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Considering how lame this sequel
could have been,
The Santa Clause 2 makes for a pleasant holiday diversion. It's got the familiar smell of Disney marketeering, and more than a few parents will object to this further embellishment of the St. Nick legend, but Tim Allen's amiable presence provides ample compensation. As a divorced dad who inherited the jolly man's job in
The Santa Clause, Allen now faces another Yuletide challenge. According to the "Missus Clause" in his North Pole contract, he can't continue to be the real Santa until he gets married. As luck and five credited screenwriters would have it, Allen falls for the Scrooge-y principal (Elizabeth Mitchell) of his son's school, while a phony, power-hungry duplicate Santa wreaks havoc on the North Pole's overworked elves. It's all as sweet as spiced eggnog, with that warmed-over feel of a mandated sequel, but the Christmas spirit does prevail with the sound of sleigh bells and Allen's rosy-cheeked ho, ho, ho!
--Jeff Shannon
From The New Yorker
The comic Tim Allen dons his Santa suit again in this follow-up to the 1994 Disney smash. The story has Allen reading the fine print of his Santa contract and discovering that he needs to find a wife; he also needs to deal with his son, from a previous marriage, who's been put on the naughty list. The sitcom director Michael Lembeck keeps the lightweight scenes short, and there's something almost quaint in his use of animatronic reindeer. The film is pretty in a Christmas-card way, and just as benign. -Bruce Diones
Copyright © 2006
The New Yorker