Long before The Santa Clause 2 (eight years, in fact), there was The Santa Clause. This movie introduced us to Scott Calvin (Tim Allen), who is basically a regular guy trying to come to grips with the fact that his ex-wife and her new husband have custody of his son, and he doesn’t get to see him very often.

Add to that the fact that his job is rather demanding, and even when he does get to see his son, such as on Christmas Eve, he’s usually running late, and his son doesn’t always want to see him, so things just aren’t going very well. All that is about to change.

To his credit, Scott finds that the turkey will take four hours to cook, but he tries it anyway - this despite the fact that he comes home after dark, which means it’s got to be pretty late when he starts cooking the bird. Perhaps this explains why he might turn up the heat to get it to cook faster, and why the flames are coming from the oven, and why they end up heading to Denny’s for Christmas Dinner. Needless to say, Scott’s son isn’t year happy with the way things are going.

But later that night, as Scott finally gets Charlie to go to sleep, they hear a clatter on the roof, and Scott heads outside just in time to find someone up there. As luck would have it, Scott startles him and the guy falls all the way from the roof and into the snowbank. It’s Santa! While Charlie is excited to see Santa, he rapidly decides that he’s not happy that his dad killed Santa. But when they find a ladder in the yard (from the Rose Suchak ladder company - say it out loud), Charlie heads to the roof to find the reindeer waiting, and Scott has no choice but to follow. Before long, Scott is donning Santa’s suit and delivering the rest of the presents in the houses of strangers.

When Scott tells the reindeer to head home, they don’t go back to the house, but instead they end up at the North Pole, in Santa’s workshop, and it seems that Scott Calvin has fallen prey to the Santa Clause - a clause on the card that say by donning the suit of Santa Claus (no “e”) and getting into the sleigh, he has become the new Santa. This does not make Scott happy, by Charlie is ecstatic.

The next morning, Charlie is ready to tell everyone that his dad is Santa Claus and they went to the North Pole - this means his mom isn’t happy. Even Scott isn’t happy, because he has less than a year to get his affairs in order and return to the North Pole to take over his new position. As that date nears, his body starts to change. He gains weight, he likes to eat only sweets and his hair turns gray. He can’t even keep a clean face, as when he shaves his beard grows back immediately.

Perhaps the worst part about it is that Charlie’s mom decides that Scott, in changing his physical appearance, is trying to win back Charlie, and she takes away his visitation privileges entirely. Scott has reached a new low, and he doesn’t even want to be Santa.

Finally, when Thanksgiving rolls around, he goes to visit Charlie, and that’s when Charlie gives him the greatest gift of all - he says that he believes in him as Santa, and in an odd turn (because it seems to be supporting kidnapping), Scott takes Charlie to the North Pole to help prepare for Christmas. Charlie’s mom, needless to say, is in a bit of a panic. Naturally everything turns out, and while I can understand what they were going for, that was just an odd move to make.

Still, it’s an enjoyable movie, and one that can be a regular part of the holiday season.

Rated PG, mostly for some suggestive material.

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Actor: Aimee McIntyre, Actor: Alec Bachlow, Actor: Alexandra Petrocci, Actor: Azura Bates, Actor: Bob Dermer, Actor: Bradley Wentworth, Actor: Brett Moon, Actor: Brian Reilly, Actor: Chris Benson, Actor: Cody Jones, Actor: David Krumholtz, Actor: David Paul Grove, Actor: David Sparrow, Actor: Dennis O'Connor, Actor: Eric Lloyd, Actor: Frank Welker, Actor: Gene Mack, Actor: Gordon Masten, Actor: Hun Sun Tran, Actor: Ivanka Kotalto, Actor: Jack Newman, Actor: Jayne Eastwood, Actor: Jesse Collins, Actor: Jimmy Labriola, Actor: John Pasquin, Actor: Joshua Satok, Actor: Joyce Guy, Actor: Judge Reinhold, Actor: Judith Scott, Actor: Kenny Vadas, Actor: Kerrigan Mahan, Actor: Lachlan Murdoch, Actor: Larry Brandenburg, Actor: Laura Catalano, Actor: Lawrence Nakamura, Actor: Lindsay Lupien, Actor: Marc Pichette, Actor: Mary Gross, Actor: Melissa King, Actor: Micha Jackson, Actor: Michael Caruana, Actor: Nic Knight, Actor: Nina Keogh, Actor: Paige Tamada, Actor: Peter Boyle, Actor: Peter Kosaka, Actor: Philip Williams, Actor: Ron Hartmann, Actor: Ryan Moon, Actor: Scott Wickware, Actor: Steve Kosaka, Actor: Steve Tsukamoto, Actor: Steve Vinovich, Actor: Tabitha Lupien, Actor: Tim Allen, Actor: Todd Davis, Actor: Tony Krolo, Actor: Wendy Crewson, Actor: Zachary McLemore, Director: John Pasquin, Rated: PG, Year: 1994