Eight years have passed since Scott Calvin officially became Santa Claus. He has been doing well for a while.

However, while preparing for Christmas, he finds out that his son, Charlie, is on the naughty list. He also discovers that he has to marry a woman. That way, there’s a Mrs. Claus. If he fails to do that, then he has to stop being Santa permanently. And that would negatively impact Christmas.

But Scott’s Santa appearance is reversing. He is losing weight and his beard is disappearing. Luckily, this elf, Curtis, creates a toy clone of Santa, who fills in for him.

Meanwhile, Charlie gets in trouble a few times for vandalizing the school. Scott, Laura, and Neil all have to deal with him.

While down south, Scott falls in love with Charlie’s Principal, Carol Newman. The two even start dating.

Below are the strengths and weaknesses of this film:

Strengths

The humor

This movie made me laugh several times. Crazy things constantly occur, whether it was the chaos at the North Pole (especially with the reindeer), the toy Santa, or anything else. I considered this film quite funny.

The toy Santa

Curtis the elf had a special machine that created a perfect toy clone of a rat. So, he did the same for Scott before he was losing his Santa features. Unfortunately, the toy Santa ended up more flawed than what Curtis intended.

Aside from how humorous the toy Santa’s actions were, the concept of this was quite creative—including how he was nude when he was first made. Don’t worry—no inappropriate parts are shown. After all, this is a family-friendly Disney movie.

The twists and turns

Like with any good movie, this one had a lot of twists and turns. One of them includes other legendary figures, such as the tooth fairy and Mother Nature. And the tooth fairy was a man who wanted to change his name. Mother Nature was also black.

Even though breaking stereotypes and including racial diversity became more emphasized in recent years, I am impressed with how it was also happening back in the early 2000s.

The pacing

The pacing was quick for the most part—especially during the second half of the movie. That is something I appreciate.

The characters

I admired Scott’s relationship with Carol Newman, Charlie’s treatment of his little half-sister, Lucy, and Bernard’s attempt to be a manager at the North Pole. Bernard struggled with that due to Scott losing his Santa traits and the toy Santa getting out of control at times.

Laura and Neil remained as sweet and patient as they were in the first installment from 1994. Lucy was cute and enthusiastic.

Charlie also had a friend named Danielle who would be resistant to vandalizing but ended up participating anyway. I was surprised that Charlie would do bad things—particularly without hints from the previous film. But he does remain good-hearted.

Weaknesses

The lack of other winter holidays

I know this is common in Christmas movies, but I noticed that there were no hints of anyone celebrating Hanukkah or Kwanza. Even Charlie’s school only acknowledged Christmas at their staff holiday party.

It would have been nice if there were some characters who did not celebrate Christmas. That way, there would have been more representation.

Comet’s babbling

I get that certain things are unrealistic in movies. I also am aware that certain traditional roles were changed, such as having the elves look like human kids. But it felt kind of weird and even annoying to see and hear Comet the reindeer speaking Gibberish. I would have preferred that he made actual reindeer sounds.

Some scenes were slow

This happened mostly in the middle of the story. Certain parts lagged and moments even became too long. I ended up watching this movie within 2 days instead of 1. But I was also getting tired.

Overall impression

I enjoyed The Santa Clause 2. It was a funny movie with lots of memorable moments. It also can stand on its own. So, if you haven’t seen the first installment, you would be fine watching this one. However, I do recommend seeing the previous one first.

Anyway, I give this film 4 out of 5 stars.