Playing Jack Frost as an evil cross between Liza Minnelli and Liberace, Martin Short is a welcome presence, but this tired series continues drawing from its bag of bland gags and dumb slapstick.
Playing Jack Frost as an evil cross between Liza Minnelli and Liberace, Martin Short is a welcome presence, but this tired series continues drawing from its bag of bland gags and dumb slapstick.
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Average Rating: 3.1/5
User Ratings: 145,042
Tim Allen returns as a regular guy-turned-Jolly Old Elf in the second sequel to the 1994 hit The Santa Clause. Scott Calvin (Tim Allen), who doubles as Santa Claus, has settled into his home at the North Pole with his new wife, Carol (Elizabeth Mitchell), and is preparing for another Christmas when he receives a visitor -- Jack Frost (Martin Short), the cold-weather sprite who has been sent to help out St. Nick by Mother Nature (Aisha Tyler) and Father Time (Peter Boyle) after making a scene at
a meeting of the Council of Legendary Figures. However, while Jack is supposed to acting as an assistant to Santa, he has a habit of making things go haywire, and as it happens this is no mistake -- Jack is hoping that an exasperated Santa will quit his position so Jack can take over and finally have a holiday he can bend to his will. Meanwhile, Scott has invited Carol's parents, Bud (Alan Arkin) and Sylvia (Ann-Margaret), over for a long-promised visit, but since he needs to keep his other identity a secret, he and his elves are forced to go to great lengths to convince them that they're actually in Northern Canada. Wendy Crewson, Judge Reinhold, and Spencer Breslin also reprise their roles from the first two Santa Clause films. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Jack Frost gains control of Santa's workshop and turns it into a Las Vegas-style theme park -- supposedly a hideous inversion of Christmas values. So blandly commercialized is the movie's vision of the holiday that you can hardly tell the difference.
Short's skill and total commitment to his role make him no straw-dog villain, and his chemistry with Allen helps the movie's Santa feel like a real live person and not an imperturbable icon.
A real, painfully forced entry. It takes on the old alternate reality scenario. Jack Frost wants to steal Santa's limelight by becoming Santa. In this offering the human drama is sidelined, and is the simple getting on with the in-laws shtick. There's really not a lot to like here, as it all just feels like a quick
cheap installment. The plot seems rushed and lazy. The focus of the first two was Allen's relationship with his son, which is now completely gone. There's nothing in here that excites as much as the second, nor warms the heart or makes you laugh like the first.
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