Film / The Santa Clause

The movie the North Pole doesn't want you to see.

"In putting on the suit and entering the sleigh, the wearer waives any and all rights to any previous identity, real or implied, and fully accepts the duties and responsibilities of Santa Claus in perpetuity until such time that wearer becomes unable to do so by either accident or design."

— The stipulations of the titular clause

The Santa Clause released in 1994 is a Christmas film directed by John Pasquin. It is the first film in the The Santa Clause series.

It’s about a businessman named Scott Calvin (Tim Allen) who’s divorced and cynical, and his ex-wife Laura (Wendy Crewson) doesn't want him to have much contact with his son, Charlie (Eric Lloyd). One fateful Christmas Eve, he startles a man who he believes is a burglar on his roof. The man falls off into the snow of their front yard, then vanishes, leaving his clothing behind- and a sleigh of flying reindeer on the roof. Scott, at Charlie's insistence, puts on the guy's red Santa coat and spends the night delivering gifts before being taken back to the North Pole, where he discovers that he inadvertently invoked a magical contract and must now take on the role of Santa permanently, being given until Thanksgiving to set his affairs in order. He tries to blow this off as a wild dream and returns to his life, but before he knows it, he finds himself craving cocoa with marshmallows and Christmas cookies, puts on weight at an alarming rate, and finds his hair whitening and a beard that grows back in five seconds. His ex thinks that he's gone crazy and tries to win sole custody of their son, and Scott has to attempt to both repair his damaged family relationships and keep Christmas going.

The film also stars Judge Reinhold as Neil Miller, David Krumholtz as Bernard and Peter Boyle as Mr. Whittle.

The Santa Clause provides examples of:

