With the Christmas season approaching, it's time to get into the spirit by breaking out the popular holiday flicks. The Santa Clause franchise stars Tim Allen as a divorced dad who becomes the new Santa Claus after a series of unfortunate events.
While the movies haven't always been received well critically, the films are still considered some of Disney's classics. Each one is more involved in the magic of the holiday and the North Pole than the last. Still, there are some elements of the franchise that don't make much sense.
Santa dies and no one cares
Tim Allen's character, Scott Calvin, is an ordinary guy with a day job who is adapting to being divorced. Then one night, his entire life changes after he wakes up to discover Santa Claus is on his roof to deliver gifts for the holiday.
Assuming Santa is an intruder, Scott mistakenly startles him and causes the jolly man to fall off the roof and die. Scott must become the new Santa, but strangely enough, none of the elves seem to care that the old Santa died. You'd think they would show a little more emotion about their beloved boss passing away.
The system of choosing a new Santa is weird
Scott is forced against his will to become Santa Claus. Later on, he has an option to leave the job, but it seems very strange that there isn't another way to pick the right person for the job.
To make matters even more confusing, after Scott finishes with his Christmas duties for the year, the elves make it so that he doesn't remember until it's time for him to return to the North Pole. While it might add to the film's dramatic stakes, it's a very complicated way of conducting business.
The Mrs. Claus Clause
Yet another thing the films leave out of the details they need to tell Scott in order to do his job is the "Mrs. Clause." It's yet another clause in the mythical contract that demands Scott to find the perfect Mrs. Claus and get married or else he'll be forced to stop being Santa forever.
Considering how important this is to Christmas and the running of the North Pole, why on earth would the elves wait until the last possible second to inform Scott of his latest priority?
What happened to the other Mrs. Claus?
As we mentioned above, there is a clause in the contractual Santa Claus agreement that states Santa Claus must be married. Scott has to contend with this, so the Santa before him must have had a similar dilemma. The problem is, we never find out anything about the previous Mrs. Claus.
What happened to her? It's possible the former Santa was new to the job and therefore hadn't gotten to that part of the contract yet, but if not, it leaves a somewhat ominous plot hole. Comic Book compiled a few potential theories about what could have happened to the former Mrs. Claus.
Laura and Neil are depicted as monsters even though they're right
Outside of the leading film plot of Scott slowly transforming into Santa Claus in the 1994 movie, there is another storyline about Scott's ex-wife and Charlie's mother, Laura Miller, trying to take away Scott's visitation rights to his son.
It is cruel, but the movie makes it appear like Laura and her new husband, Doctor Neil, are out of line. In reality, it makes sense why they thought Charlie shouldn't be allowed near his father. If someone you knew started acting as erratically as Scott does and talking about his new magical role of Santa, most would do the same thing.
Where is Jack Frost's Mrs. Claus?
We're back to the Mrs. Claus clause again, but it begs mentioning. In the third film, Jack Frost becomes Santa after tricking Scott into giving up the job. But as we've already discussed, whoever is Santa has to eventually get married and take on a Mrs. Claus or risk losing their job forever.
Frost changes everything about the North Pole by turning into a tourist hot spot, so it's possible he could have somehow gotten around this rule in some fashion.
What happened to Bernard?
David Krumholtz played Bernard in the first two Santa Clause movies, but he does not appear in the third due to other filming obligations. His character was Santa's head elf in the franchise and very popular with fans thanks to his snarky attitude.
Strangely, the movies don't mention Bernard at all in the third movie. They could have given fans a reason for his absence, even if an off-screen reason led to it. Audiences are forced to draw their own conclusions about why Curtis replaced Bernard.
If adults don't believe in Santa, who do they think buys the gifts?
It's established in The Santa Clause franchise that adults don't believe in Santa because, as they get older, they lose their magic. Okay, if that's true, then who do the adults think is putting presents under the tree?
If they wake up in the morning to a bunch of random gifts they didn't purchase, then how do they think they got there? Surely they must have some idea of Santa existing, or else it seems there would be more outcry and paranoia about random presents appearing out of thin air.
Jack Frost could have killed Scott
In Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, we are meet Martin Short's nefarious Jack Frost. Frost intends on getting Scott to announce that he wishes he could resign from being Santa while holding a crystal ball that will undo everything and give Frost a chance to usurp his sleigh.
The thing is, it's an overly complicated scheme. Instead, Frost could have orchestrated a way of getting Scott killed and then pick up his mantle afterward, the same way Scott became Santa in the first place.
How come Halloween has no representation at the Council?
The Santa Clause 2 introduces the Council of Legendary Figures with members like the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, Cupid, and more notable characters from folklore. However, the one glaring absence is a figure for Halloween.
Even Valentine's Day gets representation, but Halloween doesn't. The reason for this is likely because there isn't a specific deity assigned to that holiday, but if they can find room for the Sandman in the film, you'd think they could have thrown in a pumpkin man or a friendly ghost.