20 essential classic holiday films to watch this year

The Santa Clause (1994)

It’s very bizarre that The Santa Clause spawned a franchise of its own, but I guess to understand it, you really had to live in 1994. At that point, actor Tim Allen was the king of television, Mr. ABC, with his successful sitcom, Home Improvement. The next year he’d lend his voice to the iconic space ranger, Buzz Lightyear, for Disney and Pixar’s Toy Story. But before that character gave him career immortality, he kicked off a film career in family entertainment with this Christmas comedy.

The Santa Clause tells the story of Scott Calvin (Allen), a workaholic dad and jerk who wants to get Christmas over with as soon as possible. During the night he wakes up to find a big guy in a red suit scampering on his roof. The intruder falls off the roof (and dies?) leaving Scott in the position of invoking “the Santa clause,” turning him into Father Christmas.

The plot is Old Hollywood-level silly, but it works! Seeing the North Pole’s workforce is really cute, and though Scott is a total cad, you enjoy watching his physical and mental transformation into the spirit of Christmas. But I’m still not convinced he didn’t murder a man.

Stream on the Freeform app.