Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Movie Review: "The Santa Clause 2" (2002)

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Movie"The Santa Clause 2"
Director: Michael Lembeck
Year: 2002
Rating: G
Running Time: 1 hour, 44 minutes

Santa (Tim Allen) is having a bad year. He has just found out his son is on the naughty list and that he must get married before Christmas or will he face losing his position as Santa. He heads to his hometown to solve these issues, leaving a toy Santa in charge, who wreaks havoc on the North Pole. 

Nearly a decade after the fairly well received original "The Santa Clause," Tim Allen returns as Santa himself in "The Santa Clause 2." The original "The Santa Clause" taught us the importance of commercialism in Christmas and how it's all about receiving the perfect gift that you always wanted, which is what inspires the Christmas spirit in all of us. *sigh* This sequel doubles down on the notion that the receiving a perfect gift is what brings joy to us all on this special holiday. It also follows up with the importance of being married, because apparently if Santa isn't married, he loses his magic and can't be Santa??? What the hell were the writers of this movie thinking?? Scott, aka Santa, uses his Santa magic to convince his son's school principal to fall in love with him. WTF? From here, "The Santa Clause 2" becomes less of a holiday film and more of a romantic comedy with the typical, expected formula and a host of Christmas related items thrown in for good measure. At first, Scott and Carol, played by Elizabeth Mitchell, meet and don't like each other. Next, they find the have some type of common ground, which leads to a series of grand, romantic yet manipulative gestures all to make them fall in love. Within 2 minutes of them falling in love, Scott and Carol have a falling out as truths are revealed, and then finally, there is the ultimate reconciliation. Meanwhile, Scott's son has been acting out and getting in trouble...why, you ask? Because he can't handle the burden and pressure of not being able to tell people how great it is that his father is Santa Claus. Talk about a first world problem! As all of this is going on in Scott's hometown, back at the North Pole, a robotic Santa clone takes over in a very Gestapo-esque manner as toy soldiers come to life and literally do Nazi walks and salutes. Sieg heil, children! This fake Santa believes all kids should be on the Naughty List and that they should all be getting coal instead of gifts, which in reality is probably closer to the truth under the most strict guidelines, because seriously, what kid/person is ever genuinely nice 100% of the time each and every year?

Needless to say, "The Santa Clause 2" has a lot more bad than good. Sure, Tim Allen does a fine enough job reprising his role of Santa Claus, but good lord, the message this film has to offer takes a drastic turn away from mindless humor this time around. Yes, giving and receiving presents is part of the Christmas holiday in modern society, it's unavoidable, but it's not the whole Christmas holiday, do you know what we mean? Banking all of your relationships on monetary values, gifts, boxes, and presents is just stupid, and this film makes sure its viewers know that presents make you more of a likable person. The scene where Scott gives all of Carol's teachers and administrative staff gifts at the faculty Christmas party only serves to prove how, instead of actually getting to know Carol and in an effort to save himself, Scott manipulates her by using his magic to give her everything she ever wanted, from snow falling to a horse-drawn sleigh and the gifts she wanted as a child. This is not the worst Christmas movie we have ever seen, but as wiser adults, we guess we could say we have been pretty critical of what we like in and about our Christmas movies. We're not one to pick apart family films like this, but the frankly backward sentiment here is too much to ignore. "The Santa Clause 2" may be seen as harmless enough, but is it really? Its venture into rom-com territory has made is predictable, and with all the negative elements working against it, plus some outrageously bad and campy CGI, we won't be adding this to our re-watch list any time soon.

My Rating: 4.5/10
BigJ's Rating: 5/10
IMDB's Rating: 5.5/10
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 55%
Do we recommend this movie: Meh.
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One year ago, we were watching: "Fred Claus"

Two years ago, we were watching: "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York"

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