Whoever thought we’d get Tim Allen back as Santa Claus? We sure didn’t. It was the last thing we expected from Disney+. Anyway, let’s get into this review. Before we start, this review highlights the first three episodes of the six-part series.
Set almost 20 years since the end of The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, The Santa Clauses has Scott Calvin in a bit of a pickle. His magic is failing as Santa, and he hasn’t told anyone, not even his fanboy and right-hand, Noel.
To make it worse, his wife, Carol, aka Mrs Claus, can’t remember her name half the time. Meanwhile, their two children, Buddy “Cal” and Sandra, feel isolated as no other kids are at the North Pole. So Cal wants to strike out on his own, and Sandra wants to make friends who aren’t animals or elves.
In Florida, Charlie, Scott’s eldest son and only child with his ex-wife Laura is now married to a woman named Marie, and they have two sons. Scott selects him to be the next Santa, but Charlie declines.
After a bit of soul-searching, Scott, with the support of Carol and the kids, decides to retire from being Santa. Naturally, this causes mass hysteria amongst the elves. Betty, Scott’s chief of staff and Noel’s wife, does what she can to help the Calvins transition to their new lives.
Elsewhere, Simon Choksi is a widowed father of a daughter, Grace, struggling to keep his business afloat. He is allowed to become Santa when none of the other candidates, which includes Charlie, pans out.
Verdict
Upon Simon and Grace’s first adventure at the North Pole, Grace and Sandra go missing causing their fathers to go looking for them. This is the first time that Sandra gets to socialise with someone her age, and discovers she can talk to reindeer.
The third episode, by far, is the best episode to date as it distributes more than a few laughs. The first two are very messy and the laughs fail to land. Also, Noel’s obsession with Santa is way too creepy for our liking.
