Starring: Tim Allen, Martin Short, Elizabeth Mitchell, Judge Reinhold, Ann Margret, Alan Arkin
Studio: Walt Disney Home Entertainment
Video: 1.85:1 widescreen, 1080p HD
Audio: English 5.1 Uncompressed PCM; English, French, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Extras: Director audio commentary; Three featurettes (“The New Comedians: On the Set with Tim & Marty”, “Creating Movie Magic” and “Jack Frost & Mrs. Claus: A Very Different Look”); Alternate opening; Bloopers; “Greatest Time of Year” music video; Christmas Carol-oke; Deck the Halls: The Virtual Holiday Decorator
Length: 92 minutes
Movie Rating: *** AV Quality Rating: ****
“Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause” finds Scott Calvin (Tim Allen) keeping quite busy in the North Pole as his alter ego, Santa Claus. Mrs. Claus (Elizabeth Mitchell) is very pregnant and really starting to miss her family being around for the birth of the child as well as for the holidays. Scott invites his in-laws to visit but in order to keep his secret identity hidden, he disguises the North Pole to look like a town in Canada. Scott also invites his ex-wife, her husband and daughter along for the visit. While having family in town is hectic enough, Scott also has to deal with the scheming Jack Frost (Martin Short) who is attempting to steal Christmas through a little known escape clause. This escape clause, when enacted, returns the current Santa Claus to his previous life prior to becoming Santa Claus. While the first entry is still my favorite of the “Santa Clause” trilogy, this third installment is a cute family film in its own right. Martin Short steals the show in his Broadway-esque portrayal of the villainous Jack Frost. Recommended.
In terms of high definition video quality, this Blu-ray DVD is excellent. Images are razor sharp with fine detail. Black levels are consistently dark throughout the film. Colors are vivid and bold with well-saturated hues. Picture defect mastering is fines with no major flaws or compression problems. The audio quality is very good with great surround effects. The soundtrack is largely dialogue-driven and focused toward the forward soundstage. Dialogue is intelligible and securely anchored in the center channel. The surround channels are selectively utilized for both the sound effects and music score. The low frequency effects channel is crisp and tight.
— Calvin Harding Jr.
