The Big Picture
The Santa Clause has earned its place as a classic holiday movie with its dark and unorthodox setup, talented cast, and gorgeous production design. The film includes adult jokes that may go over younger viewers’ heads, such as references to the drug culture of the ’60s and a real-life sex hotline. The sequels, The Santa Clause 2 and The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, became more family-friendly, but received mixed reviews and lacked the charm of the original. The Santa Clauses Season 2 explores passing on the role of Santa Claus.
The Santa Clause has more than earned its place in the pantheon of classic holiday movies. Part of that is due to its unorthodox set-up: ad exec Scott Calvin (Tim Allen) accidentally kills Santa Claus and has to take his job. That’s a surprisingly dark hook for a holiday movie, especially one made by Disney – but it works. Allen’s performance as Calvin mixes in the comedian’s usual acerbic wit with some genuine soul; the same combination would help shape Allen’s performance as Buzz Lightyear in the Toy Story films. Throw in a talented supporting cast that includes David Krumholtz and Judge Reinhold – and some gorgeous production design, and you get a Christmas movie with endless repeat value (as well as a sequel series).
Yet for all of its holiday trappings, The Santa Clause is hiding some rather adult jokes underneath its wrapping. Some of these will fly over younger viewers’ heads; when Scott and his son Charlie (Eric Lloyd) discover that Santa’s sack has levitation powers, Scott jokes about how it reminds him of living through the ”60s…a not-so-subtle allusion to the heavy drug culture of that era. What takes the cake is a throwaway joke early in the movie that concerns a fake-sounding phone number. That phone number was actually real and connected to a real-life sex hotline.
The Santa Clause
When a man inadvertently makes Santa fall off his roof on Christmas Eve, he finds himself magically recruited to take his place.
Release Date November 11, 1994
Director John Pasquin
Cast Tim Allen , Wendy Crewson , Judge Reinhold , Eric Lloyd , David Krumholtz , Larry Brandenburg
Rating PG
Runtime 97
Main Genre Comedy
Genres Comedy , Documentary , Drama , Family , Fantasy
Studio Walt Disney Pictures, Hollywood Pictures
Writers Leo Benvenuti , Steve Rudnick
Tagline This Christmas, the snow hits the fan.
Why Did Disney Change ‘The Santa Clause’?
The joke that landed The Santa Clause – and by extension, Disney – in some hot water comes near the beginning of the film. Scott, who has custody of Charlie, is talking with his ex-wife Laura (Wendy Miller). Laura gives Scott a number to call which belongs to the mother of her new husband Neil (Reinhold); upon receiving it Scott snarks”1-800-SPANK-ME. I know that number.” As adult jokes go, it’s fairly tame and easily flies over the heads of the younger viewers. But that wasn’t the case with Shirley Dearth, a grandmother living near Cleveland. Dearth took her grandchildren to see The Santa Clause, and afterward, they wanted to call the number – which took a left turn as they were connected to an active sex line.
“I don’t think children need to be exposed to that,” Dearth told the AP Press back when the initial news broke. She was relatively lucky; a rash of children in Washington ended up calling the number which led to some outrageous charges as well as some outraged parents. A large part of that was due to The Santa Clause hitting VHS and LaserDisc, making it relatively easy for kids to get their hands on a phone. Eventually, Disney decided to scrub the line from all versions of The Santa Clause in 1999. That includes the DVDs and Blu-rays, as well as the version streaming on Disney+ and all broadcast versions. Now the number is referred to as “1-800-POUND”…which could still be mistaken for a sex joke in our opinion (but doesn’t connect to a working sex line as far as we know.) The original number, hilariously enough, remains in operation to this day.
The Rest of ‘The Santa Clause’ Franchise Are More Family-Friendly
The Santa Clause became a critical and commercial hit, so naturally, Disney decided to greenlight two more sequels. To their credit, The Santa Clause 2 and The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause do find some great ways to continue throwing roadblocks in Scott’s path. Those roadblocks stem from the business card in Santa’s suit, which is covered with a border of fine print that outlines all of Santa Claus’ duties. In The Santa Clause 2, Scott learns that he has to take a wife or he’ll stop being Santa forever. The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause pitted Scott against the winter spirit Jack Frost (Martin Short), who used time travel to usurp his role as Santa Claus. It was also the moment when the franchise became firmly family-friendly, perhaps in response to the sex line scandal.
This direction wasn’t exactly a great outcome for the films. They’re stuffed with all the hallmarks of early 2000s Disney films; outdated pop culture references, bone-crushingly painful slapstick, and actors who have done far better slumming it. Nowhere is this more evident than with the Council of Legendary Figures, a group of mythological figures that Scott belonged to. Watching Michael Dorn and Aisha Tyler struggling to bring gravitas to the roles of the Sandman and Mother Nature is a hard pill to swallow, as is the presence of the late great Peter Boyle as Father Time. Boyle had previously appeared in The Santa Clause as Scott’s former boss, so to see him here is just baffling. But the biggest clue that things weren’t the same was the reindeer. Originally real-life flesh and blood animals who communicated through grunts, now they were CGI monstrosities only good for dispensing toilet humor.
Related ‘The Santa Clauses’ Season 2 Review: Tim Allen Puts the Chaos in Christmas Season 2 of the family comedy series returns on November 8.
The Santa Clauses seems to be faring slightly better, as its first season saw Scott – now married and with two children – attempt to pass off the role of Santa Claus to a successor. Once again, more “clauses” are explored, as Scott struggles to find a place in the world where he can be Santa. While it still lacks some of the spark that made The Santa Clause a runaway hit, The Santa Clauses is at its best when it explores the family dynamic between Scott, his wife Carol (Elizabeth Mitchell), and son Cal (Austin Kane). Most of the cast from the previous films, particularly Krumholtz’s acerbic elf Bernard, also return – and seem far happier here than they were in the sequels. Even if it did contain some rather risque humor, The Santa Clause has still managed to stand out as a holiday classic and even launched an entire franchise.
The Santa Clause, The Santa Clause 2, The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, and The Santa Clauses are available to stream on Disney+.
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