THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2002
FILM
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 7
'Santa' sequel looks like Christmas on acid
Hide the kids and break out the drugs it's a live-action head-trip from the Disney folks.
Stephen Shupe
sshupe@kansan.com
As a companion piece to this summer's The Country Bears, Tim Allen's The Santa Clause 2 is a garish freak of nature. Flatulent reindeer, blow-up dolls prancing around like toy soldiers and a tooth fairy named Roy keep the proceedings permanently demented.
What, you may ask, is this critic smoking? After all, this is a kids' movie, and surely this sequel to 1994's The Santa Clause has no place alongside other films enhanced by hallucinogenic drugs (Pink Floyd: The Wall, Vanilla Sky). Maybe not, but I'd bet at least a few of Allen's multitude of screenwriters were on something when they wrote this cinematic sleigh crash.
I've seen a stallion head hacked off in The Godfather, an insectivorous typewriter in Naked Lunch and an army of maggots transformed into writhing nudists in The Ring, but none can match the horror of Santa's workshop in Clause 2. An art-deco nightmare with cathedral windows and translucent toy chutes, the North Pole abode looks primed for broadcast on MTV's architectural hall-of-shape,
'THE SANTA CLAUSE 2' $ \star $ (OUT OF FOUR)
Starring Tim Allen, Elizabeth Mitchell and Eric Lloyd Rated G Playing at South Wind 12,3433 Iowa St.
the ever-popular Cribs.
At the workshop, Santa (Allen) and his elves busy themselves day and night with meeting the seasonal toy quota. The long hours would seem to violate a few dozen child-labor laws, given that all the little helpers are in the 12-and-under range, but Santa's too preoccupied for such legalities.
He's got to get married by Christmas
Eve, before he loses his gift-giving mojo. As a solution, he makes a toy replica of himself, hops on Comet's back and flies off to the States to find a missis.
The toy Santa, looking like the rotund twin of Buddy Christ from Dogma, is left behind to run the shop. Forgoing the traditional Santa-suit red for black fascist regalia, this synthetic St. Nick continues the Mouse House's predilection for pumping as much propaganda as possible into its product.
Clause 2 would also have us believe children should put holiday values ahead of their schoolwork, presumably so their parents — no matter how battered they are by the slumming economy— can purchase an infinite amount of Yuletide merchandise.
The real Santa, meanwhile, reunites with his troubled son Charlie (Eric Lloyd) and melts the heart of the boy's icy school principal, played by Elizabeth Mitchell. Lloyd gives the whiniest teen performance of the year (you're off the hook, Hayden Christensen), and Mitchell relies so heavily on acting tics that she effectively destroys Allen's more sincere efforts. It all ends up being about as heartwarming as a
Contributed art
Tim Allen stars as Santa Claus in "The Santa Clause 2," Disney's sequel to its 1994 movie "The Santa Clause." In the newest installment, Santa has to find a wife or risk losing his status as the jolly St. Nick.
suicidal Santa on Christmas morning.
There's a lot to like about David Krumholtz and Spencer Breslin as Santa's No.1 and No.2 and George S. Clinton's fanciful score goes a long way toward conjuring sentiment for the film out of thin air. The rest feels so corporate it's scary. Don't let that rating fool you -The Santa Clause 2 has been rated G for Greed, not General Audiences.
Disney was right to release the film closer to Thanksgiving than Christmas, because boy is it a turkey.