While the film has its moments, it never quite overcomes the overall ‘very special episode of Home Improvement’ vibe that is felt from the start. Allen had not yet matured enough as an actor from his stand-up beginnings to fully embody or embrace his character, and whole situations, not to mention the outcome, are greatly telegraphed in advance. (Sure, it was sweet to see Laura finally get her Mystery Date Game, but you knew that one was coming.)

The depiction of the North Pole, even with its candy-colored art direction, is a bit too high-tech for my tates; did the elves really need to take off on Rocketeer-style jetpacks to save Santa? Whatever happened to a little Christmas magic? And speaking of magic, with the number of times the adults see Santa and company, why would anyone not believe? And lets not even start with the flatulent reindeers …

But where the original Santa Clause was mired in attempts at child psychology and Tim Allen-in-a-fat-suit gags, The Santa Clause 2 blossoms into a funny, magical and, yes, even romantic charmer, something I never would have thought from a Christmas movie, let alone a Tim Allen movie …

Picking up 8 years after the events of the first film, Scott is now firmly entrenched in his role as Father Christmas. Amidst touch football matches with the elves and meetings with the Council of Legendary Figures (an enormously clever concept; such luminaries as the Easter Bunny, Mother Nature and the Tooth Fairy are in attendance), Santa still finds time to motivate his elves in their daily grind of toy-making.

But trouble is brewing, for Charlie is getting into trouble at school (ending him up on the ‘naughty list’), and Bernard and new second-in-command elf Curtis (Spencer Breslin) reveal a heretofore unknown clause in the Santa contract: in order for Santa to continue being Santa, he must find and marry a Mrs. Claus. And he must take care of all of this before Christmas Eve, less then a month away.

So, before he can help his son and find a wife, Santa must make sure that the elves are seeing to business in the workshop. The solution: create a stand-in Santa with Curtis’ new toy duplicator. With the new, life-sized toy (also played by Allen in a drolly comic, vaguely Buzz Lightyear-like turn) in place, Santa takes off on reindeer Comet with hopes to stop his encroaching ‘de-Santafication’, a process that is slowly turning Santa Claus back into Scott Calvin.

Back home, Scott is reunited with Charlie, Laura and Neal, as well as the newest member of their family, winsome 6-year old Lucy (Liliana Mumy). He sets out to accomplish his duel missions by meeting with Charlie’s anti-Christmas ice-queen-of-a-principal, Miss Newman (ER’s Elizabeth Mitchell) and going out on a blind date with a wacky, Christmas-obsessed singleton (played with scene-stealing hilarity by Saturday Night Live’s Molly Shannon). But he soon realizes that he may be able to kill two birds with one stone, as he starts to court the luminous, not-quite-so-frigid Principal Newman (and her first name is Carol, by the way, so you know where this is going.)

Meanwhile, back at the North Pole, the toy Santa takes the Santa rule book a little to much to the letter and, creating a giant toy soldier armada, forces the elves to abandon their toy-making and commence in coal mining, for he feels that no child is perfect enough for presents from him. Once again, it’s up to Scott (and maybe his new bride?) to save Christmas.