The Santa Clause on DVD

It’s hard to believe this movie hasn’t become more of a modern Christmas classic, though perhaps it’s still too new for it to have slipped into society’s subconscious. It’s an entertaining homage to the traditional Christmas values (well, secular Christmas values) North American kids have grown to know and love.

Tim Allen plays Scott Calvin, a divorced toy company executive. He has custody of his young son for Christmas, much to his delight - though the boy Charlie (Eric Lloyd) doesn’t seem too much into the holiday spirit.

Then, from his roof, Scott hears such a clatter that he springs out his front door to see what’s the matter (with apologies to Clement Moore!). Well, if it doesn’t turn out to be St. Nick himself, large as life and going about his annual duties. But he slips and falls off Scott’s roof and lands with a resounding thud on his front lawn. Dying, he passes on to Scott his business card - and his business - launching Scott onto an adventure that has everyone who knows him thinking he’s lost his marbles.

Except young Charlie, who witnessed the whole thing and was whisked away to the North Pole with his dad when the magic of Santa Claus - in the form of “the Santa Clause” (a bit of legal jargon that means Scott must take over Santa’s gig from then on). Charlie knows the truth, but rather than this setting them both free it causes more problems, especially between his mother (Wendy Crewson) and her new hubby (Judge Reinhold), a psychiatrist who pressures Mom to keep Charlie away from Scott’s dangerous influence.

We were caused a little angst ourselves by the film’s assumption that everyone stops believing in Santa Claus at some point (what a terrible thing to tell the millions of kids who’ll watch the movie!), but this is kind of made up for by the fact that the movie clearly proves that Santa is real after all.

In the end, of course, all works out happily and even the jaded folks in the movie end up having their Christmas dreams restored.

It’s a fun and warm flick that puts a nice modern twist on the Christmas legends, and it’s suitable for all family members.

Allen gives a good performance as “The Man Who Would Be Claus” and it’s quite amusing to see him morphing from normal human to jolly and roly poly elf

…You’ll laugh in spite of yourself. (Sorry again, Mr. Moore!)

The DVD is very good. The movie itself is presented in a THX-certified edition that features an excellent anamorphic widescreen picture that features wonderfully sharp images and appropriately bright colors. A Pan&Scan version is available separately - but buy the widescreen one so it won’t be obsolete when you upgrade to a widescreen TV.

Audio is Dolby Digital 5.1 surround and though there isn’t a lot of surround the audio quality is first rate.

Extras are rather lame, but what do you want for a kiddies’ disc? You get “So You Wanna Be An Elf?” which is basically a thinly-veiled promo for “Santa Clause 2” (not that there’s necessarily anything wrong with that), and a section featuring Wolfgang Puck helping some kiddies create Christmas treats. There’s also a trivia adventure game and some DVD ROM features including one that helps you write a letter to Santa. Unfortunately, you have to install that darn Interactual Player software to get at it.

The Santa Clause, from Buena Vista Home Entertainment
97 min. anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1), 16x9 TV compatible, (Pan&Scan available separately), Dolby Digital 5.1
Starring Tim Allen, Eric Lloyd, Wendy Crewson, Judge Reinhold
Produced by Brian Reilly, Jeffrey Silver
Written by Leo Benvenuti & Steve Rudnick, directed by John Pasquin

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