Blu-ray Review: Santa Clause 3

THE MOVIE: 3 stars out of 5

Santa Clause 3- The Escape Clause, stars Tim Allen in the role of Santa and is a mix of the first two Santa movies along with a little “A Wonderful Life”. Briefly, Santa is now married again and Ms. Clause is pregnant. As Mrs. Clause is longing for more human contact, Santa decides to invite his in-laws to the North Pole, trying to fool them into thinking they are going to Canada, where he is a toy maker. Not unexpectedly. things don’t go well and Santa is tricked into wishing he was no longer Santa by Jack Frost, played by Martin Short. Needless to say, when Santa sees what life would be like for him and his family were he not Santa, he schemes to return. The film co-stars Ann Margaret and Alan Arkin as the in-laws and is wholesome family entertainment although I doubt that many kids over the age of about 12 will really enjoy this movie. If you have kids under 12 and are looking for a nice holiday movie, give it a look. You won’t be disappointed.

THE VIDEO: 4 5/8 stars out of 5

Encoded with AVC and presented in its original aspect ratio of 1:85:1, this is a very good looking transfer. The film boasts very bright and striking primary colors with rich and beautiful reds, blues and greens that will really show off your display. Skin tones are excellent as well. The transfer also has good blacks and a nice three dimensional image. As good as the transfer looks, it is not perfect and has an overall softness to the image which is why I knocked it down a peg. Despite the softness, it is a very nice looking transfer over all and well worth a look.

THE AUDIO: 4 5/8 stars out of 5

The audio on this release is presented in an uncompressed 5.1 surround mix at 48 kHz/24 bit. The sound is very good as well boasting a smooth, natural and open sound that is characteristic of most of the Disney Blu-Ray releases I have reviewed. Disney clearly takes great care to produce wonderful sounding releases. Dialogue is rich and full and well placed in the mix. As one would expect with a dialogue driven children’s film, this is far from a bombastic sounding mix but what is presented is presented very well. Surrounds when engaged are used perfectly to provide an immersive sound field which is a joy to listen to.

IN CONCLUSION

While Santa Clause 3- The Escape Clause is far from a Christmas classic, it is a nice wholesome holiday flick that the whole family can enjoy. If you have kids under 12, this film is well worth a look.

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