The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause
Buena Vista Pictures | Release Date: November 3, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
32
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 17 Critic Reviews
Positive:
1
Mixed:
8
Negative:
8
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
Allen and Short seem to be having so much fun that their enthusiasm is entirely contagious. Let the season begin. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesGene Seymour
As a full-service holiday movie, The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause gets you into the mood to shop early and often by making the North Pole look like a shopping mall with a never-ending school pageant. Read full review
50
VarietyJustin Chang
Not unlike the shiny snow globe at its center, The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause is a thing of consummate craftsmanship, a smoothly engineered and fundamentally lifeless object that's nevertheless capable of giving even the grinchiest moviegoers a brief attack of the warm-and-fuzzies. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerDavid Hiltbrand
This isn't a movie, it's an animatronic theme-park ride - an artificially processed, easily digestible treat for kids.Ho, ho hum. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
There's some potential in this storyline, but the movie doesn't do much with it besides giving Martin Short an opportunity to put on the fat suit. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jennie Punter
The Santa Clause 3 is a colourful jumble. (But quite a bit better than Jungle 2 Jungle). Nevertheless, whether parent or elf, You might laugh when you watch it in spite of yourself. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyGregory Kirshling
This Styrofoam snowman of a sequel overdoses on its own candy-cane-colored sugary cheer. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
To borrow a cliche from another medium, Santa might have jumped the shark. Read full review
40
EmpireAngie Errigo
A little muddled and derivative but what do we expect, really? Read full review
38
Boston GlobeTy Burr
The bad news, for those looking forward to The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause with anything like enthusiasm, is this: Bernard the Elf is history. Read full review
38
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
The whole film is plagued by a sense of false, desperate cheerfulness. Read full review
33
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
There must be some solid marketing reason for putting out a Christmas movie before the jack o'lanterns have begun to rot, but if so, it's elusive. Couldn't this lump of coal have waited another month? Read full review
30
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
One of the good things about bad movies is that when someone sneers about the unworthiness of a perfectly mediocre film like, say, "Crash," you can turn to a seriously unworthy film like, say, The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause and laugh. Ho. Ho. Ho. Read full review
30
L.A. WeeklyLuke Y. Thompson
This is all really a big waste. At least the out-takes at the end are actually funny. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChroniclePeter Hartlaub
Plodding and unfunny. Read full review
12
New York PostKyle Smith
Martin Short as Jack Frost, means we're getting a turkey and a ham for the holidays. As for Tim Allen as Scott Calvin, an ordinary guy who took over Santa's job by chance, he's more like a tasteless lump of mashed potatoes. Read full review
0
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
It boggles the mind that Saddam Hussein and assorted cohorts have finally won their rightful place in the global noose while various and sundry villains associated with this third entry in the Santa Claus franchise of flaccidly feel-good, winter nostrums will no doubt be allowed to walk the Earth with nary a qualm nor backward glance. Read full review
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