• Accidental Misnaming: Scott's first attempt at saying Bernard's name consists of only repeating the first syllable, then calling him "Barabas" before setting on "Barnaby".
• Actor Allusion:
  • Scott repeatedly grunts "Oh no!"
  • When Scott is first touring the North Pole, he picks up a tool belt and holds it to his waist.
  • When Scott reluctantly agrees to put on Santa's clothes, there's a Stealth Pun where he says the name of his character's last name on Home Improvement:
    Scott: Well I hope you're happy, Comet. I hope you're happy. But most importantly, I hope the guy that lives here IS A TAILOR!
• Alternative Foreign Theme Song: International versions use "Jingle Bells" by Yello as the end credits song instead of "Christmas Will Return".
• And a Diet Coke: Structurally inverted in the board meeting, where Scott orders an extremely light entrée of an undressed salad, then appends several desserts. Even better, look closely and you'll notice the salad laying untouched after Scott is finished eating all the sweets.
• Ask a Stupid Question...: Neal receives two of these when trying to ask Scott how he and Charlie spent Christmas Eve.
  Neal: Scott, what was the last thing you and Charlie did before you went to bed Christmas Eve?
  Scott: We shared a bowl of sugar, did some shots of brown liquor, played with my shotguns, field-dressed a cat, looked for women... (earnestly) I read him a book!
  Neal: Which book?
  Scott: Uh, Hollywood Wives. (Beat) The Night Before Christmas, folks. Come on!
• Award-Bait Song: "Christmas Will Return" by Brenda Russel & Howard Hewett.
• Bowdlerise:
  • The televised version ends the doctor's office scene early, because the doctor uses his stethoscope, and the camera shows Scott's bare chest.
  • Likewise, Scott muttering that he's "freezing [his] nubs off out here" as he puts on the suit and goes down the first house's chimney is typically changed to him saying that he's freezing his butt off outside in most televised airings of the first film.
• Brick Joke:
  • In the beginning, the first Santa dies after falling off Scott's roof. Later in the film, it seems Scott himself has developed a minor phobia of falling off roofs.
  • On one of his first visits, Scott sarcastically tells a little girl that he's lactose intolerant after she tells him to have the milk and cookies. A year later, he visits the same girl and she has put out soy milk for him.
  • Judy is the name of the waitress who serves Scott and Charlie at Denny's. When Scott first arrives at Santa's workshop, the elf who gives him monogrammed pajamas also goes by Judy.
• But Now I Must Go: Scott leaves Charlie forever because a lot of kids are counting on him and he can't let them down, so Charlie lets him go, even though he will miss him. Before Scott actually leaves though, Bernard tells Charlie he can use his snow globe to summon Scott.
• Butt-Monkey: Scott Calvin tries hard to do the right thing, but life keeps making him look like a fool.
• The Cameo: Jimmy Labriola, who worked with Tim Allen on Home Improvement, has a cameo as a truck driver.
• Cavalier Consumption: Scott spends a board meeting taking his time scooping a sundae dish clean, all to the tune of Think!.
• Consummate Liar: Ties into Scott's cynicism and bitterness, which of course means that no one believes him when he says he's becoming Santa.
• Crappy Holidays: At the beginning, Scott further strains his already tense relationship with Charlie, Laura, and Neal by not being home to receive Charlie, then treating them all less than politely when he does show up. Charlie is concerned that he won't have fun with his father, so he asks if he has to stay with him and requests that his mom pick him up first thing in the morning. Scott ruins his and Charlie's Christmas Eve dinner by burning their turkey, then takes Charlie out to eat. On his second try, he finds a Denny's, but they have to work that way past a crowd in the front room. Scott and Charlie don't get their first choice in anything to eat or drink, and then Santa falls off their roof. It proves to be a pivotal point in their Christmas because although Scott's Subbing for Santa is the first thing he's done to make Charlie happy in a long time, it also leads to a lot more stress for him.
• Description Cut: When Scott pulls into a Denny's, he describes it as "an American institution". When they get in, it's full of Japanese businessmen.
• Domestic Appliance Disaster: Scott Calvin burnt the Christmas turkey to the ashes and has to take his son to a diner. Turn out he's not the only dad to have to do that.
• Donut Mess with a Cop: Elves use one as a gag. Also, when the police go over their plan to trap Santa, one of the landmarks they list is the donut shop.
• Doom Doors: When Charlie encounters the reindeer atop his house, one of them groans with the exact same sound effect that Doom uses as the zombie marines' death sound.
• Dramatic Irony: The audience (along with Charlie and Scott, of course) knows full well that the trip to the North Pole and Scott becoming the new Santa really happened and Scott can't really help the Santa-y things that keep happening to him or that he himself does, but to Laura, Neal, and everyone else, it looks like Charlie is becoming obsessively attached to what sounds like just a crazy dream and Scott is fostering this behavior by acting more like Santa.
• Empty Piles of Clothing: The only thing left of Santa after he vanishes is his Santa suit.
• Food Porn: In one scene, the camera pans across a very appetizing Christmas dinner... and then pulls back to reveal that it's on a TV screen while Scott is busy extinguishing a burning turkey.
• From the Mouths of Babes: Neal's influence on Charlie backfires when Charlie declares that Neal is denying his inner child.
• Gasshole:
  • Comet. When Scott Calvin meets him in the first film (and warns Charlie that the Reindeer might have "Key Lyme Disease"), Comet lets out a rather pungent blast of flatulence. Comet also farts after eating too much chocolate in the second movie, and several times again in the third film.
    Scott: Eat some roughage, will you?
