REEL CRITIC:’Santa Claus 3’ delivers laughs

If kids ran the world, Christmas would be celebrated every day. They don’t, but starting the season a wee bit early with the release of “Santa Claus 3: The Escape Claus” is a start.

Jack Frost (Martin Short) is tired of being overlooked during the holiday season. He wants to be as popular as Santa. Frost concocts a scheme to take over Santa’s job. That won’t be hard to do.

With Christmas quickly approaching, Santa Claus (Tim Allen) is trying to focus on getting ready for the 25th. But Mrs. Claus is pregnant and ready to deliver any moment. She’s afraid the timing will be that she’ll be delivering when he is.

To keep her company, Santa invites his in-laws for a visit. The bickering couple (Ann-Margret and Alan Arkin), however, create more problems than they solve. His ex-wife, her husband and their kid tag along, too. What’s supposed to create less stress for Santa has the opposite effect. He’s now just as busy settling family misunderstandings and showing his guests around the place.

Frost takes advantage of those preoccupations to trick Santa into evoking the escape clause so he can take his place.

The family-friendly movie is hardly blockbuster material. It is, however, a pleasant way to ease into the holiday season. Even the biggest scrooge among us feels the spirit of the season at the sight of Santa, The North Pole and the elves.

The film emphasizes the qualities of spending time with family versus spending money on meaningless things. Jack Frost sets the example.

As Santa, Jack Frost turns the North Pole into an amusement park. Everything from T-shirts, pens and other memorabilia for sale have replaced the toys. And, the elves are forced to sell the useless items and pose for pictures with tourists. Worse, they’re made to tap dance and sing as well.

Hordes of moms, dads and kids eagerly wait in long lines and shell out good money to gawk at and be entertained by Frost-turned-Santa Claus. Turning Christmas into a commodity, however, also turns the tourists into pushy, impatient and bored spectators. Frost’s crass commercialism of the holiday is killing the spirit of Christmas.

The message isn’t subtle. It’s not supposed to be, because it’s made for kids. A subplot similar to “It’s a Wonderful Life” is included for the adults.

This isn’t the best out of the three films, but the kids in the audience couldn’t tell the difference. They laughed long and hard at every reindeer with gas joke and left the theater with happy smiles. That’s what the season is all about.