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Review: 'Santa Clause 2' pleasant confectionNothing special, but delivers the goods
By Paul Clinton
(CNN) -- Movie sequels may be like comfort food to movie studios, but -- more often than not -- they're iffy projects at best. A comedy sequel is even iffier, but in "Santa Clause 2," Tim Allen delivers an utterly charming comedic confection. Once again, Allen's character Scott Calvin is the big man in the red suit living up at the North Pole. The film's opening is a bit shaky, but once Allen takes the front-and-center position in the story, things begin to gel. Calvin, it seems, has trouble on two fronts. His son, Charlie (Eric Lloyd, also returning from the first film) is at loose ends trying to deal with the fact that his father is Santa Claus. He acts out at school, is busted by his high school principal, Carol Newman (Elizabeth Mitchell), and ends up on Santa's "naughty" list. But even closer to home -- at the North Pole -- is the fact that Calvin's Santa contract has another clause. It's the "Mrs." Clause. It seems that unless Santa is married by midnight on Christmas Eve, he will lose all his magical powers. Things going wrongSanta now has to be in two places at the same time. He needs to go home to help his son and find a wife. He also has to prepare for Christmas at the North Pole. To the rescue comes one of his elves, who has invented a duplicating machine. They proceed to make a plastic Santa that will take his place at the North Pole, while Calvin goes back to his former life.
Of course everything and anything that can go wrong goes wrong. The plastic Santa turns into an evil dictator who wants to ruin Christmas, and his son proves to be a tougher project than expected. Also the wife thing is a wee bit problematic too. Thank goodness there's a good-looking high school principal involved in the plot. John Pasquin directed the original "Clause," but this time out it's TV comedy veteran Michael Lembeck ("Mad About You" and "Everyone Loves Raymond") in charge, making his feature film directing debut. He hasn't reinvented the wheel here. Mostly he just stays out of the way, and lets the jokes flow, aided by Allen's impeccable timing. Holiday diversionAllen, no matter how far you stretch your imagination, is not a great actor. But he is a great comic and is wonderful at being Tim Allen. He's perfectly suited, and suited up, for this role. The scenery, props, and costumes are all way over the top. But the film has no pretensions other then being exactly what it is: a sweet, slickly manufactured tale for the whole family, a holiday diversion cut to fit everyone from 6 to 60. Will Charlie get on the "nice" list? Will Santa find a wife? Will the evil Santa succeed? Will Christmas be saved? Well, what do you think? Well, dramatic surprise isn't "The Santa Clause 2's" strong suit, but the rest of the costume fits quite comfortably. "The Santa Clause 2" opens nationwide on Friday.
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