Shake that snowglobe and peer back nearly 30 years, to when Tim Allen first found Father Christmas fallen from a roof in The Santa Clause. His toy salesman character Scott Calvin had to step up to the plate of the sleigh back then, but the passing of time has been cruel. Now it’s the elderly Scott who has slipped from the roof, his magic waning. The perfect Christmases of millions is immediately at risk.
This time, thankfully, our Santa Clause is revived. But retirement surely beckons. Something, possibly, this franchise should consider too – but not before a run of six 30-minute episodes on Disney+ considering the role of Santa in the age of Amazon Prime deliveries.
Actually, the writing in the first two episodes is probably the best it’s been since the original film. It’s not laugh out loud funny at any stage – this is sentimental family comedy, after all – but there are some really nice nods to 21st century life.
So a Jeff Bezos-style character, Simon Choksi (Kal Penn) is an unbeliever, unable to understand who’s responsible for the missing 17% of market share for Christmas deliveries. Twenty-eight years into his career Santa Scott (who Tim Allen joyfully inhabits, particularly when he’s forced to get out of shape to remain convincing) is troubled by the ever diminishing delivery list too, particularly when he alights at an old-favourite stop only to find they’ve grown up. There’s a mournful moment where Santa considers that people might, in these Bad Times, be disconnected, lacking in magic, belief.
Of course, these nuances never last long and are swiftly replaced by moments of slapstick, action and actual magic – in The Santa Clauses we finally solve the twin mysteries of both how Santa gets round to everyone across the world on one night and manages to visit children who don’t have chimneys. A huge relief round this reviewer’s way, that’s for sure.
And so by the end of these first two tightly delivered episodes we’re up and ready to find out whom among his family might want take over Santa duties – particularly when his eldest son isn’t entirely convinced that he wants to uproot his brood to the freezing North Pole. We can but hope that someone’s ready by December 24th, of course. Believe…
The first two episodes of The Santa Clauses are out on Wednesday
