CAST: Tim Allen, Kal Penn, Elizabeth Mitchell, Austin Kane, Ashlan Rowan

DIRECTED BY: John Pasquin

 A spin-off of ‘The Santa Clause’ (1994), this story is about a 65-year-old Santa Claus reviewing his work as Father Christmas and the effect that it has had on his wife and kids. He looks at retirement even as his magic is off its game. Parallelly, tech entrepreneur Simon Choksi is set upon building the world’s biggest delivery business but is failing at it. Their paths cross as the process of getting a new Father Christmas on board begins.

Set several decades after the events of the 2006 film The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, the Disney+ series brings back Tim Allen as Scott Calvin, the former toy salesman who became Santa Claus. After years of serving as the sleigh-riding, gift-giving, elf-managing icon of Christmas, Scott and his wife Carol (Elizabeth Mitchell) find themselves pondering what comes after life at the North Pole when Scott begins to suspect he’s nearing the end of his term as jolly old St. Nick.

Scott’s search for a successor hits some snags, though, and he ends up wrestling with the decision about who to choose and — more importantly — whether there’s any future for Santa anyway.

For anyone familiar with the prior three films in The Santa Clause franchise, The Santa Clauses offers a similar vibe in that it continues to revel in the silliness of Santa Claus lore while attempting to earnestly opine on all the usual Christmas movie themes: the importance of family, the dangers of allowing commercialization to destroy the “spirit of the holiday,” and so forth. Over the course of three films, the franchise has leaned further into its silly side, though, and become more slapstick than saccharine, earning more negative reviews with each installment.

The Santa Clauses feels like the goofiest entry in the franchise so far, and Allen jumps back into Santa’s suit and sleigh with ease. He’s joined by Mitchell and an entertaining cast of actors playing elves, Scott’s other family members, and various figures jockeying to become the new Santa. It’s a sweetly ridiculous romp most of the time — except when it isn’t.

With the franchise returning after a 16-year hiatus, it stands to reason that it’s had plenty of time to ditch the old, recycled gags, read the room, and come up with a more modern, timely spin on what looks to be the final chapter of Allen’s Santa Claus saga. Unfortunately, the first two episodes of the series suggest that time might not have been very well spent.

Many recent, successful franchise revivals have won new and old fans over by distilling what audiences connected to in the original show or films and filtering it through a more timely lens — making it relevant in ways that feel new, but still hold the charm of what came before. The Santa Clauses does indeed feel timely, but not in the way you might expect.

Whether it’s the influence of Allen himself — who’s been outspoken about his right-wing politics — or showrunner Jack Burditt, who created Allen’s long-running, but controversial alpha-male sitcom Last Man Standing, The Santa Clauses doesn’t shy away from peppering its first two episodes with the sort of sociopolitical, “War on Christmas”-fueled jabs certain to make it a polarizing project this holiday season.

The series’ early episodes hint at the possibility of Simon, an inventor and entrepreneur played by Kal Penn, becoming the new Santa Claus. The Indian-American actor (and former member of U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration) is positioned as a prime candidate for the role in the show’s first two episodes, and the notion of Penn becoming the new face of Santa Claus feels like a bold pivot for the series to make and would offer a great juxtaposition with Allen’s Santa, who feels increasingly mired in the old ways.

The inability of Allen’s Santa to see beyond the classic imagery of the holiday even becomes an issue with Mitchell’s character — a Mrs. Claus who bristles at her portrayal in classic Christmas art and repeatedly wonders why her title doesn’t come with a first name. This subplot focused on Elizabeth Mitchell’s Mrs. Claus, who suddenly starts asking the kinds of questions that you’d expect to hear in a WandaVision or Lost-style puzzle series. Why does Mrs. Claus not have a first name? Why does she just sit around a knit all year? Was there a Mrs. Claus before her and if so, what happened to her after her husband died during Christmas ’94? 

The first two episodes of The Santa Clauses premiered November 16 on the Disney+ streaming service.