I'm surprised I hadn't seen The Santa Clause till now.

Story 

The Santa Clause follows Scott Calvin who must become the new Santa after the previous one fell off his roof. 

One thing I love about movies like this is that it really manages to capture the magic and spirit of Christmas. It's also very unique. I don't know that I have seen this premise before. 

Acting 

I can bet good money that this movie would not have been this funny if Tim Allen wasn't in it. There is something inherently hilarious about taking a sarcastic toy salesman and making him Santa. And Tim Allen's snarky and sometimes deadpan delivery and comedic timing really work in this movie's favour. 

While Tim Allen's performance is the backbone of the movie, the child actors stole the show! Eric Lloyd who plays Charlie (Scott's son) is adorable in this movie and hilarious which makes him even more fun to watch. There is also a duality to his performance as you see the relationship between his character and Tim Allen's character grow and change throughout the film. Their chemistry is really what seels the film and gives it emotional weight. I also have to shout out the actors who played the elves.

The rest of the supporting characters anchor the story really well. And by that, they add character. You have Wendy Crewson and Judge Reinhold who play Laura Miller (Charlie mother) and Neal Miller (Charlie step-father) respectively and they serve as audience proxies who are aware of the ridiculous of the situation and try to harken you back to reality. 

Writing/Direction 

It's rare that I don't have much to say about the writing/direction but this is one of those times. And that is not to say that I think it's bad, quite the opposite. The director John Pasquin and writers Leo Benvenuti and Steve Rudnick created a film and world that is entertaining and interesting enough to visit more than once. 

CGI/Set Design 

I'm not going to harp on the CGI too much considering the fact that this movie is older than I am. While the CGI is noticeable by today's standards, it holds up considerably well and actually makes the movie funnier because it's used to answer two age-old questions, "How does Sants fit into the chimney?" and "How does Santa get into the houses of people who don't have chimneys?" to quite frankly hilarious effect. 

Score/Soundtrack 

I really liked the score and sound design in this movie. What stood out to me the most is how it changes throughout the movie the way the characters do. You have a pretty "typical" score at the beginning of the movie, but as the movie goes on and Scott transforms into Santa, the score changes as well. It slowly becomes more cheerful and Christmas-y. It's details like that, that stand out to me and endear me to whatever it is I am watching. I also have to say that the scene where Scott's heart is beating in tune Jingle Bells made me laugh out loud. I think it was brilliant.

Overall Thoughts

Every year, I hear people talk about this movie, so much so that I was 100% sure that is had seen it, but alas, I was wrong. I even turned around and asked my brother if we had seen this movie and he confirmed that we had not.

I said all that to say that this movie is a Christmas staple and for good reason. It's so cute and also really funny and heart-warming. It made me smile and I legit felt more Christmas-y after I watched it than before.