mention two years after its original release date, due to a major overhaul in the story.) The entire cast from the original is present, and everyone has moments to shine. Tim Allen still plays the perfect Santa Claus, complete with rosy cheecks and a twinkle in his eye. He's been working at the North Pole real hard for the past eight years, bringing joy to the children of the world and imporving the way toys are made. He is still assisted by his number 1 elf, Bernard, and is joined by a by-the-book elf named Curtis. With 28 days left until Christmas, all seems to be going well.
That is, until Bernard and Curtis break him a some bad news: unless he gets married by Christmas, he will cease to be Santa. With under a month left and an entire shipment of toys to make by then, as well as a problematic son back at home, Santa does not see how he can pull it off.
Curtis comes up with a solution, though: he makes an exact replica of Santa using a toy machine. Problem is, this Toy Santa doesn't seem to comprehend what Christmas is, and instead takes over the North Pole in a mission to give all the children in the world lumps of coal in place of presents.
While the Toy Santa is wrecking havoc in the Artic, Santa returns home to find love and also straighten out his son, who is vandalizing the school. Suprisingly enough, he finds love in his son's principal, who at first comes across as an ice queen, but soon melts when Santa works some of his good ol' magic.
Although the film does very well in accomplishing its goals, to provide the entire family with something enjoyable for the season, it does lack in several areas. The elf helper, Curtis, was totally unintresting, and the child actor playing the role seemed more focused on remembering his lines rather than actually delivering them with an feeling or comedic timing. Another problem is the romance subplot. While the setup is quite nice, Allen and the principal get over their differences a little too quickly and neatly than the audiance could believe. These are minor quibbles, but the biggest problem comes at the film's climax: the battle between Toy Santa and real Santa gets off to a nice start, but the execution is poor and the end result is unsatifying. While some of these problems are an issue, they ar enot enough to bring the entire movie down.
Where the movie succeeds, though, is in its capturing of the holiday spirit. Anyone who ever has or still does believe in the magic of Christmas is garunteed to come out of this film with a smile on their face and a penant for a nice big glass of egg nog.
Rated G, suitable for all ages.
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