Even with a few plot inconsistencies (Such as why the elves never knew of the ‘Mrs. Claus’ before now, and how Scott and Carol fall so quickly in love … shades of Beauty and the Beast!), the sequel, under the deft direction of former Kaptain Kool and One Day At A Time actor Michael Lembeck, outshines the original by focusing on something, unlike the first film, that all Santa stories should have, and also that the best Disney movies possess: magic. When Scott and Carol take an evening sleigh ride through a tree-lined neighborhood, under a veil of twinkling lights, you’ll not only feel the crisp chill in the air, but the warmth in their characters’ hearts.

It’s such holiday spirit-inducing moments as these that make opening this Christmas present a little early all the more satisfying and welcome.

The Santa Clause Special Edition DVD Bonus Features:

• So You Wanna Be An Elf? Featurette: Bernard trains a new class of elf cadets, on their way to becoming not just toy-makers, but ‘dream merchants’. This brief featurette also includes some behind-the-scenes footage of the making of the film.
• Santa’s Helper DVD Game: Your task is to help Santa and his reindeer deliver presents by maneuvering his sleigh to dodge low flying ducks and high buildings, as well as answer trivia questions from the movie. Frustrating at first, for you have to start over from the beginning each time you crash the sleigh, but ultimately worthwhile, for the present you receive upon successfully completing the game is the 1933 Silly Symphony holiday classic, The Night Before Christmas.
• Making Santa Snacks with Wolfgang Featurette: That’s Wolfgang, as in Wolfgang Puck. Santa’s elves join the celebrity chef in making his world-famous pizza, more traditional holiday-themed fare such as Christmas cookies and Santa’s favorite cocoa, and also to hawk his latest cookbook. And if you can’t understand his accent, printed text recipes are also available.
• DVD-ROM Features: Insert the disc into your computer’s DVD-ROM drive to access internet links to The Santa Clause 2 website, where you can write a letter to Santa and download a 25 Days Till Christmas countdown screen saver.

    The Santa Clause Special Edition DVD: C+
    The Santa Clause 2: B+

Toon Talk Trivia:

• Tim Allen is the only person in entertainment history to have the number one movie (The Santa Clause), the number one television show (Home Improvement) and the number one book (Don’t Stand To Close to a Naked Man) all in the same week. He was also, of course, the voice of Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story, Toy Story 2 and the video Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, and was named a Disney Legend in 1999.
• Santa Clause director John Pasquin also directed Allen in Jungle 2 Jungle and Home Improvement. He has a cameo in the movie as ‘Santa #6’.
• Eric Lloyd (Charlie) also voiced Blanky in the Brave Little Toaster series.
• Allen, Lloyd. Judge Reinhold (Neil), Wendy Crewson (Laura) and David Krumholtz (Bernard) all reprise their Santa Clause roles in the sequel. In addition to screenwriters Leo Benvenuti and Steve Rudnick, Peter Boyle also returned, but in a different role: in the first film, Boyle played Scott’s boss Mr. Whittle; in The Santa Clause 2 he plays Father Time.
• Working titles for the sequel included The Mrs. Clause and The Escape Clause.
• New Clause cast member Spencer Breslin (Curtis) made his film debut in Disney’s The Kid as the younger version of Bruce Willis, and can also be heard as the voice of Cubby in Return to Neverland and Captain Crandall in Teamo Supremo.
• Kevin Pollak, who plays Cupid, also stars as Spindlok in the film portion of the Alien Encounter attraction at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World.
• Best known as the Klingon Worf in the Star Trek series, Michael Dorn appears as the Sandman. He has also lent is voice to several characters in the Disney television series’ Dinosaurs, Hercules, Gargoyles and Aladdin.

Coming Soon in Toon Talk:

• Belle and the Beast continue the holiday festivities with a DVD special edition of Beauty and the Beast: An Enchanted Christmas, available November 12^th.
• Treasure Planet, Disney’s 42^nd animated feature film, premieres in both regular theaters and on IMAX/Large Screen venues on November 27^th.
• Christmas comes early, on December 3^rd to be exact, for Disney Home Video fans: the DVD debut of Lilo and Stitch and the ‘second wave’ of Walt Disney Treasure DVDs (Mickey Mouse in Black and White, The Complete Goofy and Behind the Scenes at the Disney Studios) all go on sale.

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-- Kirby C. Holt

Kirby, a former Walt Disney World Resort Cast Member (and Trivia Champ), is a lifelong Disney fan and film buff. He is also an avid list maker and chronic ellipsis user ...

Took Talk: Disney Film & Video Reviews by Kirby C. Holt is posted whenever there's something new to review.

The opinions expressed by our Kirby C. Holt, and all of our columnists, do not necessarily represent the feelings of LaughingPlace.com or any of its employees or advertisers. All speculation and rumors about the future plans of the Walt Disney Company are just that - speculation and rumors - and should be treated as such.

-- Posted November 5, 2002