Writer: Leo Benvenuti (characters), Steve Rudnick (characters) Ed Decter, John J. Strauss
Director: Michael Lembeck
Cast: Tim Allen, Elizabeth Mitchell, Martin Short, Eric Lloyd, Judge Reinhold, Wendy Crewson, Spencer Breslin, Liliana Mumy, Ann-Margaret, Alan Arkin, Aisha Tyler
Rating: G
Studio: Walt Disney Video
Release Date: November 20, 2007
We like our family oriented Christmas movies to be light, fluffy, and filled with marshmallow-y goodness. That is, if they are not funny comedies like Christmas Vacation, which we expect to be sometimes crude, sometimes crass, and always hilarious. That being said, when we watched The Santa Clause 3 – The Escape Clause, we expected a gooey family flick. This is exactly what we got. While some reviewers aren’t quite as fond as this movie, we believe they took the movie way too seriously. You can’t do that with Christmas movies. This wasn’t the best of The Santa Clause movies, but it wasn’t the worst Christmas movie ever either. It fits into the category of “final chapter” of a truly unique Christmas series that has become a Christmas classic for many families including our own.
We were teenagers when the original The Santa Clause came out. At the time, we both enjoyed the film. Now that we have our own family and child, we find The Santa Clause movies even more enjoyable. While The Santa Clause 3 – The Escape Clause isn’t as witty as the first The Santa Clause it is still enjoyable enough to appease both kids and parents and ends the story for Scott Calvin on a note which feels both heartwarming and complete.
Release Information:
The Santa Clause series was first released in movie theaters on November 11, 1994. It took eight long years before the cast and crew to make The Santa Clause 2 – The Mrs. Clause. Once the second movie was made, it was pretty clear that the series was going to be a trilogy and it was only a matter of time before The Santa Clause 3 – The Escape Clause would be released.
The movie came to the theaters on November 3, 2006. Like the other Santa Clause movies, The Santa Clause 3 – The Escape Clause it was released to DVD a year later, in an attempt to appeal to those looking for Christmas movies. This is standard practice for Christmas DVDs merely because there really is no point for a Christmas movie to be released on DVD in the standard amount of time for DVD releases (which would have the movie released in late spring or early summer when nobody is really thinking about Christmas). The Santa Clause 3 – The Escape Clause came out on November 20, 2007 and was released by Walt Disney Video.
The Santa Clause 3 – The Escape Clause Plot
The Santa Clause 3 – The Escape Clause starts off a few years after the end of the second movie. At the beginning, Mrs. Clause is telling a class of elves (apparently she is using her teaching degree to teach the elves at the North Pole) a story. A flashback goes back a few months to when Mrs. Claus was pregnant, almost about to give birth. It is also crunch time for Santa Claus as Christmas is fast approaching. After multiple “false alarms” Mrs. Clause (Elizabeth Mitchell) is worried that she will be giving birth when Santa is off delivering presents.
To ease her mind and help her feel better, Scott aka Santa Claus (Tim Allen) invites her parents, Bud (Alan Arkin) and Sylvia (Ann-Margaret) up to the North Pole. To protect the secret of Santa, they model the town after Canada and try to pass the elves off as short Canadians. This year, the head elf is Curtis (Spencer Breslin). It’s slightly disappointing that Bernard (David Krumholtz) is no longer the head elf. We can only assume David was off filming episodes of Numb3rs so the part of head elf was passed on to Curtis. Regardless, the fact that the in-laws don’t remember their trip to “Canada”, thanks to the help of The Sandman (a close personal friend of Santa) there is plenty of opportunity for laughs at their expense.
Joining them is Scott’s ex-wife, Laura (Wendy Crewson), her neurotic, psychologist husband, Neil (Judge Reinhold), Scott and Laura’s son Charlie (Eric Lloyd – who either wasn’t hip on making this third sequel or was busy with school because he was barely in it), and Laura and Neil’s daughter, Lucy (Liliana Mumy), who gives the warmest hugs in the world and absolutely adores her Uncle Scott aka Santa. Previously, only Charlie had been to the North Pole so this is a great adventure for the family and they provide great comfort to Carol (Mrs. Claus), who is going a little stir crazy.
