Santa Clause 3 - The Escape Clause (Blu-Ray Edition)...meh

When I was in Florida in 2006, this Santa Clause 3 movie was in the theaters, and my son wanted to take a couple of hours from our Disney schedule to go and see it while we were there. Unfortunately, we couldn't find the time to make for going to the theater that vacation, and I felt bad ever since...that is, until I finally saw the film.
I promised my son that I would buy the Blu-Ray movie and we'd watch it as soon as we get it, and he was content with that.


Background on Parts 1 & 2

Well, in my opinion this film was built around the word "clause" in the title, just as the first two installments were. In part one, Scott Calvin (Tim Allen) was forced into becoming Santa Claus because he put on Santa's red coat. There was a card in the jacket that clearly reads (with the aid of a microscope) that whoever puts on the jacket is agreeing to the "clause" to become the new Santa Claus in case something terrible happens to the old Santa.

In part two, the clause had more to it than what was read in part one. Now, after a year of being Santa, there must be a Mrs. Claus or else the old contract is null and void. Both of these movies were very enjoyable to both young and old, and probably will be for the years to come.


The Plot

In this installment, we learn of another clause called "the escape clause". Santa and the elves have a secret room at the North Pole filled with personalized snow globes. Santa's snow globe is located in the center of the room and sits on a pedestal (as opposed to the thousands floating around the room). If Santa holds the snow globe in his hand and says aloud, "I wish I was never Santa Claus - at all" then time will travel him back to the day he put on the red jacket and he would then choose not to wear the jacket.

At the North Pole, there are scheduled meetings of 'The Legends' which consists of Mother Nature, Father Time, The Sand Man, The Easter Bunny, The Tooth Fairy, Cupid and Jack Frost, as well as Santa. At this last meeting, bad-boy Jack Frost (Martin Short) is being reprimanded for his bad behavior. They seek to remove his status of legend, but he pleads a deal with Santa to hang around him and the elves in the North Pole for this Christmas Season in order to learn good behavior and restraint.

Santa agrees to the deal, and while left on his own with the Elves - Jack Frost discovers the deal with The Escape Clause and seeks out to trick Santa Claus. His plan is to ruin all progress with the toy making, the printing of the naughty & nice list and the baking. Since Santa's in-laws are in town, Jack Frost also seems to cause fights within that already fragile relationship. The problems with the North Pole and family fights actually trick Santa into saying he wishes he was never Santa Claus. Jack Frost puts on the jacket and becomes the new Santa Claus - and Christmas is drastically changed from what we know as the passed twelve years that Scott Calvin was Santa were erased and Jack Frost sat in office.

The end result of course is 'how will Santa get out of this one?'


Analysis

The trailers represented the movie in a different light than the actual result. I expected to see a good chunk of the movie with Jack Frost as Santa Claus than the ten minutes that ended up in the movie. It was quite harrowing to watch Jack Frost causing trouble with the elves and the progress of Christmas, as it seemed to go on endlessly. All of the problems seemed to get solved anyway before Santa was so easily tricked into holding his own snow globe and stating aloud that he wishes he never became Santa.

My main problem with the movie is that it took over an hour to get to this point and the film's only 98 minutes long (including credits). I usually love Martin Short's comedy, and despite the fact that he was given lots of time on screen he wasn't funny and seemed confined to the limits of the script for the most part. I could sense no improvisation which is where he is at his funniest.

I thought the inclusion of the Legends was a waste; there is a lot of potential to use these characters. One character was used, the Sandman with very funny results thanks mostly to Alan Arkin. The late Peter Boyle was Father Time, and he only had about three lines, talk about a waste of a good thing. Judge Reinhold was back, but his performance was also disappointing. When he arrives at the North Pole you can see him looking all around at the amazing sites, the only problem is that he was looking at the sky and not the fantastic looking buildings and scenery. He made it dreadfully obvious he was working with a blue screen instead of a dressed up set.

The film felt rushed, and I'm surprised it got passed the testing audience. It definitely could have benefited from some more fleshing out, actually that's all it really needed. I wish I could say that it was good enough, but it really comes up short because of the reasons I gave above. I gave the film two stars instead of one, because whenever Alan Arkin was on screen he made me laugh. Also, Tim Allen was pleasant at best.


The Blu-Ray Difference

The Blu-Ray's extra features include all the ones that you'd find on the DVD issue, and with a few more. One feature is here to purely show off your equipment. There are some select scenes chosen from the movie that excel in the audio and video categories. Depending on your home theater set-up it can really show a good argument for upgrading to Blu-Ray.

My favorite Blu feature is where you can decorate your own virtual living room with a Christmas theme of your choice. You trim the tree with a selection of about twenty ornaments and place them wherever you wish on the tree. You can adorn the window with garland or some other Christmas themed article. On the fireplace, you can hang a number of stockings and write the names of your family on each stocking. To top it off you can pick up top ten different Christmas songs and let them play. Actually this feature is almost worth the price of the blu-ray alone.


Viewing Format: Blu-Ray