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Tim Allen is back in rare form as Santa Claus in the next episode of the saga of the man who accidentally bumped off the real Santa and now has to take his place. Reprising their roles from the first film are Judge Reinhold as a school counselor, Wendy Crewson as Allen's former wife, Eric Lloyd as his nearly teenage son and David Krumholtz as the Head Elf.

In this story, an ambitious elf (Spencer Breslin) discovers in fine print that Santa has to be married in order to take care of Christmas business. If not, there will be no Santa and Allen will shrink from his white-bearded rotund figure to his normal self. No one wants this to happen, so Allen rapidly trims down to a modest size and heads to the normal world to find a wife. Also, Santa's real son is having problems at school, so Santa has to help him. He has a special watch that dispatches "Christmas magic" but when this is gone, he won't be able to return to the North Pole. To prevent the elves from knowing the real Santa is gone, Curtis invents a machine that duplicates Santa. Allen plays both roles, however, the artificial Santa becomes a dictator and duplicates wooden soldiers to obey his command. What to do?

The opening sequence is amusing when men in a plane flying over the North Pole hear tiny hammers on their earphones. Santa and the Elves go into quiet mode (like being on a submarine) until the plane goes away. What would the real world think of flying reindeer, flying reindeer-in-training (Chet), 900-year old elves and a world of toys? The special effects are good enough, but not super-good, so you won't confuse this play world with a real one. The best part is when the reindeer each one having his own personality fly. Comet is Santa's favorite, but Comet eats a horrendous amount of chocolate and gains about 200 pounds. The romance of Santa and the school principal is handled with taste.

What goes wrong with Santa Clause 2 is the length. At almost two hours, it may be a bit long for younger children. Scenes were added on for length. There are too many sections of the artificial Santa and his wooden soldiers, Santa getting his fill of hot cocoa, or putting toys together.

What is right is the casting of Elizabeth Mitchell (television's ER) as Carol, who starts out as a cold school principal. Mitchell ends up the perfect Mrs. Clause, but the way there is dotted with relationship doubts, a broken belief in Santa Claus and thinking Allen is a whacko. Another right is a hilarious bit concerning a faculty Christmas party that starts out as a virtual wake and ends up a rockin' time. Art Lafleur's Tooth Fairy (who wants a name change) steals his scenes and you find the size of wings don't matter in the least.

Santa Clause 2 makes it clear that we must pay for the consequences of our actions (Allen's son and his school pranks), that love is in the least likely place and person and is the universal healer. Be sure to watch the end credits before leaving the theater. Christmas is, indeed, a hope filled time of the year.

Copyright 2002 Marie Asner 11/6/2002