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Santa Clause 2**** (Out of 4)A review by Greg ZiglarInterwoven into this wonderful holiday film are stories of corporate greed run amok and a battle that simply can’t be won given certain conditions. From one perspective, it seems that incorporating such dark and heavy issues into what is on the surface a relatively simple story may be underhanded and evil. However, this isn’t the first time we have seen this kind of thing. After all, didn’t we learn from The Wizard of Oz that there is indeed sometimes a strange and faulty human being behind the curtain, manipulating the life of others, forcing them to do things that they wouldn’t normally do?
The store is simple. Santa has just 28 days to find a wife, as he must be married before midnight Christmas Eve, or he can’t be Santa any longer. At first no one wants to tell him this interesting tidbit of information. Certainly not the elf in charge, who states that since he is the head elf, he doesn’t have to give bad news. This pop culture reference to corporate America is right on target, and is one of many in the film. There is a hilarious scene in which Santa tries to read the fine print on his contract. He can’t quite make it out, and has to resort to larger and larger reading lens. Those of us in need of reading glasses will respond to this joke on a different level than the kids in the audience, and that is why adults will love this film as much as the kids.
Political issues also abound. We get a great throwaway line that goes “You sir are no Santa.” Then, when the elves wage war against the huge and menacing toy soldiers, the only weapon at their disposal is in the form of snowballs. Perhaps the message here is that if you are going to go to war, then go to war and don’t mess around with meaningless verbiage and useless weapons. Most of us know this. What is so fascinating here is that the elves understand this clearly within just a few minutes and are forced into battle with brains instead of brawn. The kid inside each of us is screaming out, “But why can’t we do this also?” Truly, the child in all of us knows how to be happy. And thankfully, there are films like this that let us get back in touch with that kid. That small child who laughs loudly at the simplest of toys can grow up to understand the nature of true happiness. |
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Fortunately, these hidden story sidelines result in a
film far more fascinating than the first film upon which this movie’s
premise is based. There is increased richness here, so reminiscent of the
increase in detail and story as we moved from Star Wars to The
Empire Strikes Back. And there is humor and sweetness and love all
over the place. This is a classic holiday movie that will be around
forever.
But there are challenges for Santa. In addition to his
search for a wife, he discovers that his own son has been removed from the
“nice list”. The world is running rampant with naughtiness! Santa also
discovers he has limited magic, the Tooth Fairy character pleads with the
Council of Legendary Host for name change, and a reindeer consumes too much
candy and can no longer fly Santa back to the North Pole. A very clever,
witty script leads to a resolution of these, and many other, issues.