96. The Santa Clause

Title: The Santa Clause
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Family
Year: 1994, 2002, 2006

Summary:

The Santa Clause (1994): Scott Calvin is a 38-year-old divorced father and advertising executive for a toy company in the fictional city Lakeside, Michigan with a young son, Charlie. On Christmas Eve, Charlie comes over to spend the night with Scott before going back to his mother and stepfather's for Christmas Day. Scott attempts to assure Charlie of Santa Claus' existence, while in full disbelief himself. That night, they are awakened by a clatter on the roof. Going outside to investigate, they can see someone on there. Scott yells at the trespasser, "Hey, you!", which causes him to lose his balance and fall off. He appears to be Santa Claus.

After he lands he magically disappears, but his suit remains. They find a business card in a pocket stating that if something should happen to him, someone should put on the suit, and the reindeer will know what to do. They find his sleigh and eight reindeer perched on the roof. While trying to figure out how to explain all of this to people, Scott bumps his head on a ladder leading up to the roof. Charlie points out the ladder's company name as "the Rose Suchak Ladder Company" and tells his dad "it's just like the poem" (mispronouncing "arose such a clatter"). Scott puts on the suit to please Charlie, and begins delivering toys from house to house.

Their final stop is the North Pole where the head elf, Bernard, shows him a tiny inscription on the card which says that upon the disappearance of the previous occupant, whoever wears the suit assumes the identity of Santa Claus and all the responsibilities that go with it. This is the "Santa Clause", as stated by Bernard: "You put on the suit and you're the big guy!" He also gives Charlie a snow globe as a gift. He then tells Scott that he only has eleven months, until Thanksgiving, to get his affairs in order before becoming Santa Claus full time, which he tries to refuse. He and Charlie spend the night at the factory. The next morning they awaken back in Scott's house, where the only indication of their previous night's adventure is his new silk pajamas with "SC" monogrammed on them. He dismisses it all as a dream.

Soon, however, Scott starts gaining weight and his boss, Mr. Whittle, likens him to the Pillsbury Doughboy and he interjects a presentation on the company's new toy by complaining about Santa not being represented with his sleigh and they should simplify their toy designs. He develops a ravenous taste for Christmas treats, like cookies and hot cocoa. Scott's facial hair grows like crazy, and shaving it off has no effect as it regrows instantly. His hair turns gray then white, despite all attempts to dye it. He somehow knows who has been "naughty" and "nice". Scott also starts wearing clothes with red and green, and his heart even beats Jingle Bells. Children (who somehow know he is Santa despite Scott not dressing like him) approach him with gift requests. His rapid transformation worries his ex-wife Laura and her new husband, psychiatrist Dr. Neil Miller, who tries to terminate his visitation rights to Charlie. They question his mental stability, and believe that his changes are attempts at getting his son to like him.

Eventually, Scott's visitation rights to Charlie are suspended. Disheartened, he begins to lose some of his certainty about his job as Santa. While visiting Charlie on Thanksgiving, Charlie's insistence that Scott is Santa reawakens his magic and he, with Bernard's help, whisks him away to the North Pole. Laura and Neil, who think he has kidnapped him against his will, call the police, who start a massive investigation.

Meanwhile, at the North Pole, Charlie helps Scott and the head elves perfect a new sleigh and communication devices. He calls his mother, but this only reinforces their belief that he is being held against his will. Eventually, Scott, as Santa Claus, goes on with his Christmas Eve trip, but is arrested while delivering presents to the Miller house, and is accused of kidnapping Charlie. A team of rescue elves called the ELFS (Effective Liberating Flight Squad) free him from jail by tying up the front desk guard and using tinsel to break through the bars (which he is very impressed by). The ELFS then fly him and Charlie home to Laura and Neil, to whom Scott/Santa gives the presents they always wanted since childhood but never got: Laura gets a vintage Mystery Date game and Neil gets an Oscar Mayer Wienie Whistle. (It was because they did not get these that they became convinced Santa did not exist.)

Laura, finally realizing that Scott really is the new Santa, tosses the custody papers into the fireplace and welcomes him to visit Charlie any time that he wants. Neil, both amazed and joyful, realises that you don't have to see to believe. Bernard tells Charlie that the snow globe is magical. Anytime he wants his father to visit, all he has to do is shake it. After ten minutes, he does so and Scott comes back, saying he was on his way to Cleveland, and takes Charlie with him to deliver the rest of the presents.

