The Santa Clause



The Santa Clause is a 1994 American Christmas fantasy family comedy-drama film written by Leo Benvenuti and Steve Rudnick, and directed by John Pasquin. The first film in the Santa Clause film series, it stars Tim Allen as Scott Calvin, an ordinary man who accidentally causes Santa Claus to fall from his roof on Christmas Eve. When he and his young son, Charlie, finish St. Nick's trip and deliveries, they go to the North Pole where Scott learns that he must become the new Santa and convince those he loves that he is indeed Santa Claus.

The film was followed by two sequels, The Santa Clause 2 (2002) and The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006). In comparison to the original, the sequels each declined in critical favor.

Plot
Scott Calvin (Tim Allen), a successful toy salesman, prepares to spend Christmas Eve with his son Charlie (Eric Lloyd). Scott wants Charlie to maintain his belief in Santa Claus, despite not believing himself. Scott's former wife, Laura (Wendy Crewson) and her psychiatrist husband Dr. Neil Miller (Judge Reinhold) both stopped believing in Santa at a young age and feel that Charlie needs to do so as well. After Scott reads The Night Before Christmas to Charlie and tucks him into bed, Santa's sleigh lands on their roof and wakes Charlie. Charlie wakes up Scott, who hears Santa's footsteps on the roof and assumes that it is an intruder.

Rushing outside, Scott startles Santa, causing him to lose his balance and fall off the roof. Scott finds a card in the pocket of Santa's suit that states "If something should happen to me, put on my suit, the Reindeer will know what to do." Santa then vanishes, leaving behind his suit. Charlie climbs onto the roof via a ladder which has magically appeared and finds Santa's sleigh and reindeer. Scott follows him into the sleigh, which flies off to continue delivering presents. Persuaded by Charlie, Scott puts on the Santa suit and spends the rest of the night delivering gifts before the reindeer take them to the North Pole. Once they arrive, Bernard (David Krumholtz), the head elf, explains to Scott that because he put on the suit, he is subjected to a legal technicality known as "The Santa Clause", meaning that he has agreed to accept all of Santa's duties and responsibilities, and gives him eleven months to get his affairs in order before reporting back to the North Pole on Thanksgiving. Confused and overwhelmed, Scott changes into the pajamas provided to him and falls asleep. The next morning, he wakes up in his own bed, causing him to believe that it was all a dream. When Charlie proudly tells his class that his father is Santa, Laura, Neil, and the school principal ask Scott, whom they all believe is responsible, to tell Charlie that there is no Santa. Still believing their trip never happened but not wanting to break Charlie's heart, Scott instead convinces Charlie to keep their trip a secret, to which Charlie agrees.

Over the course of the following year, strange things begin to happen to Scott. He acquires an intense craving for sweets, especially milk and cookies and begins to gain a large amount of weight. His beard starts fully growing back immediately after shaving, and his hair quickly turns gray and then white. He also begins to recount 'naughty' and 'nice' children by name after getting his "list" of children in the mail. After an incident in which several children approach Scott to ask for Christmas presents, Laura and Neil believe he is deliberately trying to confuse Charlie and successfully petition a judge to suspend Scott's visitation rights. Devastated, Scott goes to Laura and Neil's house on Thanksgiving. Desperate to help his father realize how important he is, Charlie shows Scott a magical snow globe that Bernard had given him, finally convincing him that he is Santa. After Scott asks Laura and Neil a minute to talk to Charlie alone, Bernard appears and transports him and Charlie to the North Pole.

Believing that Scott has kidnapped Charlie, Laura and Neil contact the police. At the North Pole, Scott sets out to deliver the gifts with Charlie in tow. However, upon arriving at Laura and Neil's home, Scott is arrested. The elves send a rescue team to help him escape from jail. Scott returns to Laura and Neil's house and manages to convince them that he is Santa, and asks Charlie to spend Christmas with them as they are his family too. Laura burns the court papers banning Scott's visitation rights and tells him that he can visit anytime. Bernard then appears and tells Charlie that if he shakes his snow globe at any time, his father will appear. Before leaving, Scott gives Laura and Neil two Christmas presents that they never got as children (which caused their disbelief in Santa). Shortly after he leaves, Charlie summons Scott back home with the snow globe. Laura agrees to let Charlie go with Scott for a short ride in the sleigh. Scott embraces his new role as Santa and leaves with Charlie to deliver the presents.

Cast

 * Tim Allen as Scott Calvin
 * Eric Lloyd as Charlie Calvin
 * Wendy Crewson as Laura Miller
 * Judge Reinhold as Dr. Neal Miller
 * David Krumholtz as Bernard the Head Elf
 * Paige Tamada as Judy the Elf
 * Peter Boyle as Mr. Whittle
 * Larry Brandenburg as Detective Nunzio
 * Jayne Eastwood as Judy the Waitress
 * Kenny Vadas as the E.L.F.S. Leader
 * Chris Benson as Fireman O'Hara
 * Mary Gross as Mrs. Daniels
 * Steve Vinovich as Dr. Pete Novos

Production
This film was entirely shot in the Greater Toronto Area. Oakville served as the city of Lakeside, Illinois.

Box office
The Santa Clause grossed over US$144 million in the United States and Canada, and over $189 million worldwide, making it a box-office hit. The film has since gone on to become a Christmas classic. Freeform and AMC have played the film during the holiday season with record ratings.

Critical reception
The film received generally positive reviews from the critics. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a "Certified Fresh" approval rating of 74% based on 54 reviews, with an average rating of 6/10. The consensus from the site is "The Santa Clause is utterly undemanding, but it's firmly rooted in the sort of good old-fashioned holiday spirit missing from too many modern yuletide films." On Metacritic the film has a score of 57% based on reviews from 13 critics. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade A- on scale of A to F.

Home media
Towards the beginning of the film a brief exchange between Scott and Laura takes place in which Laura hands Scott a piece of paper with Neil's mother's phone number on it. Scott then says "1-800-SPANK-ME. I know that number." In the United States, the exchange was removed from all home media releases of the film starting with the 1999 DVD release after a 1996 incident in which a child from Steilacoom, Washington called the number (which turned out to be an actual, working sex line number) and incurred a phone bill of US$400 1996.