6.9 | / 10 |
Users | 3.8 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Scott Calvin accidentally causes Santa Claus to fall to his death from his roof on Christmas Eve. When Scott and his young son, Charlie, finish the late St. Nick's deliveries, they go to the North Pole where Scott learns he must become the new Santa and convince those he loves that he is indeed Father Christmas.
Starring: Tim Allen, Judge Reinhold, Wendy Crewson, Eric Lloyd, David KrumholtzFamily | 100% |
Comedy | 79% |
Holiday | 35% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
Russian: Dolby Digital 2.0
Thai: Dolby Digital 2.0
English SDH, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, Thai
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
If show business lore and IMDb are to be believed, Tim Allen wasn't the first choice to play Scott Calvin, the toy company executive with the portentous initials "S.C." who learns the hard way that there really is a Santa Claus. Allen was at least the third choice, after Bill Murray and Chevy Chase, and his prior incarceration for drug charges required Disney to make an exception to a long-standing policy against hiring ex-cons. It was a smart move on Disney's part and a lucky break for Allen. The role fit Allen as closely as Santa's suit fit Calvin badly when he first puts it on. Allen's unique ability to remain down-to-earth and believable in the midst of outlandish events sold The Santa Clause's cartoonish premise and made the movie a hit. Already a success on TV's Home Improvement, Allen gained a movie career, and Disney gained a creative partnership that would soon lead it "to infinity and beyond". The Santa Clause is a kid's movie told from an adult's perspective, which is much harder to do than it sounds. Young Eric Lloyd does a fine job playing Calvin's son, who is struggling with the loss of innocence caused by his parents' divorce, his mother's remarriage and the revelation by an older boy at school that Santa doesn't exist, but the child's predicament is familiar and easily relatable. It's Allen who has to navigate the tricky passage from a cynical and emotionally distant adult to someone who believes in warmth, love and the magic of Christmas. Dickens did it with Scrooge by having him visited by spirits. Generations of filmmakers have tried their hand at visualizing what Dickens composed on the page, but they've always operated with the safety net of having everything vanish when Scrooge wakes up from his dream. In The Santa Clause, it's all real, and whoever plays Scott Calvin has to figure out a way to portray a man who remains grounded while discovering that elves, magic and the North Pole really do exist. And then, like Roy Neary in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, he has to face the prospect of saying goodbye to the life he's always known and beginning a new one. An alternate title for the film could have been I Got Swindled Into Becoming St. Nick -- but who'd want to see that?
Disney's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray of The Santa Clause is one of their better catalog efforts, although it is not entirely free from issues. The film's cinematographer, Walt Lloyd, shoots in a clean and unfussy style that has made him a favorite both among independent directors making films with odd subject matter (Short Cuts, Sex, Lies and Videotape) and TV show runners (The Protector, House, M.D., CSI: Miami). The Santa Clause needed a DP who could successfully unite the look of its business offices and middle class homes with the fantastical, theme-park decor of the North Pole and the elves' habitats. Lloyd gave both of them a slightly artificial sheen so that transitions between the two seem natural and unforced. The Blu-ray captures this effect in both its superior detail and its fine delineations of color, which runs from the severe business attire of Scott Calvin's corporate world to the cheerful rainbow garb of the elves. Where the transfer can be faulted is in a small (and I stress "small") amount of post-processing that has nudged it more toward video than film. A light degree of sharpening has been performed throughout, somewhat flattening the textures and reducing the sense of depth. Moderate grain reduction also appears to have been applied (with the latest software, you can't always be sure), contributing to the image's flatness and video appearance. While this is certainly not an image that should have film purists reaching for pitchforks and screaming "recall!", it's less than film-like and not representative of the best of which Disney is capable when it comes to using the Blu-ray medium to recreate the look of film. (It's also far from the worst of which Disney is capable.) Many of the effects shots are obvious by today's standards, and some appear to be opticals, but these are faults in the original material and not the Blu-ray. (The film was not a big-budget affair.) Compression errors were non-existent, and except for the unfortunate habit of making kid's fare resemble the TV that kids are used to watching, the Blu-ray image is acceptable, if not ideal.
The Blu-ray's DTS-HD MA 5.1 track reproduces the film's original DD 5.1 track with good fidelity and a nice sense of presence. The Santa Clause isn't a surround showcase, but it does use the surrounds to distinguish among environments like Scott Calvin's office (especially during the lively Christmas party), the rowdy front room at Denny's and, of course, the distinctive sounds of the elves' workshop at the North Pole. Bass extension provides the requisite impact for the previous Santa's fall from the roof and various landings of the reindeer and sleigh, as well as for some interesting special effects relating to a variety of chimneys. Dialogue is clear, but the lively score by Michael Convertino (an interesting choice, given his usual assignments on adult fare like Bull Durham) is somewhat less crisp and distinct than one would be likely to find on a contemporary release; I blame the original recordings.
The Blu-ray's extras are not the same as those on the DVD version of The Santa Clause released by Disney in 1998 (in a white case) and re-released in 2002 as a "special edition". The DVD-ROM features, which included "Write a Letter to Santa" and a Christmas Countdown Calendar screensaver, have been omitted. Also omitted is "Santa's Helper—A Trivia Adventure Game". Newly added is a much better extra, which I have listed first below and marked with an asterisk:
Having launched a successful movie career with The Santa Clause, Tim Allen became so popular with the family crowd that he was able to drive the film's two lackluster sequels to successful box office results. However, the first film in the series is the only one that holds up, because its script was based on an original premise. The sequels' attempts to find a legalistic equivalent for the original "clause" have the forced, derivative quality that instantly marks a sequel as a cash-in enterprise. The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause has been available on Blu-ray for years, because it came out after the appearance of the Blu-ray format. It's past time the initial, vastly superior film made its Blu-ray debut. Recommended, with appropriate caveats.
10th Anniversary
2002
2006
1998
Grinchmas Edition
2000
1992
30th Anniversary Edition
1990
2004
1996
Movie-Only
2011
1983
2006
1993
2014
2010
2016
1989
2011
2013
2012
2017