| How about a new villain and a dash of It's a Wonderful Life to spice up the third installment of the popular Tim Allen holiday franchise? Under the onslaught of another Christmas season, Santa Claus/Scott Calvin (Allen) is feeling even more pressure because Mrs. Claus (Elizabeth Mitchell, reprising her role from The Santa Clause 2) is expecting a little Claus and also longing for the company of some "tall people." So Scott agrees to let her parents (Ann-Margret and Alan Arkin) visit as long as they believe that they're really in Canada rather than at the North Pole. Further complicating matters is a visit by Scott's ex-wife (Wendy Crewson), her husband (Judge Reinhold), and their daughter, Lucy (Liliana Mumy). Enter the bad boy of the Council of Legendary Figures, Jack Frost (Martin Short), who's supremely jealous of the figures who have their own holidays, especially Santa. So he launches a plan to sabotage the toy factory and compel Scott to invoke the little-known Escape Clause and wish he'd never become Santa. The resulting evocation of a classic Christmas movie, It's a Wonderful Life, is seasoned with a splash of Back to the Future when Scott rewinds 12 years (has it really been that long?) to when it all began. Though neither sequel has matched the charm of the original Santa Clause, both have been safe, reliable family fare. (All ages: some crude humor) --David Horiuchi |
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 MUCH better than I was expecting! |
| Review Date: January 1, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Sarah Frost, New England |
I went to see this movie with very low expectations...the only reason I went to see it is because I adore Jack Frost characters in tv and film, so I was compelled to go. :) But I have to say that the third Santa Clause film is MUCH, MUCH better than I thought it would be!
The story is simple enough...part It's a Wonderful Life, part Grinch, but still thoroughly a sequel to the other movies. I was disappointed David Krumholtz didn't reprise his role as Bernard...he was sorely missed throughout. But other than that it's in the vein of the first two movies and I like how all the principal actors are solidly into their roles by now, without camping it up too much.
For me Martin Short's character carries the whole film. Short obviously had a lot of fun with the role and he makes Jack Frost come off as very witty and clever with just a touch of heartlessness about him, not just a cookie-cutter Snidely Whiplash sort of villian. He also has a great rapport with Tim Allen. Jack Frost was the best part of the movie for me and Short's performance was hysterical. As someone interested in costuming I especially love the efforts they went to in order to turn Short into Frost...the hair, the makeup, and the icicle tie especially were very good. The only thing I had issue with was the end, wherein...
****
SPOILER ALERT WITHIN THESE ASTERISKS!!
...he gets "unfrozen." Does this mean there will be no more winter? Why did he turn into Dick Clark? Seriously, what's with the hair? He looked bizarre at the end, and that's saying something, considering he was formerly a guy with frosted eyebrows and an icicle for a necktie.
****
That aside, as a cute kids' movie it does its job admirably. It's not a film for you if you're expecting Miracle on 34th Street or It's a Wonderful Life...but if you're just looking for a funny, sweet Christmas movie for your kids, then you'll love this. I wasn't very hopeful about this movie before I saw it in theatres, but now I can't wait to get it on DVD! |
Great Movie
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| Review Date: November 6, 2006 |
| Reviewer: , |
| I loved this movie. I thought it was better than the first two. Martin Short was great a Jack Frost. They had all the original characters from the first two except Bernard. It was a great family movie. A great edition to the Santa Clause trillogy. See this movie. You will love love it. |
wow
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| Review Date: March 25, 2007 |
| Reviewer: , |
| this is my favorite one out of the seris it very fast paced i never got bored at all watching this movie unlike the second movie you need 2 see the first one to understand it clearly yes u good understand it without seeing the first one but it helps u follow through once the escape claus happens though it is now out of theaters when it comes out on dvd in november see it u won't regret it! |
The Santa Clause 3 - The Escape Clause
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| Review Date: November 21, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Wayne Minge, Tennessee |
| Walt Disney Home Entertainment released The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause on DVD on November 20th, 2007. This is the 3rd film in the popular Christmas film series, The Santa Clause. Tim Allen once again reprises his role as Scott Calvin/Santa Claus. This DVD features the film in it's original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 widescreen and a reformatted full screen 1.33:1 presentation. For the special features on the disc, well there really isn't much offered here. Just a 4 minute 'so-called' Making Of, and a few other worthless features. Not even a fan of all 3 of The Santa Clause movies will enjoy this. Seems to me that it took Disney over a year to release this on DVD, maybe they could spend a little more time on the DVD release. Guess a year isn't enough for them. I bought it simply because I seen it like 3 times in the theaters and I liked it alot. Sometimes features really don't matter to me, it just seems a year was enough time to get some proper features on this release. If you have the previous films in this series, I would recommend buying this. Keep in mind as with The Santa Clause 2, you will need the others in the series for it to make sense to you. |
GREAT watch!!!
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| Review Date: November 30, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Coty A. May, Iraq, APO |
| This movie was VERY good. They lost their touch from the other two but still 5 stars. I purchased it before it can out and got it today and watched it right away. It just needs a little more laughs, but all and all WORTH my money and time. |
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