| The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Michael Lembeck |
| Produced by | Robert F. Newmyer Brian Reilly Jeffrey Silver |
| Written by | Leo Bevenuti (characters) Steve Rudnick (characters) Ed Decter John J. Strauss |
| Starring | Tim Allen Martin Short Elizabeth Mitchell Judge Reinhold Wendy Crewson Ann-Margret Eric Lloyd Spencer Breslin Liliana Mumy Alan Arkin |
| Music by | George S. Clinton |
| Cinematography | Robbie Greenberg |
| Editing by | David Finfer |
| Distributed by | Walt Disney Pictures |
| Release date(s) | November 3, 2006 |
| Running time | 92 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Budget | $22 million[1] |
| Box office | $110,768,122 |
The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause is a 2006 American film, the sequel to The Santa Clause and The Santa Clause 2. This is the third and final film in the trilogy. The film was planned to have a Disney Channel Premeire.
Tim Allen again plays Scott Calvin/Santa Claus, while Martin Short plays Jack Frost, a competing holiday character. Allen and Short had previously worked together in the 1997 Disney comedy feature film, Jungle 2 Jungle. Eric Lloyd returns in a smaller role as Santa's son Charlie, as do many of the supporting actors from the first two films, reprising their previous roles. However, David Krumholtz, who previously played Bernard the Arch-elf, does not appear in this one because of contractual issues, and so Curtis (played by Spencer Breslin), who was previously the Assistant Head Elf, has now been promoted to his former position.
This was the last film to feature Peter Boyle in his lifetime, as he died from cancer one month after its release. The 2008 film All Roads Lead Home would be released posthumously.
Production was completed in February 2006. The movie was released in theaters on November 3, 2006 in the US followed by a release date of November 24 for the UK.
The DVD and Blu-ray were released on November 20, 2007 in the U.S. and November 12, 2007 for the UK.
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Scott Calvin/Santa Claus (Tim Allen), and his wife, Carol (Elizabeth Mitchell), are expecting their first child as Christmas Eve approaches. Carol is missing her family, so Scott invites his in-laws, Silvia and Bud Newman (Ann-Margret and Alan Arkin), up to the North Pole, along with his ex-wife, Laura (Wendy Crewson), her husband, Neil (Judge Reinhold), and their daughter, Lucille (Liliana Mumy), to keep Mrs. Claus company. Meanwhile, he is summoned to a meeting of the Council of Legendary Figures consisting of Mother Nature (Aisha Tyler), Father Time (Peter Boyle), the Easter Bunny (Jay Thomas), Cupid (Kevin Pollak), the Tooth Fairy (Art LaFleur), and the Sandman (Michael Dorn). Jack Frost (Martin Short) also arrives and is in trouble. He is jealous that he has no holiday or special occasion in his honor, and has been promoting himself during the Christmas season. Mother Nature accuses him of attempting to upstage Santa, and suggests sanctions against him. Frost manages to negotiate a light sentence of community service at the North Pole, but immediately sets out to sabotage operations there. His ultimate goal is to trick Santa into renouncing his position, and manages to invoke a time-reversal process known as the Escape Clause. Frost assumes the Santa Clause and takes Scott's place.
Frost exploits the North Pole through shameless self-promotion, turning it into a tourist trap theme park with the elves' forced labor. 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. His non-Santa life is a disappointment, with his business taking priority over everything and his son loathing him for his lack of attention over the years.
Scott travels to the North Pole and sees the misery that Frost has created. He develops a plan to defeat Frost and put things back the way they were. In much the same way Frost tricked Scott, Scott tricks Frost into invoking the Escape Clause. With the surprise appearance of Charlie (Eric Lloyd), and the help of Lucille, together they help restore the North Pole and reform Frost.
The Santa Clause 3 received mostly negative reviews from critics, earning a 15% "rotten" rating at Rotten Tomatoes, as opposed to the critical acclaim the first film got and the mixed reviews the second film got. with the consensus that "Playing Jack Frost as an evil cross between Liza Minnelli and Liberace, Martin Short is a welcome presence, but this tired series continues drawing from its bag of bland gags and dumb slapstick." Eric D. Snider, a reviewer, said that Allen did The Santa Clause "The first time with enthusiasm, the second time with affection and the third time for a paycheck."[2] Kyle Smith wrote, "We're getting a turkey and a ham for the holidays. Santa is so dumb he should be demoted to cleaning up after Geoffrey the Giraffe at Toys 'R' Us." Manohla Dargis dismissed the movie (in a three-paragraph review) as "Squeaky clean, but you might die of boredom." Finally, Nathaniel Bell wrote off the film as "Holiday filler, stuffed with unearned emotion and trite sentimentality." In the UK, Mark Kermode described it in 2006 on BBC Radio Five Live as "The cinematic equivalent of tertiary syphilis".
The film was given five Razzie Award nominations at the 27th Golden Raspberry Awards: Worst Actor (Tim Allen), Worst Supporting Actor (Martin Short), Worst Prequel or Sequel, Worst Screen Couple (Allen and Short) and Worst Excuse for Family Entertainment.
The first two films had become box-office successes during their opening weekends, but The Santa Clause 3 was beaten by Borat for the #1 spot.
As of February 7, 2007; The Santa Clause 3 made $84,500,122 in the US and a worldwide gross of $110,768,122.[3] The first film made $189,833,357 worldwide at the box-office while the second film made $172,855,065.
The film was released on both standard DVD and high-definition Blu-ray Disc on November 20, 2007.
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