Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause

Judging by this third installment, the Santa Clause franchise—founded on the concept of an ordinary guy assuming the annual duties of St. Nick—has certainly run out of ideas. In fact, the plot is essentially a reworking of Tim Burton's far superior The Nightmare Before Christmas, with Jack Frost (Martin Short) standing in for the animated Jack Skellington as Santa's would-be usurper. With the current Santa (Tim Allen) stressed over the upcoming holidays and his wife's pregnancy, the ambitious megalomaniac Frost is in the perfect position to replace Santa while pretending to help him, leading to a weird It's a Wonderful Life time-travel sequence in which Santa sees what Frost would do if he succeeded—namely, turn the North Pole into a theme park and dump the whole gift-giving tradition in favor of something more profitable. Naturally, Santa must come up with a way to prevent Frost's nefarious takeover and restore “the spirit of Christmas.” Another condemnation of the commercialization of Christmas (that serves as a prime example of what it purports to deplore), director Michael Lembeck's three-quel is devoid of wit, heart, or any sense of wonder. Not a necessary purchase. [Note: DVD extras include both widescreen and full screen versions on the same disc, audio commentary by director Michael Lembeck, an alternate opening (4 min.), “Jack Frost & Mrs. Claus: A Very Different Look” on makeup and costumes (4 min.), a “Creating Movie Magic” segment on visual effects (4 min.), “The New Comedians: On the Set with Tim & Marty” featuring costars Tim Allen and Martin Short (3 min.), a three-minute blooper reel, “Christmas Carol-oke” onscreen text for several classic Christmas songs, the music video “Greatest Time of Year” by Aly & AJ, and trailers. Bottom line: a fine stocking's worth of extras for a lump of coal of a film.] (F. Swietek)