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Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause
Buena Vista Pictures

Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 32 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
4.4 out of 10
based on 17 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 21 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: G for General Audiences

Starring Tim Allen, Martin Short, Elizabeth Mitchell, Judge Reinhold, Wendy Crewson, Eric Lloyd, Ann-Margret, and Kevin Pollak

Holiday magic mixes with comical chaos at the North Pole in The Santa Clause 3 as Santa juggles a full house of family and the mischievous Jack Frost tries to take over the "big guy's" holiday. (Disney)


GENRE(S): Comedy  |  Family/Kids  |  Fantasy  
WRITTEN BY: Ed Decter
John J. Strauss
Leo Benvenuti (characters)
Steve Rudnick (characters)
 
DIRECTED BY: Michael Lembeck  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: November 20, 2007 
Theatrical: November 3, 2006 
RUNNING TIME: 98 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

75
New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
Allen and Short seem to be having so much fun that their enthusiasm is entirely contagious. Let the season begin.
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60
Los Angeles Times Gene Seymour
As a full-service holiday movie, The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause gets you into the mood to shop early and often by making the North Pole look like a shopping mall with a never-ending school pageant.
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50
Philadelphia Inquirer David Hiltbrand
This isn't a movie, it's an animatronic theme-park ride - an artificially processed, easily digestible treat for kids.Ho, ho hum.
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50
ReelViews James Berardinelli
There's some potential in this storyline, but the movie doesn't do much with it besides giving Martin Short an opportunity to put on the fat suit.
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50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Jennie Punter
The Santa Clause 3 is a colourful jumble. (But quite a bit better than Jungle 2 Jungle). Nevertheless, whether parent or elf, You might laugh when you watch it in spite of yourself.
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50
Entertainment Weekly Gregory Kirshling
This Styrofoam snowman of a sequel overdoses on its own candy-cane-colored sugary cheer.
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50
Variety Justin Chang
Not unlike the shiny snow globe at its center, The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause is a thing of consummate craftsmanship, a smoothly engineered and fundamentally lifeless object that's nevertheless capable of giving even the grinchiest moviegoers a brief attack of the warm-and-fuzzies.
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40
Empire Angie Errigo
A little muddled and derivative but what do we expect, really?
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40
The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
To borrow a cliche from another medium, Santa might have jumped the shark.
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38
Boston Globe Ty Burr
The bad news, for those looking forward to The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause with anything like enthusiasm, is this: Bernard the Elf is history.
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38
TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
The whole film is plagued by a sense of false, desperate cheerfulness.
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33
The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
There must be some solid marketing reason for putting out a Christmas movie before the jack o'lanterns have begun to rot, but if so, it's elusive. Couldn't this lump of coal have waited another month?
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30
LA Weekly Luke Y. Thompson
This is all really a big waste. At least the out-takes at the end are actually funny.
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30
The New York Times Manohla Dargis
One of the good things about bad movies is that when someone sneers about the unworthiness of a perfectly mediocre film like, say, "Crash," you can turn to a seriously unworthy film like, say, The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause and laugh. Ho. Ho. Ho.
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25
San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub
Plodding and unfunny.
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12
New York Post Kyle Smith
Martin Short as Jack Frost, means we're getting a turkey and a ham for the holidays. As for Tim Allen as Scott Calvin, an ordinary guy who took over Santa's job by chance, he's more like a tasteless lump of mashed potatoes.
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0
Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
It boggles the mind that Saddam Hussein and assorted cohorts have finally won their rightful place in the global noose while various and sundry villains associated with this third entry in the Santa Claus franchise of flaccidly feel-good, winter nostrums will no doubt be allowed to walk the Earth with nary a qualm nor backward glance.
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What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 4.4 (out of 10) based on 21 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Kyle U. gave it a0:
Total CRAP!! After seeing this movie, I have lost all respect for Tim Allen and Martin Short. The only way you'd possibly like this movie is if you were 3 years old. Terrible acting! I can't believe I wasted 6 bucks on it! CRAP!

J H. gave it a2:
It's Christmas season so obviously, Tim Allen has to milk the holiday for all that it's worth by putting out another lame, derivative, pointless movie.

Don W. gave it a3:
I hope the next movie will be Santa Clause- The Death Clause. Totally awful movie. The acting, the story, and the directing were sub par. I dont recommend you waste your time or money on this movie.

JP Paxton gave it a4:
‘The Escape Clause’ actually has a pretty good premise. This is the first film in ‘The Santa Clause’ series to have a villain, which I thought was interesting. The bad thing is, Martin Short is not all that great at playing Jack Frost. He’s doesn’t portray the maliciousness I would have thought Jack Frost has. In addition, he only gets to take over and be Santa for less than ten minutes. Which really isn’t all that exciting once seen to begin with. A big letdown here is that Bernard, the head elf played by David Krumholtz previously in the first two films, is not present. He has been replaced by a new elf, Curtis, who is played by a familiar face seen in two other movies released this year starring Tim Allen, Spencer Breslin. He is downright annoying and just plain dense as head elf. I guess Krumholtz was happy enough with his role on the TV show ‘Numb3rs’ that he didn’t feel the need to return here. Although it is filled mediocrity through and through ‘The Escape Clause’ is actually okay for kids. It has simple (but not funny) jokes and enough “action” to keep them well entertained. For adults and parents though, it will mostly likely be a living nightmare to watch. There is no uncertainty that it would have been much better suited as a direct-to-DVD release though.

J G. gave it a9:
I think the SC3 was very good, ok not quite as good as the first 2 but still better than I was expecting... I think Jack S. needs to get into the Christmas spirit and not judge a move by the soundtrack or a speech problem a character has!

Gerrick C. gave it a4:
Personally, the whole Santa Claus thing with Scott Calvin has overstayed its welcome. Okay, the idea of Short as Jack Frost is cute, but ultimately is pretty lame.

Doug M. gave it a10:
I just saw the movie and now I am going to watch the first two films again. I think this carries on the spirit well.

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