What You Never Noticed About The Elves In Tim Allen's The Santa Clause
Though the likes of Hallmark Channel, Lifetime, and even Netflix have flooded the market with holiday-themed fare, it's safe to say that few, if any, of their tinsel-tinged offerings would qualify as a "classic" Christmas movie. In fact, most TV Christmas movies are pretty dreadful — even if they're often absurdly enjoyable in that "so bad it's good" sort of way — and that also goes for Hollywood releases that boast ten times the budget and star-power, because big screen holiday magic is even harder to come by these days. That's been true for quite some time, though. And save for the surprise success of Will Ferrell's beloved 2003 charmer Elf, one of the last true holiday classics of the family-friendly persuasion made its debut well over two decades ago.
Said movie is the whip-smart, Tim Allen-starring Disney delight The Santa Clause ... which isn't entirely a family-friendly affair, itself.
As a reminder, The Santa Clause begins with the death of Father Christmas himself, as he is killed in an icy-roofed accident after being discovered by a very Scrooge-y Dad (played with crotchety charm by Allen). Upon finding Santa's corpse, said Dad is thrust into the role of Kris Kringle by a magical, legally-binding contract. He's reticent to take on that full-time gig, not only because it requires him to essentially leave his life behind, and also because the elves who call Santa's workshop home aren't quite as cheery as one might imagine.
Those elves (particularly David Krumholz's no-BS boss elf Bernard) were the definition of scene-stealing in The Santa Clause and its sequels. And as some savvy viewers have pointed out since the first film debuted, they were far more present in the life of the man who would be Santa than you realize.
Elves were apparently keeping a close eye on the Calvins in The Santa Clause
In fact, once Allen's Scott Calvin is tapped to become Santa Claus, it's clear that those elves were keeping a close watch on him and his son Charlie (Eric Lloyd). While their presence has remained undetected by most, die-hard The Santa Clause fans have indeed spotted pointy ears all throughout the film. And by "all throughout," we mean literally everywhere children are present. Like in the park when a Santa-like Scott is besieged by kiddos, or when youngsters are looking into the toy store window, and literally right behind Charlie in his classroom (as pictured above), with each pint-sized person's motives more or less unknown.
They're probably just monitoring Scott's transformation into Kris Kringle, of course, thus ensuring he's ready to step up and become the maker-of-merry he's now legally required to become by Christmas. There are, however, a few far more troubling theories about the elves' impassive presence in the film, with Reddit serving as ground zero for fans to discuss just what those pointy-eared watchers are really doing in The Santa Clause. A few conspiracy-lovers even posit said elves may have plotted the death of the film's first Santa and selected Scott as his replacement.
Troubling (and unlikely) as that theory is, those who push it are quick to point out that a couple of elves can be seen in the Calvin's orbit before Scott accepts the titular Clause. While they're most likely just undercover agents deployed to keep the "naughty and nice" list up to date, they do seem to be watching Scott's family closer than others.
Whatever the case, their clever (and potentially creepy) presence only enhances The Santa Clause's cred as a modern Christmas classic that's as much fun for adults as it is for the kids.