The Santa Clause 2 (2002): Eight years have gone by since divorced father Scott Calvin first took up the Santa Claus suit, and became subject to The Santa Clause. Now he is at the top of his game at the North Pole and could not be happier, at least until Bernard and Curtis, the Keeper of the Handbook of Christmas break the news that there is another clause - the "Mrs. Clause".

Santa/Scott now has to get married before the next Christmas Eve, or the clause will be broken and Christmas will die away. At the same time, Abby the Elf (Danielle Woodman) delivers news that is more distressing; his 16-year-old son, Charlie, is on the naughty list. It then cuts to him one night defacing the walls of the school gymnasium from the skywindow until he is caught by Principal Carol Newman. Scott must return to his home to search for a wife and set things right with Charlie. He even brings this up when visited by the Council of Legendary Figures consisting of Mother Nature, Father Time, Cupid, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and the Sandman.

To cover for Santa's prolonged absence, Curtis helps him create a life-size toy replica of him, much to Bernard's horror. However, this larger-than-life legalist cannot find any grace, mercy, or slack in his plastic heart for minor infractions by children all over the world, having followed the handbook too strictly. Toy Santa takes control of the North Pole, turns it into a strict and evil government, with a duplicated army of life-size toy soldiers and he puts Bernard under house arrest when Bernard attempts to tell the elves that Toy Santa is a fake. He thinks that everyone is naughty, (just by their small mistakes) and he plans to give the entire world lumps of coal.

Because of the impending end of his contract, Scott undergoes a "de-Santafication process" which gradually turns him back into Scott Calvin. He has a limited amount of magic to help him. He attempts to reconcile with Charlie, who keeps vandalizing his school to get attention. They both hit the cold hard wall of Principal Carol Newman when Charlie defaces the lockers.

Charlie confesses to Scott how hard it is for him that Scott is never around like other fathers, and reveals the stress he is under to conceal the secret that his father is Santa. Scott vows to try harder as a dad, and they reconcile.

After a few failed dates, Scott finds himself falling for Carol. He accompanies her in a sleigh to their school faculty Christmas party, which turns out to be dull and boring. Using a little of his Christmas magic, he livens it up by presenting everyone with their childhood dream gifts (much like he did for Laura and Neil in the first film). He makes a special presentation to Carol, and, with his last remnant of magic, wins her over and they kiss passionately. However, she balks when he attempts to explain that he is Santa, believing that he is mocking her childhood, until Charlie manages to convince her by showing her his magic snow globe.

Curtis flies in to deliver the dreadful news about the Evil Toy Santa's coal binge. However, Scott has used up the last of his magic wooing Carol and Comet has eaten too many chocolate bars. After convincing the Tooth Fairy that he is Santa Claus, the Tooth fairy flies Scott and Curtis back to the North Pole but they are captured by the toy soldiers. Toy Santa wastes no time in tying him up with Curtis, but Charlie and a now-believing Carol spring him free by summoning the Tooth Fairy to fly them there. He goes after Toy Santa, who has already left with the sleigh, riding Chet, a reindeer-in-training, and they both battle over the reindeer. With an army of elves, Carol, Bernard, Charlie, and Curtis lead a snowball war to overthrow the toy soldiers. During the battle, Toy Santa and Scott accidentally causes the sleigh to crash back into the village (as well as crashing on the rest of the toy soldiers). Toy Santa is forcibly restrained by the elves and is reduced to his normal six-inch height. Scott marries Carol in a ceremony presided over by Mother Nature herself. He transforms back into Santa, and Christmas proceeds as it always has and he and Carol have a three month honeymoon to go on the next day. In addition, he and Charlie reveal the truth to Lucy, Charlie's younger half sister (the daughter of Laura and Neil), about him being Santa Claus so she is now in on the secret.

