THE SANTA CLAUSES: Chapter One: “Good to Ho”

Name: THE SANTA CLAUSES: Chapter One: “Good to Ho”
Item: THE SANTA CLAUSES: Chapter One: “Good to Ho”
Author: Gaby Gaduh

"One Last Run for Santa"

Content: -1 Caution advised for older children, including teenagers, and sensitive adults.

Entertainment Quality:

	None	Light	Moderate	Heavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

Credits →

What You Need To Know:

In THE SANTA CLAUSES miniseries on Disney+, Tim Allen returns as the beloved Santa Claus from THE SANTA CLAUSE movies. Chapter One: “Good to Ho” begins with Scott Calvin notic-ing that 28 years have gone by with him as Santa and finally acknowledging it might be in his en-tire family’s best interest for him to retire. Scott loves the North Pole and his role as Santa, but he realizes the rest of his family feels differently. Also, the world has changed drastically since Scott became Santa, and children are starting to forget Santa. Will Scott actually retire? What’s going to happen to Santa?

THE SANTA CLAUSES: Chapter One begins with almost too much similarity and too many parallels to the previous movies. However, a modernized, time relevant aspect is added to every-thing, even the program’s view of Christmas. The nostalgia is heartwarming, luring in lovers of the previous movies. The first episode of THE SANTA CLAUSES promotes family and love, but it has an overarching pagan worldview suggesting there can be no Christmas without Santa. So, MOVIEGUIDE advises caution for older children.

Content:

(Pa, FR, B, C, L, V, M): Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Con-tent/Elements: Eclectic Pagan worldview with strong elements of magic, belief in fictional char-acters, Christmas holiday that needs Santa, etc., work takes priority over family and work/making money is of highest importance, the naughty and nice list portrays rewards based on actions, some talk about Christmas in the modern world (none of which include Jesus), protagonist is concerned that “Saying ‘Merry Christmas to all’ has suddenly become problematic”, and it’s no longer ac-ceptable to call kids “naughty”, and everyone gets gifts now, but there are some redeeming moral qualities promoting love, family and redemption

Foul Language:

There are three “Oh my God” or “Oh God” comments, some dry humor and one-liners more suitable for adults, body shaming comments about Santa’s weight/ negative remarks (in a joking manner) about thin and fat people, an elf vomits (but it’s a glitter substance)

Violence:

Light slapstick violence includes an elf faints, character touches wires getting electrocuted, Santa smacks head into chimney, lady throws glass at wall when Santa scares her coming down the chimney, comical stunts with Santa’s sleigh in the sky, Santa’s toy bag goes haywire flying him all around before he falls, slides down entire roof, and falls to the ground below unconscious

Sex:

No sex

Nudity:

No nudity

Alcohol Use:

No alcohol use

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

No smoking or drugs; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:

Light worldview problems with magic use and belief in Santa as the reason for Christmas, etc., plus parents let work take over and accidentally disengage with their children (even though the parents love their children), and a character is addicted to virtual reality video games to escape real life.

More Detail:

THE SANTA CLAUSES is a new miniseries streaming on Disney+ which continues the story of The Santa Clause movie franchise from decades ago. The first episode, Chapter One, picks back up 16 years later with Tim Allen back in his Santa Suit, finally realizing his age and just how much time has gone by since he started. After the first Christmas Eve toy delivery, it is apparent that San-ta’s magic is beginning to wear off; and, as additional issues continue to arise, Scott Calvin is on the brink of considering retirement.

Chapter One begins on Christmas Eve as Santa and his sidekick elf, Noel, are out for the night de-livering gifts per usual as Santa notices the list is even shorter than the year before. Santa has some troubles with his magic when it comes to getting back up through a chimney, then again with some sleigh malfunctions. However, they make it home to the North Pole, forget the hiccups they en-countered and consider the night another Christmas victory.

Meanwhile in the real world, tech inventor and toy maker Simon Choksi is spending Christmas Eve on a business call for his company, Everything Now, as the team struggles to follow through with the business expansion. Simon was successful in video games and toy making but adding successful “delivery services to all homes” is a new feat he hasn’t quite figured out yet. Simon’s daughter, Grace, is busy hanging ornaments on the tree and finishing last minute decorations all by herself. Grace tells her father that Santa is going “out” of style just like paper mail, but as an adult, Simon doesn’t even believe in Santa at all. The irony of this plays out in future episodes.

Back at the North Pole, Santa is given a doctor’s report that he’s, unfortunately, losing weight!!! Scott Calvin is aware the list of Christmas presents to be delivered keeps shrinking each year, less and less children are believing in Santa these days, and he’s even starting to lose his legendary Santa magic.

So, in an attempt to make everything better, Scott “trains” all year long, sitting on the couch and eating all his favorite foods, in order to gain the Santa weight back and pretend that everything is all jolly. Scott is entirely against the idea of retiring at this point (although it has been brought up), so he tries to fix the one thing he believes he can change, his weight, and pushes all other problems to the side and out of sight.

Scott’s wife, Carol, begins to ask around about the previous Mrs. Claus, trying to discover who held the name of Mrs. Claus before she did. Meanwhile, their daughter, Sandra, is making friends with furry creatures because there are no other children at the North Pole. Also, their son, Cal, spends all his free time in a Virtual Reality gaming system. In the real world, Simon fights to prove himself as the news channels are now exposing his company’s potential failure.

Current circumstances all around begin to take a toll on each of the families. Will Simon fight for his business to succeed but lose out on other important life moments? Will Santa accept his age and reconsider retiring from the “job” he loves? Or, will the following episodes play out in an unpre-dictable way?

The production quality of THE SANTA CLAUSES, Chapter One, is one that goes both ways. There is an overwhelming sense of nostalgia that comes with returned characters from the beloved SANTA CLAUSE movie franchise featuring Tim Allen. This draws viewers in to watch content they hold dearly with a new, time-relevant twist. It’s unclear at this point how the miniseries will progress, but the modernized story additions, modern music, and even up to date special effects are all a sight to see. Episode one cannot promise a charm comparable to THE SANTA CLAUSE movies, but it does promise characters that viewers love and, hopefully, a proper farewell to Tim Allen as Santa.

THE SANTA CLAUSES: Chapter One, contains a dominant pagan worldview where characters hold pagan beliefs surrounding Christmas, work, priorities and more. Christmas is thought of in a way where it might fade from life if there is no Santa Claus. There is a brief portrayal of legalism where children receive gifts according to their actions. Work is held of such a high importance that family is pushed to the back burner. This episode still holds good family fun and even redeeming qualities such as love, family and redemption. Because of some mature humor and questionable worldview elements, MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for older children.