The movie received mixed reviews, with a good portion of the negative reviews trying to compare it to the original. I don't understand the complaints about the sequel; I mean ALL the main characters (and the actors who played them) are back in this movie, and the film added a bunch of great secondary characters. Scott Calvin accepted his role of Santa by the end of the first movie, so obviously the next logical step would be for him to find a Mrs. Claus. I try not to take the complaints about this movie too seriously, this is a wonderful sequel which expands upon the story. Considering the fact it took 8 years from the release of the original movie to make the sequel, I'm honestly surprised that this movie managed to get the original cast back; but I guess that still wasn't good enough for some people.
Anyways, moving on to the movie itself. The film starts with a shot of a plane flying over the North Pole and picking up noise (the sound of tiny hammers). Santa and the elves have to put a temporary stop to their work so as to not be discovered. It's a minor scene, but it does introduce us to Curtis, second elf in command (behind Bernard), and third in charge behind Santa. Bernard and Curtis have the unpleasant task of informing Santa that his son, Charlie, is on the naughty list. In addition to that, they also inform Santa that if he doesn't find a Mrs. Claus by midnight on Christmas eve, he will cease to be Santa forever and there will be no more Christmas. Caught between two problems, Curtis tries to help Santa out by replicating him in a machine he's built. Curtis' idea is to have the duplicate Santa watch over the shop at the North Pole so production doesn't slow down, while the real Santa goes back home to deal with Charlie and finding a wife.
Once back home, Scott reveals to his ex-wife (Laura) and her husband, Neil, his situation of needing to find a wife or no longer being able to be Santa Claus. Laura and Neil try to help set Scott up on some dates which go absolutely terrible. In the meantime, Scott discovers that Charlie is on the naughty list because he's been spray painting graffiti around the school. The graffiti Charlie is spray painting is Christmas related, in response to his Principal's lack of Christmas spirit and decorations around the school. Scott tries to enlighten the Principal, Carol Newman, as to why Charlie is doing these things, and suggests that maybe she could try putting up some decorations around the school. After repeated incidents, Charlie gets sentenced by Principal Newman to do community service work cleaning up graffiti in the community; and because of his repeated attempts to defend Charlie's actions, Scott gets sentenced to be Principal Newman's parental supervisor during the graffiti clean-up. Of course, Scott and Carol actually hit it off and end up getting along with each other - setting up the love story aspect of the film.
With Scott gone, duplicate Santa starts to become more trouble than anybody expected. He becomes extremely tyrannical, and wants every rule of the Santa handbook followed exactly as it's written; and he wants to give all of the children around the world coal instead of toys. He makes an army of tin soldiers to help him carry out his deeds and to make sure the elves get in line with his rules; he even has Bernard locked up for questioning his actions. Horrified by the monster he helped to create, Curtis sneaks off to visit Scott and tell him about what's going on back at the North Pole. On top of Charlie's troubles and needing to find a wife, Scott must now deal with the issue of evil Santa.
As always, I won't ruin the movie for those who haven't seen it, but I'm sure you can guess how it turns out. I enjoyed this movie a great deal; and, as I've already said, I thought this film did a good job of continuing the story of the original. Overall, I would give this movie 4 out of 5.
Anyways, moving on to the movie itself. The film starts with a shot of a plane flying over the North Pole and picking up noise (the sound of tiny hammers). Santa and the elves have to put a temporary stop to their work so as to not be discovered. It's a minor scene, but it does introduce us to Curtis, second elf in command (behind Bernard), and third in charge behind Santa. Bernard and Curtis have the unpleasant task of informing Santa that his son, Charlie, is on the naughty list. In addition to that, they also inform Santa that if he doesn't find a Mrs. Claus by midnight on Christmas eve, he will cease to be Santa forever and there will be no more Christmas. Caught between two problems, Curtis tries to help Santa out by replicating him in a machine he's built. Curtis' idea is to have the duplicate Santa watch over the shop at the North Pole so production doesn't slow down, while the real Santa goes back home to deal with Charlie and finding a wife.
Once back home, Scott reveals to his ex-wife (Laura) and her husband, Neil, his situation of needing to find a wife or no longer being able to be Santa Claus. Laura and Neil try to help set Scott up on some dates which go absolutely terrible. In the meantime, Scott discovers that Charlie is on the naughty list because he's been spray painting graffiti around the school. The graffiti Charlie is spray painting is Christmas related, in response to his Principal's lack of Christmas spirit and decorations around the school. Scott tries to enlighten the Principal, Carol Newman, as to why Charlie is doing these things, and suggests that maybe she could try putting up some decorations around the school. After repeated incidents, Charlie gets sentenced by Principal Newman to do community service work cleaning up graffiti in the community; and because of his repeated attempts to defend Charlie's actions, Scott gets sentenced to be Principal Newman's parental supervisor during the graffiti clean-up. Of course, Scott and Carol actually hit it off and end up getting along with each other - setting up the love story aspect of the film.
With Scott gone, duplicate Santa starts to become more trouble than anybody expected. He becomes extremely tyrannical, and wants every rule of the Santa handbook followed exactly as it's written; and he wants to give all of the children around the world coal instead of toys. He makes an army of tin soldiers to help him carry out his deeds and to make sure the elves get in line with his rules; he even has Bernard locked up for questioning his actions. Horrified by the monster he helped to create, Curtis sneaks off to visit Scott and tell him about what's going on back at the North Pole. On top of Charlie's troubles and needing to find a wife, Scott must now deal with the issue of evil Santa.
As always, I won't ruin the movie for those who haven't seen it, but I'm sure you can guess how it turns out. I enjoyed this movie a great deal; and, as I've already said, I thought this film did a good job of continuing the story of the original. Overall, I would give this movie 4 out of 5.
Other titles you might like:
No comments:
Post a Comment