The other storyline that intersects with this revolves around Jack Frost (Martin Short). Jack is tired of being second best to Santa. In his own words, [paraphrasing] ‘Santa gets movies and TV specials and all Jack gets is a few runny noses and some citrus’. With the council of holiday and special figures meeting to discuss Jack’s apparent upstaging of Santa Claus (he’s charged with 273 counts), he wants Santa to give him another chance, take him under his tutelage and teach him a lesson.
Of course, to the audience member it is clear that Jack has more nefarious plans in mind. His goal is to sabotage Christmas, ruin Santa Claus, and eventually take over for him. While you will get a taste for what life is like without Scott as Santa (and trust us, it isn’t pretty), it is up to Scott, with the help of his family to make it right for not only himself, but the future of Christmas.
Martin Short was the highlight of The Santa Clause 3 – The Escape Clause. His acting was superb and he really sold the role. Had a weaker actor taken on the part of Jack Frost, the movie wouldn’t have been nearly as entertaining or successful. The central characters are familiar. We’ve visited with them twice before, in two other movies. It’s good to see their upward progression through life and visit with them one last time. It’s also good to see how they’ve evolved as actors.
The addition of a Baby Claus is a nice touch as it provides the catalyst for quite a few events in the movie (did anyone else laugh when Alan Arkin when at it in the delivery room with a saw?) and helps to cement the story together. Additionally, it wouldn’t be a movie with Ann-Margaret in it if we didn’t get to hear her lovely singing voice, though the dirty joke between Jack and her character, Sylvia (which goes way over any child’s head), was almost more than we wanted to know.
Note: This was one of Peter Boyle’s last films. In it he plays Father Time.
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Replayability:
Acting:
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Audio/Visual:
The visual quality of The Santa Clause 3 – The Escape Clause is superior to most DVDs we’ve reviewed. The movie was transferred at an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and is presented in an anamorphic widescreen format. There are very few, if any visible errors or compression artifacts. We didn’t catch any though that doesn’t many there are none. It just means the errors are so few that it not only will not affect your viewing pleasure. The colors are brilliant throughout the entire movie. We were impressed with this DVD.
The audio quality was amazing as well with Dolby Digital 5.1 quality. The sound was clear, crisp, and the music melded well with the verbal text. There are no complaints whatsoever when it comes to The Santa Clause 3 – The Escape Clause’s audio.
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Audio:
Bonus Features:
The Santa Clause 3 – The Escape Clause has some bonus features, which is nice since Disney isn’t always as generous as they could be in the extra department. The best feature was the featurette “The New Comedians: on the Set with Tim and Marty”, which explores the relationship Tim Allen and Martin Short had while working on this movie together.
Other great bonus features include a blooper reel, a featurette on the “Creating Movie Magic” which is on the visual effects created for the movie, “Jack Frost and Mrs. Claus: A Very Different Look”, a featurette about the original protypes for both the Jack Frost character and the character of Mrs. Claus and how they differ from what is seen in the movie, an alternative opening for the movie, a music video audio commentary for the film, by Michael Lembeck, the director of The Santa Clause 3 – The Escape Clause, and a Karaoke feature for Christmas Carols.
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Bottom Line:
The Santa Clause 3 – The Escape Clause isn’t a movie you can take seriously. For one, it is about Santa Claus. It is supposed to be a fantastical movie. Does it succeed as a family movie? We believe it does. The entire family enjoyed The Santa Clause 3 – The Escape Clause and we hope your family will as well. While this one is recommended due to the fact that this movie doesn’t seem to be for everyone, you might want to rent it before purchasing it. Otherwise, if you have seen The Santa Clause 3 – The Escape Clause in the movie theater or love most sugary sweet Christmas movies then you shouldn’t have a problem purchasing this DVD.
Overall Rating:
Technorati Tags: The Santa Clause 3, The Escape Clause, Disney, Christmas, DVD review, Tim Allen, Elizabeth Mitchell, Martin Short, Eric Lloyd, Judge Reinhold, Family, Ann-Margaret, Jack Frost
Written by Dom, Ash, & Robert Evans - Visit Website
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