YMMV / The Santa Clause

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • A fan theory for the films is that Scott's boss in the first movie and Father Time from the sequels (both of whom were played by the late Peter Boyle) are actually the same person, and that Time secretly manipulated events from behind the scenes during the first film to help Scott embrace his destiny since he knew he would go on to become the best Santa of all time.
  • By the time Scott and Charlie get to the North Pole, there's absolutely no hint that there was ever a Mrs. Claus, to begin with, even though the second film establishes that Santa needs to get married or he'll stop being Santa. Maybe the previous Missus left her Santa, and he decided to pass the torch before the "desantafication process" had begun, so to speak.
  • The sequel series reveals that all of the Santa Clauses (including the Mrs. Clause) were created specifically for Scott and his family- heavily implying that Carol was in fact the very first Mrs. Claus.
• Aluminum Christmas Trees:
  • 1-800-SPANK-ME, the phone number Scott invents for Neal's mother, was a real number in the mid-90s. It got Disney in a heap of trouble when curious kids racked up huge phone bills for their parents. The scene was edited out starting with the first DVD release.
  • Denny's being out of various items like eggnog, chocolate milk and apple pie was relatable for 90s kids who grew up eating there regularly. The joke was that Denny's menu was so vast that the restaurants would run out of certain items on a regional basis. Scott's line about Denny's being "always open" was also a crack against why the restaurants were understocked, being open 24 hours a day.
• Angst? What Angst?: None of the elves seem to care that the previous Santa died when Scott takes over.
  • Fridge Brilliance: The previous Santa gave a little wave to Scott right before disappearing, and the Santa Clause says that he who puts on the suit must do the job until no longer able to, "by accident or design." Perhaps that Santa was ready to pass the job on, and gave the elves plenty of advance notice that he intended to go out with a bang and that someone else would be returning from his flight that year (or maybe that little wave meant "I'm done for. Good luck, new guy.") Any angst the elves felt would already have been worked out by the time Scott showed up at the North Pole.
  • The sequel series confirms that the previous Santa did in fact plan the whole thing, as he meant for Scott to take over for him. He had let the elves in on it well in advance which was why they seemed to just roll with it when Scott showed up.
• Awesome Music: Michael Covertino's score for the first film manages to be wintry, sweet, and adventurous, all at once, and is written in the style of classic holiday films. The lush orchestral swells in "Visitation", "Let's Go", "Away To The Window", "Listen", "Believing Is Seeing", "Comfort And Joy", and "Not Over Any Oceans" are especially beautiful.
  • "Greatest Time Of Year" by Aly & A.J. was prominently used in the 3rd film, and is very fondly remembered outside its context by the Disney Channel generation.
• Crosses the Line Twice: The very premise of the first film, in which Santa Claus falls off some random guy's roof and ultimately meets his demise, right in front of a child who had just got done second-guessing his very existence! The whole scenario is so absurd that it comes back to being funny, to the point where "Tim Allen kills Santa" is often used by fans as a tongue in cheek way of describing the movie.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Bernard the Head Elf is a very popular character for being a Deadpan Snarker who gets easily annoyed by everyone else's antics. His absence from 3 is considered one of the major reasons it suffered. He's brought back for the series, much to the delight of many fans.
• Estrogen Brigade: While the film is mostly aimed at young boys, it has a fairly large fanbase of females due to David Krumholtz as Bernard the Elf, with his good looks and Deadpan Snarker personality making him the childhood crush of many 90s girls.
• Even Better Sequel: The Santa Clause 2 is this for some, including Roger Ebert.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • The Charlie Sheen quote from the second movie, where Scott believes that he "straightened out", can be hard to watch knowing what Sheen has been up to since.^note Let's just say all the naughty things Charlie Calvin did in that movie were far tamer in comparison to the drug-related problems Charlie Sheen has.
  • A featurette on The Santa Clause 2 DVD is hosted by Spencer Breslin, in character as Curtis, who continually remarks how much contempt he and Bernard have for each other. He even claims he feels Bernard is worried because he knows it's only a matter of time before Curtis takes over his job as Head Elf. Bernard is ultimately a no-show in 3 due to his actor's contractual obligations working on NUMB3RS, with Curtis indeed replacing him as Head Elf.
