the Mind’s Chew Toy

Remember when Hollywood was content with the success of one film, and didn’t want to plunder it for everything it has by creating a sequel? Ah, those were the good ol’ days.

That’s not to say that all sequels are bad, but the sequels that Hollywood is generating these days seem to be a bit excessive. This past summer alone, we’ve had sequels to Bad Boys, X-Men (2000), Tomb Raider, and another Terminator sequel.

And with Spider-Man (2002) and Scooby-Doo (2002) coming out with sequels next year (among others), we have to ask ourselves if we’re going to keep shelling out the bucks to see these mulitudes of sequels? I suppose that all depends on the quality of the sequel.

While the other sequels this year haven’t been too bad, is the same true for the Disney holdiay movie sequel The Santa Clause 2?

Tim Allen returns in the role that made him a bigger family name than even TV’s “Home Improvement” did, as Scott Calvin (aka Santa Claus) in this sequel. He also gets to take on another role as he portrays the bad toy Santa as well. The first film was a true achievement for him, in terms of acting, as he easily translated his macho-guy image into the role of a caring father who has to come to grips with an entirely new lifestyle.

In this film, it seems as if Tim knows he doesn’t need to prove to the world he can be good at this, and it shows in his acting. He doesn’t seem to try as hard this time around, and the film suffers a little because of it.

His son (Eric Lloyd) from the first film is back as well, and seems to be embracing his continuing role with much more exuberance than his on-screen dad.

David Krumholtz is back as Bernard as well, and seems a bit less sure of himself in this film, having to seemingly rely a lot on relative newcomer Spencer Breslin, as Curtis, to guide him through his scenes.

The plot is a true unplanned sequel type of a plot. It introduces the audience to something they should have known from the first film. Since the audience didn’t know about it, it’s obviously been thrown in as a way to make a sequel, not for any real story continuity.

Making the Mrs. Clause, however, does help enhance the film as it does fill the one void the first film lacked when comparing it to the Santa stories: his wife. Mrs. Claus shows up in the stories almost as much as Santa himself, and this helps complete the air of believability that the films are aiming for, especially for the younger generations.

The story does skip around a little bit, and a little more time should have been focused on Scott finding a wife, but all in all, it does manage to convey at least a semblance of the magic the first one had.

There are some bad puns thrown in again, but they tend to be taken more seriously in this film, while the first introduced them with a bit of tongue-in-cheek humor, inviting the audience to laugh along with the film, not at it. This seems to be somewhat lost in the second film, unfortunately.

The biggest thing that worried me going into Santa Clause 2 was how they were going to handle the reindeer. From the previews I’d seen, they had tried to make the reindeer more of a story character, and I was afraid they would make the reindeer able to speak in this film.

While talking animals do work for some films (Homeward Bound, pretty much any Disney animated film), talking reindeer would make the film lose a bit of it’s credibility, and damage the suspension of belief the film is going for.

Luckily, the reindeer don’t speak English in this film, rather they speak (for lack of a better word) reindeer. While some of the characters in the film can understand them, the audience cannot, and so the suspension of disbelief is saved.

While Santa Clause 2 will never live up to the magic and wonder that the original Santa Clause brought to the screen, it’s not too shabby of a sequel after all. The filmmakers have tried to stay true to the original film, and have brought back most of the original actors to help keep the continuity flowing.

Although the Mrs. Clause showcases a huge flaw in the film (if there was another clause, why does it take 8 years for it to take effect?), SC2 still turns out to be a nice Christmas movie that the whole family will enjoy.