Review Written by Christian Garcia
As someone who was a fan of the first two Santa Clause films with Tim Allen, I was surprised when Disney announced that the franchise would continue as a series on Disney +. I was cautiously optimistic after watching the initial trailers and was excited to see Allen take on the role again.
As I mentioned at the end of my review of the first two Santa Clause films, I liked this series but did not love it but saw potential in it and a lot of room for improvement. Today I have decided to dive deeper into my thoughts on this series and see what it did right, where it blundered, and how it can be fixed in the upcoming second season.
Pros:
Tim Allen still works as Santa
The biggest factor that made the Santa Clause films the hit that they were was the comedic talents of Tim Allen. At the time the first film was released, Tim Allen was an unproven commodity in film and the film’s success launched him from TV dad to film star. His comedic energy made for a very likable and charming Santa Claus. He brings that same charm and energy to this show, and it feels like he hasn’t missed a beat. I also love how the series acknowledges how long he has been on the job and how it is starting to weigh on him.
Allen plays Scott as the same silly and enthusiastic fatherly figure while now incorporating how Scott is starting to show his age. They also set up how the lack of Christmas spirit is spoiling his enjoyment of the job and Allen does a great job of showing Scott’s diminishing spirits. The lack of belief in Santa makes Scott second guess if he should stay on or move on. Scott has always been a workaholic even before Santa and he does repeat sort of the same mistakes with Cal and Sandra as he did with Charlie. But he has also shown how much he’s learned from that experience and tries to not make the same mistake. When he decides to step down as Santa, the biggest driving force is to give his children a normal life. He made the choice that he did for the betterment of his children and not for himself.
It is nice to see that Allen not only brings the same charm and humor as he always has but also shows not only how far Scott Calvin as Santa has matured but also how Tim Allen the actor has mature in the last 28 years.
Diving deeper into the mythos of the Santa Clause
Heads up to anyone who has not seen this show before, I will be heading into spoiler territory so if you haven’t watched yet and want to do so, skip ahead….
While the second half of the series is where I believe that the storyline starts to go downhill, one aspect that does save the series is the choice to dive deeper into the mythos of the Santa Clause. Ever since Santa Claus fell off Scott Calvin’s roof in the first film, fans have asked many questions. Why did he disappear? Why did the Elves never react to his death? What will happen when Scott’s time as Santa is done? What if Scott falls off the roof?
They decided to give us some answers and they do a pretty good job in doing so. Scott and a returning Bernard travel across the poorly named (by Scott) Yuleverse to visit past incarnations of Santa. They delve into the different time periods each Santa lived in and how they had to adapt to bring joy and Christmas spirit to the world. We see a Santa from the Great Depression Era and how he had to adjust to spreading joy with very little. Eventually we meet the Santa that fell off Scott’s roof in the first film. We learn that Scott was in fact the first human to dawn the Santa Coat as previous incarnations had been ethereal beings and that the Santa, known as Santa 17,’s fall from Scott’s roof was no accident. The reveal and twist is both clever and funny for how absurd it is and yet it still feels mythical and plausible.
As someone who appreciates a good mythos and world building, it was nice to see that layer added to what had been pretty safe and simple films. The original Santa Clause trilogy were mostly wholesome family movies that anyone could enjoy, and I appreciate the writers taking that extra step towards making the myhos and world a little bigger. A nice added layer to the Santa Clause series is a very welcome addition and a big reason why the series is still worth the viewing.
Maintains the spirit of the original films
In today’s landscape of television, many beloved franchises have been resurrected or rebooted for a new generation. When done well, we get shows like Cobra Kai that capture the spirit of the original films and also add and expand upon their ideas and create a new generation of characters to carry on the franchise. While The Santa Clause’s does not create their new generation well, they do succeed in capturing the spirit of the original films.
The opening scene with Scott visiting Sara, the young girl from the first film, was a nice trip down memory lane and showed that the whimsical spirit of the films was still there. Seeing her grown up and having forgotten Santa is sad at first but then when Scott makes her remember, it is touching to see. They also throw in the humor by showing that Sara is still living with her parents and has a funny job. I said in my review of the first film that the scene with Scott and Sara was one of my favorite moments from the franchise and to see it being acknowledged and giving attention is some great fan service.