  • In the original movie, Charlie wants to follow his father into the family business. In The Santa Clauses Scott wants to train Charlie to take his place as Santa but Charlie's no longer interested.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Scott takes Charlie to Denny's where aside from a Japanese party, only a few single fathers are seen eating with their children. By The New '10s, eating out at Denny's or Applebee's on Christmas Eve isn't that unheard of as many chain restaurants are open and have holiday-themed specials.
  • The events that led to Scott becoming Santa Claus became this after The Santa Clauses reveals the Santa that fell off Scott's roof planned the entire thing and didn't actually die.
• Jerkass Woobie: Neal in the first movie. He and Scott constantly butt heads over Charlie's well-being, and he doesn't particularly approve of anything related to Santa. Considering he stopped believing at the age of three, who can blame him?
• Memetic Mutation:
  • It is now pretty much customary online to refer to the third film not by its actual title but instead as "Tim Allen and Martin Short get Mad $$$$$$ for Christmas".
  • Also related to the third film is editing the cover to reference Dante and Vergil from Devil May Cry, due to the Red vs Blue theming, the way Jack Frost's ice hair resembles Vergil's slick-back silver hair, and how Dante has an aged appearance and a growing beard in Devil May Cry 5.
  • The scene in the first movie where Scott's hair and beard instantly turn white and grow back again right after he's shaved and dyed his hair is regularly used as a reaction GIF when people realize they're getting older.
• Narm: Jack Frost's defeat in the third movie. Lucy gives him a hug. A magical hug. 'Cause, she's "warming his heart." And he says "They said it could never be done!" Who's they? Shoots the moon and bounces right to Narm Charm for some. Lucy's just so sweet, and the scene fits with the franchise's "the belief of children is powerful" Central Theme.
• Pop-Cultural Osmosis: The title of the film is a pun on the titular contractual clause associated with Santa. However, since a lot of kids watching didn't quite understand the reference, many just assumed that "Santa Clause" was the proper spelling. As such, many younger English speakers are still confused about whether "Claus" or "Clause" is proper to this day.
• Replacement Scrappy: Curtis in 3. Not exactly hated, but the general feeling is that he's no Bernard, who was a fairly popular character due to his Deadpan Snarker tendencies whereas Curtis took the job way too seriously at times. The fact that he let slip to Jack Frost the method with which he'd take over the North Pole just because Frost prodded his ego a bit didn't help at all.
• Retroactive Recognition: Liliana Mumy, who plays Lucy in the second and third films is Leni Loud from The Loud House.
  • Joyce Guy, who briefly plays Charlie's Principal in the first film, is now better known for her recurring role of Phyllis on General Hospital.
• Sequelitis: One reviewer put it best when he said Tim Allen "did the first one with enthusiasm, the second one with affection, and the third one for a paycheck." Tim's heart obviously isn't in it come 3, and he's upstaged completely by Martin Short. It also didn't help that in 3 one well-liked character was Demoted to Extra (Charlie) and another disappeared entirely with no passing mention (Bernard). This trilogy's Rotten Tomatoes pages even provide the page image. Tim Allen would later admit that he wasn't satisfied with how the film turned out.
• Special Effect Failure: The reindeer in the first film, as well as the elves' pointy ears. CG has come a long way since 1994.
• Strawman Has a Point: Laura and Neal are not wrong to be concerned about what they perceive to be Scott's erratic behavior. In real life, if someone began acting like Scott, they would want to get him as far away from Charlie as humanly possible.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: The third movie's sequence where Scott never became Santa takes up far less screen time than one would think. Details about how things are worse for his family (such as Neal and Laura's break-up) are glossed over. Carol doesn't even appear during this sequence.
• Values Dissonance: In the first film, Scott remarks that "Denny's is an American institution!", before a jump cut to the group of Japanese businessmen eating inside, intended to come off as ironic. This scene has been cut from some TV broadcasts since at least The New '10s, probably because the joke comes off as a bit racist even by mid-90s standards.