The Santa Clause 3 – The Escape Clause

Fans of classic Christmas films need not worry that their perennial favorites are about to be displaced by this third entry into the Santa Clause franchise. In fact, throughout most of the 92 minute running time of The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause I was looking for my own escape clause out of watching the film. However, in the true spirit of Christmas and with a feeling of total dedication to duty, I remained firmly affixed to my easy chair and watched every second of the film. It was all for you, my gentle reader, because I know how crunched your time can get around the holidays. I have made this sacrifice to save you an additional hour and a half to commit to your shopping or preparing cookies for the family. You don’t have to thank me. Just send a few cookies my way or raise a glass of eggnog to me this season. There are far too many truly great holiday films to waste on this tripe.

Wanna know the story? You asked for it.

Christmas is once again just around the corner and Santa (Allen) is busy with the usual naughty and nice scenarios. Mrs.Claus is teaching little elves and about to deliver a package of her own. All the while evil Jack Frost (Short) wants to get some of the attention all of the other members of the council are getting. He conspires to take over Santa’s job and use the gig to cash in. At the same time the in-laws are coming to the North Pole for a visit, believing it’s Canada to protect the SOS (Secret of Santa). None of this goes particularly well both for the characters or the audience. The entire affair is completely over the top and wasn’t good for even a smile the entire time. Tim Allen and Martin Short are the only ones having any fun, and it seems to be at our expense, literally if you shelled out any dough for this DVD.

There’s a lot to be said for the cast of the film, but the writing doesn’t take advantage of the resource. After listening to the commentary and watching the extras I’m convinced that director Michael Lembeck could not get control over his two stars. By his own admission it was difficult to rein them in, and he often just left them go off on their own way. The result is a predictable jumble of horsing around that fails to entertain on any grounds.

Video

Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The transfer is actually pretty solid. Colors are bright and vibrant, showing off the incredible North Pole sets and costumes. A lot of expected red and green hues come through with nice effect. Black levels are also fairly strong, providing a nice element of shadow and detail.

Audio

The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is for the most part wasted. This is a very dialog heavy film with little going on in the surrounds. There were plenty of moments that might have worked better with a larger sound field. The entire magical realm idea is lost in the mix. The music is reproduced fairly well, but then again no better than a standard CD might sound.

Special Features

Blooper Reel: You get 3 minutes of flubs and Tim and Martin acting out. Some of this is in the closing credits as well.

Music & More: Under this heading there are two choices:

Christmas Carol-oke: This is exactly what it sounds like. You get 7 Christmas carols where you can sing along to a music track and follow a bouncing Christmas ball for the words. Scenes from the Santa Clause films provide a backdrop to the festivities.

Greatest Time Of The Year With Ali and AJ: This is a hyped up Christmas music video from the girl band. The song actually isn’t too bad, but the horrible lip-synching ruins the effect.

Backstage Disney: The remaining features are found under this heading:

 
Jack Frost and Mrs. Claus – A Very Different Look: Apparently the disorganization also included the filming being stopped not once but twice to retool the look of these two characters. With Frost the look was once far more mundane. With Carol Claus she was originally fitted with prosthetics to make her look Santa fat in her face. Both changes were definitely for the better, but why show poor planning going in.

 
The New Comedians – On The Set With Tim And Mart:  Another feature that shows just how out of control these two guys were. I’m not sure what “new comedians” means, as both of these guys have been around decades.

 
Creating Movie Magic: Production crewmembers and f/x folks show how a few of the visual f/x were done. While most of these f/x were top notch, the thaw of the parents was pretty lame.

 Alternate Opening: This opening is merely an extended version of what is in the film with some added flashbacks to the first film. I could take it or leave it.

Commentary Track: If I did not suspect that Michael Lembeck was out of his league watching the film, listening to his commentary tells me all I need to know.
 

 
Final Thoughts

Really the only folks who might be at all entertained by this mess are kids under 8 years old. The film has enough visual stimulation to keep them entertained. As adults we’re, hopefully, not so easily swayed just because a film is all shiny. The jokes don’t work. The script was a mess. The director never had control of the process. Horrible poor planning mistakes led to reshooting and work stoppages. Everyone who was involved in this mess ought to be “on the naughty list for life”.