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The Santa Clause is utterly undemanding, but it's firmly rooted in the sort of good old-fashioned holiday spirit missing from too many modern yuletide films. Read critic reviews
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Watch The Santa Clause with a subscription on Disney+, rent on Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, Vudu, or buy on Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, Vudu.
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The Santa Clause videos
The Santa Clause: Trailer 1
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Movie Info
Divorced dad Scott (Tim Allen) has custody of his son (Eric Lloyd) on Christmas Eve. After he accidentally kills a man in a Santa suit, they are magically transported to the North Pole, where an elf explains that Scott must take Santa's place before the next Christmas arrives. Scott thinks he's dreaming, but over the next several months he gains weight and grows an inexplicably white beard. Maybe that night at the North Pole wasn't a dream after all -- and maybe Scott has a lot of work to do.
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Rating: PG
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Genre: Kids & family, Holiday, Comedy
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Original Language: English
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Director: John Pasquin
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Producer: Bobby Newmyer, Brian Reilly, Jeffrey Silver
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Writer: Leo Benvenuti, Steve Rudnick
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Release Date (Theaters): wide
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Release Date (Streaming):
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Box Office (Gross USA): $145.5M
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Runtime:
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Distributor: Hollywood Pictures, Buena Vista Pictures, Buena Vista International [us], Walt Disney Pictures
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Production Co: Walt Disney Pictures, Outlaw Productions, Hollywood Pictures
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Sound Mix: Surround, Stereo, Dolby Digital
Cast & Crew
News & Interviews for The Santa Clause
Critic Reviews for The Santa Clause
Audience Reviews for The Santa Clause
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At the time of this film's release, Tim Allen was on fire and could do no wrong. He had the #1 movie, with this one of course, topped the New York Times best-selling list and had the #1 show on television. And this happened within the time span of one week. Like imagine how improbable that is for one person in their entire lifetime. Now imagine that it happened to one person in the span of a week. Whatever you may think of Allen, and I'll certainly get into that, it's certainly a very impressive feat no matter how you slice it. As far as Tim Allen is concerned, I'll be honest, I never liked the guy that much to begin with. I mean, yes, I certainly enjoyed Home Improvement in parts, but Tim's character and performances were all very similar from one another. And the nature of sitcoms, at least in the past, were to blame. No actual effort was put into legitimate character development, they'd just rely on the same old and tired jokes about Al's (his co-worker) mom's weight. Or time grunting like an ape. Or Tim hitting his head on a pipe every time he went to the basement. And, continuing with the honesty, Tim Allen never did much for me as a comedic actor. I'm not saying he was bad or anything, like there were certain lines and how he delivered them with fairly quick timing that made me laugh, but I find Tim to be a little bland honestly. And he seems like one of those guys that's putting on an act, like Kevin James, where he might seem likable in his movies, but he's really a major asshole to his fans if they ever got to meet him. With that said, the movie was perfectly. My thing with Christmas movies is that, realistically, a great percentage of them, like say 80%, are absolutely no fucking good. And this one isn't any different but, at the very least, by the very low-standard of Christmas movies, this one an outright masterpiece. Even if it's an average movie by everyone else's standards. The concept, actually, is a fairly good one when you take into consideration that this boils down to a corny Christmas movie. I'm sure you've all heard of this film by now, so let's not bore you with the details. Tim Allen kills Santa Claus and he has take over the job. Simple and to the point. I will say, though, that my favorite parts of the movie were when Tim first takes the job and how angry he is at the whole thing. The whole concept of a cynical Santa Claus, done later to much better effect in Bad Santa, was a good one, but they obviously couldn't run with it seeing that this was a Disney movie after all. And they wanted a family-friendly affair. The more the film settles into a standard family movie, the more spark that it loses. There's a subplot here where Tim's son's mother, and stepfather, feel that Scott, Tim's character, feels that he is a negative influence on his own son. All because of the fact that he pretends that he is Santa Claus. They want Charles, the son, to grow up with a grounded look at reality, where his imagination isn't allowed to run wild. Essentially, they don't want the kid to believe it Santa Claus. It's about as absurd as it can get, but it's how they chose to tell their story. I mean, would any parent out there really hold that against someone? To the point that they actually want VISITATION rights taken away because of it. It's ridiculous. But, again, that's what they wanted their story to be like. The film looks at how Scott's slow transformation to Santa Claus affects him and those around him. It's simple, but it's sporadically entertaining. There comes a point where, after Scott has his visitation rights revoked, that he kidnaps, perhaps not violently, but he does kidnap his own son. And the fact that, at the end, that fact was so grievously ignored was something to see. It doesn't matter if the guy is Santa or not. Kidnapping is still kidnapping, even if the son wants to go with him. Again, Disney movie so they couldn't explore the actual consequences of Scott's actions. They just wave their magic wand and do away with whatever Scott may have done. The acting is solid. Like I said, Allen gives off the appearance of being likable and that does a lot to help the movie. The little kid who plays his son isn't really that good, but you can't really expect much. The rest of the cast is fine, particularly David Krumholtz, who was already really good at this stage and he was only like 16 when the movie came out. But the majority of the movie is about Tim and his son, so none of the supporting characters really get that much of a chance to shine. The movie has the typically corny Christmas ending, where everyone ends up happily ever after. So if that's your cup of tea, then this movie will be right up your alley. As far as I'm concerned, this movie is nothing but average at best. It's better than I would have expected, but not by much. I'm sure this will be a bigger hit with a large family than it would with just me, so take that into consideration. Wouldn't recommend it, but there's worse ways to spend a night.
jesse o Super Reviewer -
A thoroughly enjoyable Christmas movie. Ok, it's not in the league of 'Muppets Christmas Carol' or 'Home Alone' but Allen is very likeable as the lead and it's fun seeing him develop into Santa. The kid is a little annoying but I can forgive the shmaltz coz it's tailored for a certain time of year. Feelgood fun.
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Filled with endearing cheese and holiday cliches, The Santa Clause isn't perfect, but it's hard to complain too much given its lackluster competition in the modern holiday movie market.
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Tim Allen brings the comedy in Disney's The Santa Clause. This is a good old-fashioned Disney family film that puts a new spin on the Santa Claus tale for the '90s. There are laughs a plenty for all ages, but it does tend toward the children (as most Disney films do). And there's some hokeyness to the plot, but if you can get passed that there's a charming story here. While there's a bit of silliness to it, The Santa Clause is a solidly entertaining film with heart.
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