The films also had a mix of happy whimsy with a little bit of real-world cynicism, key word a little. I won’t act like they were anything profound, but the humor of Tim Allen shaped the humor of the film to give it a bit of a distinct style. That style is still felt in this series and Allen drops right back into the role without having missed a beat. They also do try to add a little bit of more humor to the Elves and play more into the fact that although they look like children, they are 1000s of years old and can engage in adult activity, but also shown in an innocent manner. Sometimes it works and sometimes it really doesn’t. But the times that it does work do make me appreciate the attempt at expanding on the humor.
The humor and Christmas spirit reminds me of the Disney+ film, Noelle where it also mixed a whimsical world with the cynical world. While that film leaned more towards whimsy, this series leans a bit more towards the cynical side in terms of its humor. They feel different enough to stand out and like Noelle, I also appreciate the spirit of this film as it does feel very Christmassy. Although I don’t like much of the storytelling and pacing of the series’ second half, the finale does still pack enough of the humor and spirit that it did feel like an ending fitting of a Santa Clause film.
Cons:
While there are a few more pros than cons listed, the cons are strong enough to balance out the pros.
Not enough of the other Clauses
The show is titled, The Santa Clauses so one would expect to see a lot of the rest of the Calvin family. While the first two episodes made it feel like we were going to see much more out of them, the show doesn’t give us enough of the Calvin kids nor Carol to really connect with them. The issues that they set up were promising with Carol feeling like her role as Mrs. Claus lacks real purpose as well as the kids longing to live a normal life with normal people. These were good and relatable issues to address, and I was interested to see how they would dive into them.
Sadly, the series makes the blunder of telling rather than showing what happens to the rest of the family and focuses more on Scott coping with not being Santa which isn’t very interesting. Because of this the show lacks the stakes that it is trying to set up and there are moments that are supposed to feel big and epic, but they fall flat and feel empty. Once the Calvin family leaves the North Pole, the kids are barely focused on. Prior to leaving, we see that the kids seem to be developing special abilities. Sandra can talk to animals while Cal has powers similar to his father, Scott. However, while the set up was promising, the kids are not fleshed out enough and are barely seen once the Calvin’s go to the normal world. One would think that after focusing on how much the kids wanted to be in the normal world, we would get to see them interact with it when they got there but we don’t. We get one scene where Sandra joins a horse club and where Cal meets a girl and that’s it. After that we are just told that Sandra made friends in her horse club and that Cal has begun a relationship and we never see these events play out.
This is an incredibly missed opportunity to get to know these kids more and develop them as characters. Imagine watching Sandra try to interact with regular girls while hearing animals around her talking. Imagine watching Cal’s relationship with his girlfriend blossom while also discovering his abilities and trying to balance the normal and abnormal aspects of his life. Imagine delving into how jarring the transition from being sheltered at the North Pole to living a normal life would be for these two and how differently they would adapt. This could have made way to developing the next generation of Santa Clauses as strong characters like Cobra Kai did with its younger cast. But sadly, they chose not to do so and as a result, the Calvin kids are very underdeveloped characters and not very interesting.
In one of the final scenes of the finale, Cal visits his girlfriend’s house on Christmas and goes down the chimney to prove that his dad is Santa. This is built up like it is supposed to be a big deal and an emotional moment but given that we only got about two scenes of Cal with his girlfriend, it’s hard to get invested because we know nothing about their relationship and have seen nothing. The show teased Sandra’s ability to talk with animals but only did so in two very short moments that went by so quickly you could have easily missed them. In the climax, she uses her abilities to get the reindeer to fly the rest of the family to the North Pole. This would have been more fulfilling if we could have seen more of Sandra interacting with animals and growing to accept her abilities.
The biggest blunder is the fact that Carol’s plot line feels like it is completely dropped by the end of the series with no real resolution. We see her return to her job as school principal and we are told that she is feeling more fulfilled. It would have been nice to see more that and see why it made her feel fulfilled. Did she like helping kids? Did she like being around other educators? Who knows! We never see anything besides a scene of her going to a work picnic and being hailed as a goddess by her employees but that’s all we get. There’s a moment in the climax where they have Carol beat up the large toy soldiers and I remember howling with laughter. Not because the scene was particularly funny but because of how lazy it came off that this was their way of giving Carol an important moment. While it was cool to see her kick butt, it felt like such a lame climax for a character arc that could have been much more interesting. The ending also seems to mock the fact that nothing about the Mrs. Claus role is discovered when Carol and La Befana discuss it and they brush it off as just being in a male dominated world. To me that was such a slap in the face to an idea that could have been very empowering.
