‘The Santa Clauses’ (warmly) critiques the flaws in a popular Christmas franchise.
If the idea of the Christmas movie has ever been popularized, it’s been in the form of a storybook. With its fairy-tale-type of story told in a predictable and safe manner, it’s pretty easy to see why so many millions of people view the Christmas movie experience through a particular lens.
But the Christmas film is not just about the experience of watching a storybook, though it can be. Sometimes the Christmas film is a great experience for the story, the cast and the viewers.
It’s also a great experience for the actors and storytellers who make their living at telling these stories in front of the largest and most responsive audience.
We are lucky enough to have some wonderful Christmas films like this available to watch right now — Christmas in the Attic (2012), A Christmas Story (1994) and, my personal favorite, The Santa Clause (1995). But this series of reviews looks at the lesser known Christmas films that have been released in the past few months.
The Santa Clauses is the directorial debut of John Hughes and stars Gary Cole and Christopher Lloyd, two actors who have built their careers on their ability to put together a story that works from script to performance. Hughes’ screenplay is based on the 1994 children’s film of the same name.
Directed by Christopher Guest, A Christmas Story revisits the classic Christmas tale from a new perspective. Directed by Walter Hill and based on The Santa Clause, the adaptation of that 1988 cult-classic hit by Bill Melendez is not one of the better Christmas films, but it’s still one of the top-grossing films of the year.
The Santa Clause (1995) is the first Christmas Film to play at the Cannes Film Festival in the ‘’Un Certain Regard’’ competition. Directed by Bill Pullman and written by Jim D