  • The other reindeer seem to have gas issues too, with Scott mentioning in the second film that he doesn't want to take Prancer out because he can't stand when he "eats too many apples".
  • Scott himself ends up getting this during the first stages of his transformation into Santa — when he is getting up out of bed, you can distinctly hear a farting sound.
• Hidden Depths: There are several scenes that show that, underneath his cynicism, Scott really is a good man at heart who deserves the role of Santa. Most of them are centered around his son, but there's a brief line of dialogue where he tells Charlie that he tried making things like the magic snowglobe when he first started working with toys, but no one bought them, with a definite note of sadness in his voice.
• Homemade Sweater from Hell: Neal wears these and is mocked for it by Scott. The Santification process causes this to become Hypocritical Humor as Scott also starts wearing hideous sweaters far worse than anything Neal ever wears.
• How Can Santa Deliver All Those Toys?: Neal tries this with Charlie, pointing out that it's not logical for one man to be able to deliver toys to all the children of the world in one night. Charlie, having been on a Christmas delivery, has a number of counterarguments, such as pointing out that a lot of children don't celebrate Christmas.
• Hide Your Otherness: Scott keeps shaving and dyeing his hair, as he doesn't want to look like Santa, only to have the beard grow back immediately and the hair go back to white.
• I Have Many Names: When arrested, Scott delays his interrogation significantly by supplying a different name for Saint Nicholas each time he is asked for his name. And then Topo Gigio.
• Inconvenient Summons: At the end of the movie, Charlie summons Scott mere minutes after they part.
• Jeopardy! Thinking Music: As Scott eats, his co-workers just watch while this plays.
• Jerkass:
  • Neal is a watered-down one, portraying his logic as a bad thing when it means you shouldn't believe in magic and wonder.
  • Scott Calvin is this up until he transforms into Santa Claus, mainly because of his arrogant and cynical disposition.
• Klingon Promotion: Scott gets the Santa job by accidentally killing his predecessor.
• Last-Second Joke Problem: Scott embraces his role as Santa Claus, fixes his relationship with his son Charlie, and smooths things over with his ex-wife Laura. Things look rosy as he and Charlie take off in the sleigh to deliver presents when suddenly Laura starts worrying about how long they'll be gone. The film ends with her yelling at the top of her lungs while happy music plays in the background.
• Leaving Food for Santa: Early in his tenure as Santa, when he's still refusing to get into the spirit of it, Scott doesn't touch the food. When a small child catches him not drinking the milk she's left out, he tells her it's because he's lactose intolerant. This becomes a Brick Joke when he returns to the house at the end of the film and finds that she's remembered and left him a glass of soy milk instead.
• Let There Be Snow: This happens near the end when a crowd is watching Santa fly off. Next, there's a Match Cut to the snow globe when Charlie uses it.
• Meaningful Background Event: Elves can be seen scattered throughout the movie such as one at the Show and Tell with the latter being the only one who is attentive and doesn't once say anything bad when Charlie is talking about his dad being Santa and a girl who walks by Scott and Charlie in the park (she stops to give Scott a look before walking off).
• Meaningful Name: Scott Calvin happens to have the same initials as Santa Claus.
• Men Can't Keep House: During the Denny's scene, there's a whole section of the restaurant filled with single dads who screwed up Christmas Eve dinner and are trying to make up for it.
• The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body: Scott gradually takes on Santa's traits and kind demeanor.
• Missing Child: Scott and Charlie disappear with no trace around Thanksgiving to work at the North Pole with no warning to Laura or Neal but also no malice or intent to hurt them. However, his mother spends an entire month believing her seemingly mentally ill ex-husband has abducted her son to parts unknown and only briefly hears from him on the phone once.
• Mondegreen Gag: Charlie mishears the line "Arose such a clatter" as "a rose suchak ladder". Humorously, after accidentally knocking Santa off the roof, Scott runs into a ladder from the "Rose Suchak Ladder Company".
• My Friends... and Zoidberg: In order to set a good example for Charlie, Scott pushes himself to be kind to Neal at the end of the movie, referring to him as part of their family.
• My Card: Neal gives his to Scott when the Santa issue reaches a fever pitch.
• No Antagonist: The other characters' reactions to Scott becoming more and more like Santa are borne purely out of their not understanding of what's really happening to him. The police in particular are simply doing their jobs in light of what, in all other respects, looks like a kidnapping when Scott and Charlie vanish together. Laura and Neal even apologize to Charlie once they realize the truth about Scott.
• Not That Kind of Doctor: Inverted; when people refer to Neal as a doctor, Scott sarcastically replies "He's not a doctor, he's a psychiatrist." Psychiatrists actually are medical doctors; it's psychologists who are the Ph.D's.
• Painting the Medium:
  • The movie's poster and everything based on it have the text of the titular clause printed along the edges, just as it is with Santa's business card in the film.
  • Some white sparks change the title from print to cursive, then linger on the E in Clause.
• Peking Duck Christmas: Subverted — after Scott burns the Christmas Eve turkey, he tries to make use of this trope by taking his son to a Japanese restaurant. It's closed, so he takes him to a Denny's instead, which is filled with Japanese businessmen and fellow fathers who burned the turkey.
