The Santa Clause

Scott Calvin is a divorced father whose relationship with his young son, Charlie, has become strained. On Christmas Eve, a noise on the roof leads Scott outside, where he startles a man in a red suit, who falls. With Charlie's encouragement, Scott puts on the suit and takes over the sleigh, delivering presents through the night. What he assumes is a one-time errand turns out to be a commitment: he has taken on the role of Santa Claus, and over the following months his body begins to change accordingly, beard, weight and all. Charlie is delighted, while the adults around Scott, including his ex-wife Laura and her new partner Neal, treat his claims as grounds for concern about his fitness as a father.

The film is a Disney family comedy directed by John Pasquin, his first feature, made between his earlier work in television and later films such as Jungle 2 Jungle and Joe Somebody. Tim Allen plays Scott, with Eric Lloyd as Charlie, Wendy Crewson as Laura, Judge Reinhold as Neal, David Krumholtz as the elf Bernard and Larry Brandenburg as Detective Nunzio. Steve Rudnick and Leo Benvenuti wrote the screenplay.

Made for about 22 million dollars, it took roughly 190 million worldwide, a strong return that made it a holiday fixture. On IMDb it holds 6.6 from around 147,000 votes, and on TMDB 6.5 from over two thousand, while the critics' rating stands at 5.7 from 59 reviews, so audiences have been warmer toward it than reviewers.