The Santa Clause 3 (2006): Scott Calvin/Santa Claus, is having difficulties managing Christmas this year. His wife, Carol, is expecting their first child which is due on Christmas Eve and is afraid that he will be making his deliveries while she is making hers. Wanting her to feel more comfortable, he invites his in-laws, Silvia and Bud Newman, up to the North Pole, along with his ex-wife, Laura, her husband, Neil, and their daughter, Lucy, to keep Mrs. Claus company. Meanwhile, he is summoned to a meeting of the Council of Legendary Figures consisting of Mother Nature,  Father Time , the Easter Bunny, Cupid, the Tooth Fairy, and the Sandman. They show him a cardboard cutout of Jack Frost that reads "Merry Frostmas" as he himself arrives. Besides Father Time reminding him that he heralds the season and not a holiday, Mother Nature accuses him of attempting to upstage Santa by freezing a volcano in Hawaii, making it snow in the Amazon, and making it cold in Mexico thus sending the geese back up north for the winter. All the other Legendary Figures agree that a punishment needs to be invoked against him with the idea to suspend him. He manages to convince them to put him into community service at the North Pole. When Scott brings up the part with the in-laws during an argument with him, Cupid recommends the "Escape Clause" which he declines. When Jack asks what it is, Father Time tells him that he would know more about it if he attended the meetings more often. Scott reluctantly agrees with a warning to him if he does anything wrong on his watch. He helps to disguise the North Pole as Canada for the arrival of the in-laws. Scott manages to get them to "Canada" with the help of the Sandman.

However, Jack, who wants to have the power and influence of Santa, goes around the North Pole and uses his powers to create technical problems with some of the equipment. The shop flies into chaos and many gifts are destroyed, and Scott is faced with the possibility that there will not be enough toys for all the children in time for Christmas.

Jack talks to Head Elf Curtis about the Hall of Snow Globes, and discovers that Scott's can be used to activate the Escape Clause, the most powerful one of all. This one can help the current Santa escape from his job as Santa; if he holds his snow globe and says, "I wish I had never become Santa at all", the Clause is triggered, and he can return to the point where he became Santa and prevent the event from occurring. Scott takes a quick break to show Lucy the Hall of Snow Globes, and gives her a magical one that shows her hugging a snowman, which turns pink because her hugs are so filled with love and warmth. As they leave, Jack sneaks into there and steals Scott's, freezing Lucy's parents when they catch him. After further attempts at sabotage, he manages to enrage the in-laws, and gives Scott a gift as he talks about his frustrations. Not realizing what he is doing, he is persuaded into uttering the Escape Clause while opening his gift and taking out his snow globe. He and Jack are sent back in time to his front yard, where, twelve years earlier, he caused Santa to fall off the roof and donned his coat to become the new Santa. Jack reaches the coat because the past Scott does not due to the snow globe's power and puts it on to become Santa.

Scott is sent back to the present, where he has been the CEO for his old company for the last twelve years, and works even on Christmas Eve. He drives over to Laura's house. She treats him very coldy. She then reveals that she and Neil also divorced after having Lucy, as without Scott around Neil tried and failed to fill his role to Charlie. He frantically asks where Carol is and Laura says she "left town years ago because there were not enough local kids to terrorize or something." She gives him a magazine that shows the North Pole; it is now a tourist attraction, where wealthy parents take their kids and pay for them to be on the nice list. He assures her that he will fix everything and it will all go back to normal. He, wanting his old job back, returns to the North Pole where the elves are miserable and Christmas has become highly merchandised. Lucy and Neil are there as well, although they too are not happy to see him. He confronts Jack with what he has done and claims his vision of Christmas is not what the holiday is about, but he reminds him that he was the one who said "I wish I had never become Santa at all".

Scott convinces Lucy to sneak into the Hall of Snow Globes, and bring Jack's to him. He interrupts a musical performance by Jack, when Lucy tosses him his snow globe. He mocks that Scott will never convince him to invoke the Escape Clause, but Scott plays a recording of him saying "I wish I had never become Santa at all", when he said it to him earlier. Whisked back to the past, he holds him down while his past self finds the suit and puts it on, restoring events to the way they were.

Back in the present, Scott reunites with Carol, even though no time has passed since he left, and he promises to make her life better. He then shows his in-laws the truth about his workshop, where despite Jack's sabotage, gifts are being manufactured and will be ready on time for his deliveries. To his surprise, his son, Charlie, arrives and helps the elves.

It seems things are going perfectly until Curtis and Lucy appear, and Neil and Laura are wheeled in, frozen solid. Jack is also dragged in by the "Elficers" and he refuses to undo his spell on them. By unfreezing them, he would have to "unfreeze himself" and so they will be frozen forever. When Scott asks for Mother Nature to help him out, she reminds him that the abilities of a Legendary Figure will not work on others. However, he has an idea. He tells Lucy to give Jack one of her heartwarming hugs. Full of love and warmth, her hug changes him, melting his clothes and hair from icy to normal and breaking the spell around Neil and Laura. Everyone, including the defrosted and reformed Jack, celebrates with a hug and Carol suddenly announces that her baby is coming. She gives birth to a boy and names him Buddy Claus.