Though the result may be so much cinematic cotton candy, the process of making THE SANTA CLAUS II was anything but all sweetness and light for its star Tim Allen. Playing both Santa and his evil toy double required extensive prosthetic makeup that took hours to apply and didn’t last all that long under the hot lights on set. The shoot also involved hundreds of children dressed as elves for the North Pole sequences and my first question when talking with the Allen and SCII’s director, Michael Lembeck on October 11, 2002, was about the pleasures and perils of working with so many kids.
You have to admire the folks behind THE SANTA CLAUSE II. In this sequel-happy world, they didnt rush right out to cash in on the success of the original. Instead, they waited eight whole years for a good premise before venturing back, and when you consider that in kids years thats a whole generation, it was a gutsy move. And one that paid off. SC2 is a lovely bit of holiday cheer that will warm the appropriate cockles of everyones heart.
Michael Lembeck, in his feature film directorial debut, takes the best of his television sit-com experience to pace the action for maximum laughs and heartstring-tugging. The art direction that creates a Currier and Ives Christmas village at the North Pole is spot-on perfect for promoting holiday cheer.
THE SANTA CLAUS 2 may not rank up there with A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS, but it has some real imagination. It also grapples nicely with real-life issues like balancing work and family, and it captures that wistful longing we have to relive that special magic we felt about the holidays when we were kids. The film co-stars Elizabeth Mitchell, Judge Reinhold, Spencer Breslin, and David Krumholtz. Lembeck directed from a script by Don Rhymer Cinco Paul Ken Daurio Ed Decter, and John J. Strauss.
Your Thoughts?