Santa Clause-3 Movie (1994)

"[Santa Clause 2] A nice little holiday movie.  C.W. Nevius, San Francisco Chronicle
"[Santa Clause 3] Allen and Short seem to be having so much fun that their enthusiasm is entirely contagious. Let the season begin.  Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News
"[Santa Clause 3] ...capable of giving even the grinchiest moviegoers a brief attack of the warm-and-fuzzies.  Justin Chang, Variety
"[Santa Clause] ...a hip, likable spin on the seasonal icon told with a deft mixture of comedy and sentimentality.  Leonard Klady, Variety
"[Santa Clause 2] Really funny mayhem.  Louis Hobson, Jam! Movies
"[Santa Clause] ...a holiday classic!  New York Post

Editor's Note The first three installments of Disney's wildly popular Christmas franchise come together in this heart-warming holiday set. Tim Allen gets more than he bargained for in THE SANTA CLAUSE (1994), when he generously takes on the role of Saint Nick for one night and inadvertently ends up with the gig (along with the white beard and belly) for life! The 2002 sequel uncovers even more fine print in "the clause": Santa must find a Mrs. Claus, or turn over the job he's now come to love. SANTA CLAUSE 3: THE ESCAPE CLAUSE introduces an element of holiday danger in the form of Jack Frost (Martin Short), a beleaguered seasonal figure who longs to unseat Santa as winter's greatest icon. See individual titles for additional details.

	Elizabeth Mitchell
	Tim Allen
	Wendy Crewson
	Judge Reinhold
	Spencer Breslin
	Ann-Margret
	Martin Short
	Alan Arkin
	Peter Boyle
	John Pasquin - Director
	Michael Lembeck - Director

ReelViews 6 of 10
[Santa Clause 3] You get what you expect with The Santa Clause 3. The two previous movies in the franchise have adequately prepared potential viewers for the experience of sitting through the third. The bland sameness of these films disallows the possibility of differentiating between them. They're lazy, live-action cartoons (think of the Rankin-Bass Christmas specials come to life), full of juvenile comedy, overt sentimentality, and holiday good cheer...While the previous two Santa Clause movies owed a debt to A Christmas Carol, this one recycles It's A Wonderful Life. Instead of Scott asking the question of what the world would be like if he had never been born, he faces the alternative reality of what would have happened if he had never become Santa. There's some potential in this storyline, but the movie doesn't do much with it besides giving Martin Short an opportunity to put on the fat suit...The screenwriters, Ed Decter & John J. Strauss, were members of the small army involved in the previous sequel's development. They are given sole credit for what appears on screen in The Santa Clause 3, although the reduction in the number of writers hasn't resulted in an improvement in quality...The movie looks like it was made cheaply. The actors, set design, and special effects are worthy of made-for-TV fare, so The Santa Clause 3 probably doesn't have to draw huge audiences to realize a profit...Is this it for Tim Allen in the Santa suit? Time will tell. In the future, however, I hope I can annually honor Rankin-Bass by enjoying The Year without a Santa Clause. - James Berardinelli

The Washington Post 8 of 10
[Santa Clause] Tim Allen takes his tools to a new workshop with surprising success in Disney's "The Santa Clause," a cheerfully corny family comedy that promises to be as perennial as nutcrackers. Brimming with the sentiments of the season, the tale concerns Allen's transition one magic Christmas Eve from toy company executive Scott Calvin to the North Pole's most beloved resident...Allen, the un-handyman of TV's "Home Improvement," brings the same self-destructive stubborn streak to the big screen as to the small. He plays a nonbeliever who inherits the global cookies-and-milk run when the current Santa falls from Scott's roof and vanishes, leaving suit, sleigh and a sackful of loot behind...Of course, none of the other kids believes Charlie when he tells them that his dad is Santa Claus, and his mother (Wendy Crewson), now married to a touchy-feely psychiatrist (Judge Reinhold), petitions the court to deny Scott the right to visit the boy. Scott, who has become not only Father Christmas but a better father, is as devastated as "Mrs. Doubtfire." But then he's already wearing a weird get-up...Well, it all works out just fine in the end, even though Santa is arrested just as in "Ernest Saves Christmas." This, too, was the work of the Mouse Factory, and you know Mickey isn't going to let Santa rot in jail...Aimed at kids, but written with parents in mind, "The Santa Clause" balances the sugar with the spice, which Allen sprinkles on just right. The ending, unfortunately, is stickier than a toddler with an ice cream cone. But that's the price of kids and Christmas. Say so long to cynicism. - Rita Kempley

Chicago Sun-Times 8 of 10
[Santa Clause 2] "The Santa Clause 2" is more of the same tinsel-draped malarkey that made the original film into a big hit, but it's more engaging, assured and funny, and I liked it more. The first movie seemed too desperately cheery; this one has a nice acerbic undertone, even though there is indeed a romance in the works for Santa and Principal Newman (Elizabeth Mitchell)...The movie is not a special effects extravaganza like "The Grinch," but in a way that's a relief. It's more about charm and silliness than about great hulking multimillion-dollar high-tech effects. The North Pole looks only a little more elaborate than a department store window, the Clone Santa's troops look like refugees from "The March of the Wooden Soldiers," and Santa's mode of transportation is a reindeer named Comet who is not the epitome of grace...One new touch this time is the Board Meeting of Legendary Characters, which Santa chairs, with members including the Sandman, the Tooth Fairy, Mother Nature, the Easter Bunny, etc., many of them played by well-known actors I will leave you to discover for yourself. I suppose it makes sense that all of these characters would exist in the same universe, and when the Tooth Fairy saves the day, it is through the film's profound understanding of the rules of Tooth Fairydom...I almost liked the original "Santa Clause" but wrote that "despite its charms, the movie didn't push over the top into true inspiration." Now here is "Santa Clause 2," which kind of does push over the top, especially with the Clone Santa subplot, and is all-around a better film... - Roger Ebert