For a show called the Santa Clauses, there is very little time or focus given to the rest of the family and the focus is mainly on Scott Calvin. This hurts the show overall because we’re not allowed to become invested in the rest of the cast and as a result, we feel no connection to them. I am hopeful though that Season 2 can fix these problems. If they choose to focus more on the rest of the family in the next season, there is chance to salvage them and develop them further. One way to solve this is part of the second biggest issue I have with this series…
Feels too rushed
With the modern TV sitcom model transitioning away from the 22-episode model in favor of a 10-episode model, it is expected that more modern shows will condense their series to 10 episodes. This series makes the baffling decision to be only 6 episodes long and I believe this choice did far more harm than good. While I understand the need to condense in today’s world, I feel that it can cause severe limitations to a show in terms of storytelling and character development. The biggest problem that plagues this show is that it feels too rushed and condensed. The first two episodes of the series worked well and set up interesting ideas and conflicts that sadly don’t go anywhere.
I already talked about how the rest of the Calvin family is not given enough focus but they’re not the only ones. The character of La Befana feels like a wasted and useless character even though she is acted well and had promise. The main antagonist of the film, Simon Choksi, played very well by Kal Penn, is also given a very rushed development and his transition into a more villainous person comes too quickly and feels inorganic. While I get the idea, they were going for with him letting the praise and power go to his head, the way he becomes colder and more uncaring towards his daughter feels very out-of-character. Choksi is established as someone who means to do good, do right by his daughter and gets caught in this goal by working nonstop to give her everything she could ever want when all she wants is a father. The idea is there but again it is not fleshed out nearly enough to feel organic.
If this series had been 10-episodes long, I believe that they could have fleshed out a lot of the ideas and characters more than they did. They could have given episodes dedicated to each member of the Calvin family with Carol rediscovering her love for education and finding her fulfillment, Sandra getting accustomed to the normal world while also coming to terms with her ability to talk to animals, and we could have watched Cal navigate high school and see his relationship with his girlfriend blossom while also discovering his magical abilities. They could have also spent time focusing on Simon trying ideas, seeing them fail and start to shift blame onto others and slowly and organically transition into a more antagonistic person. They could have even given more time to focus on Scott struggling with retirement and trying to find other ways to be fulfilled not being Santa anymore and with Tim Allen at the helm this could have led to some very comedic possibilities.
One of the greatest advantages of writing for television is that the episodic formula gives writers more time and space to develop concepts and characters and fully flesh them out. I believe that while condensing series to less episodes is helpful for keeping viewer interest, if not handled correctly, it can lead to character development being stilted and for shows to not reach their full potential. Hopefully with the second season, Disney will give the series more episodes and more time to flesh out the cast and concepts to reach their full potential.
Conclusion
While The Santa Clauses does make some missteps along the way, the series is able to maintain the spirit of the original films and make for some mildly engaging television. Especially in today’s landscape focused on the oversaturation of reboots, that is something to be applauded and appreciative of when a franchise is brought back and done in a way that feels like there is still heart in it.
Although its storytelling and rushed second half does hurt it severely. The title Santa Clauses does not seem fitting enough as there is too much focus on Scott Calvin and not enough on Carol and his two children who were given set ups that could have been interesting to explore. Sadly, they were not explored nearly enough for the characters to leave a lasting impact. The show’s pacing also hampers it as it doesn’t give the viewer time to breathe and has incoherent jumps in time that can be confusing to viewers. During my watch through, my roommate noticed the jump in time when Scott has no job and reunites with Noel and then suddenly, they are driving a truck for Simon Choksi’s company. It was very confusing and showed more how the series feels rushed.
I was honestly shocked to see that it was picked up for another season but also see it as an opportunity for the writers to fix the mistakes from the first outing. Hopefully they will expand on Carol, Cal, and Sandra and give them more focus. Incredibles 2 expanded on the rest of the family to great success and hopefully The Santa Clauses will do the same.
If you were a fan of the original Santa Clause films, I would still recommend this series. If you just want to see Tim Allen again as Santa Claus, you’ll get what you’re looking for. If you’re looking for something that expands more and creates new characters, you won’t get that here. If you’ve never seen the original films, I don’t think I can recommend this because the writing and characters aren’t strong enough to hold you over and I’d recommend just watching the first two films. I am glad that I watched it and while I didn’t fall in love with it like I did with the first two films, I was happy with what I got. I hope they can improve it in the second season and will be tuning in to see what happens next.
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