• Phone Word: The movie got Disney in a little bit of trouble by having Scott sarcastically identify a phone number on a piece of paper as 1-800-SPANK-ME, which turned out to be an actual phone sex hotline.
• Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: "We're your worst nightmare. Elves. With. Attitude."
• Product Placement:
  • Used very effectively. Both Laura and Neal talk about toys they wanted as children that convinced them Santa wasn't real, both actual toys: Mystery Date (1965) is what Laura wants, and an Oscar Mayer Weenie Whistle is what Neal wants. Scott finally delivers them at the end of the movie.
  • At the beginning of the movie, Scott and Charlie eat at Denny's.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Used by the elves at the end of the movie, who declare themselves to be "Elves. With. Attitude."
• Quizzical Tilt: Charlie does one when he sees an elf for the first time and has no idea what said elf is doing. He doesn't realize that he and his father are being let into Santa's Workshop.
• Read the Fine Print: "The Santa Clause: In putting on the suit and entering the sleigh, the wearer waives any and all rights to any previous identity, real or implied, and fully accepts the duties and responsibilities of Santa Claus in perpetuity until such time that wearer becomes unable to do so by either accident or design." Scott needs a magnifying glass to read the clause, which is hidden on the business card.
• Rewatch Bonus: At the start of the movie, a few of the children looking through the store window are elves.
  • The elves were keeping an eye on Scott as far back as his trip to Denny's.
• Running Gag: Neal's ugly sweaters. This culminates when Bernard greatly admires one and wonders if it was produced by the elves.
  • Later in the film Bernard helping himself to Neil's food.
• Santa's Existence Clause: Scott pretends to believe in Santa for Charlie's sake, to the point of trying to explain how the reindeer fly, only to discover it is real. Later, Charlie's mother and stepfather get to discover for themselves that Santa is real.
• Second Episode Morning: Scott tries desperately to dismiss his first night in the North Pole as a dream and hide the Santification process.
• Shout-Out:
  • Scott mentioning the Disney Channel makes the film much easier to market and air on related networks.
  • When Scott Calvin has a smorgasbord of food before a meeting at the toy company that he works at while his coworkers wait for him to finish eating, the theme tune of Jeopardy! is playing in the background.
  • After Scott quickly escapes up the chimney from a guard dog, Charlie asks him what it felt like. Scott responds that "It felt like America's Most Wanted!"
  • The head of the North Pole R&D department is Quentin, ie Q.
• Show-and-Tell Antics: Young Charlie brings his dad Scott Calvin to a Dads Day at school, and insists his dad is Santa! Scott tries to explain that as a toy distributor, he's only like Santa Claus, but Charlie saw the North Pole, and isn't buying this.
• Shown Their Work: When Scott and Charlie finish their first run, the sun has already begun to rise. When they land at the North Pole, it's dark. Why? It's polar night! Compare this to almost every other Santa film, where the North Pole has "normal" day and night cycles.
• Snark-to-Snark Combat: Scott and Laura engage in this at the beginning of the film. Justified since they went through an apparently nasty divorce.
• Strange Minds Think Alike: When Bernard notices Neal's ugly sweater, he approves of it and checks to see whether it was made by the elves at the North Pole.
• Take You Aside Talk: These situations set up discussions about the effects of Scott's becoming Santa Claus; in the later two films, Scott is usually about to receive bad news.
• Taking the Kids: Scott's ex-wife and Neil think that Scott is an unfit father, start thinking he's delusional once the Santa stuff begins happening, and ultimately move to have his visitation rights taken away.
• Theme Initials: Pointed out by Charlie with regards to Scott Calvin/Santa Claus.
• Title Drop: When Bernard is explaining Scott's new status to him, he says that "When you put on the suit, you fell subject to the Santa Clause."
• Took a Level in Kindness: Scott stops being quite so grouchy after he becomes the new Santa Claus. Also, Laura and Neal get off his case after they realize Scott is really Santa Claus.
• Understatement: In the first film, as soon as he is done shaving off his Santa beard and dying his hair dark, only for the beard to immediately grow back and his hair to turn white again, Scott exclaims, "I'm in big trouble, mm-hmm."
• Unreadable Disclaimer: To take Santa's card is to implicitly accept the contract printed thereon in text to small to read. Each sequel reveals more clauses requiring increasingly intense magnification to see.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Charlie's constant appraisals of his dad's new role as Santa Claus really don't go over well with his mother and stepfather, who think that Scott is emotionally manipulating Charlie. The same goes for the kids at the park who approach Scott of their own free will to share their Christmas wishes, which only alarms Laura and Neal that much more. It's justified though as they're all just kids.
• Visible to Believers: In the Workshop, Judy the elf says this to Scott, adding that "kids don't need to see this place to know that it's there. They just... know."
• Wacky Cravings: As a side effect of the Santafication process, Scott has a much greater Sweet Tooth and taste for milk than he did prior.
• What Are You in For?: The Denny's scene. The waitress asks if Scott and Charlie are part of the corporate group which is seated in the front room of the restaurant, then seats them among other people who are in the same situation as they are.
• You Kill It, You Bought It: When the current Santa becomes unable to fulfill their duties "by accident or design", the first person to put on the suit afterward becomes the new Santa. Over the course of the trilogy, this happens twice, both times when someone (Scott or Jack Frost) startles the current Santa, causing him to fall off a roof to his death.