Escape from Santa Claus

The plot and dialog are dull, but what's more irritating besides the artificial, low-budget North Pole setting is the plastic acting performed by Head Elf - Curtis.

Curtis (Spencer Breslin) exaggerates his acting and behaves as if he's reading from a cue card. He lacked any emotional connection with his script and failed to develop a chemistry with the cynical Santa (Tim Allen). So adding an untalented boy actor to an already dull film destroys any hope of Xmas jolly that the "Escape Claus" attempts to shine.

You'll see Spencer in "Zoom"... again with Tim Allen and it was another bad acting gig in a far worse movie where he plays a fat kid with a superhero ability to balloon up to really fat proportions.

Jack Frost (Martin Short), Santa's villain, tries to conjure up mayhem in Santa land, but the fake setting, bad script, and Curtis' phony acting limit his role.

The story is about the idea of Santa being free from the worries of having to be Santa - wrapped in the Escape Clause. But it would have been better if they had never thought of the idea to begin with. There's an attempt to include time travel into the tired story with flashbacks of the earlier Santa movies, but they're sketchy.

Overall, Tim Allen and Martin Short did what they could with the restrictive script, but in the end, this is a bad dream for Xmas.