"When Tim Allen made The Santa Clause, I thought that was a delightful film. It took a modern sensibility but layered onto it a kind of sentiment"
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Maltin’s praise isn’t really about Tim Allen or even Santa; it’s about the trick of mainstream filmmaking when it’s firing on all cylinders. “Modern sensibility” signals a 1990s tonal update: a Santa myth filtered through divorce, work stress, and a comedian’s self-aware snark. The premise of The Santa Clause is basically a corporate rebrand of folklore, built on a legalistic pun and the kind of adult skepticism kids’ movies started courting more openly in that era. Maltin clocks that and doesn’t flinch.
But the compliment lands on the second clause: “layered onto it a kind of sentiment.” That verb matters. Sentiment isn’t the foundation, it’s the finishing coat - applied carefully so it doesn’t read as syrup. For a critic who came up valuing craft, that’s an approval of calibration: the film knows the audience is too savvy for pure sincerity, yet it still wants the emotional payoff of belief, family repair, and softened masculinity. Allen’s persona - prickly, sarcastic, resistant to tenderness - becomes the vehicle for a conversion narrative that feels earned precisely because it starts from cynicism.
Contextually, Maltin is also defending a category critics often treat as disposable: star-driven, high-concept studio entertainment. By calling it “delightful,” he’s giving permission to like something that’s engineered, commercial, and still effective. The subtext: culture can be ironic without being hollow, and sentiment can survive if it’s smuggled in under a wink.
But the compliment lands on the second clause: “layered onto it a kind of sentiment.” That verb matters. Sentiment isn’t the foundation, it’s the finishing coat - applied carefully so it doesn’t read as syrup. For a critic who came up valuing craft, that’s an approval of calibration: the film knows the audience is too savvy for pure sincerity, yet it still wants the emotional payoff of belief, family repair, and softened masculinity. Allen’s persona - prickly, sarcastic, resistant to tenderness - becomes the vehicle for a conversion narrative that feels earned precisely because it starts from cynicism.
Contextually, Maltin is also defending a category critics often treat as disposable: star-driven, high-concept studio entertainment. By calling it “delightful,” he’s giving permission to like something that’s engineered, commercial, and still effective. The subtext: culture can be ironic without being hollow, and sentiment can survive if it’s smuggled in under a wink.
Quote Details
| Topic | Movie |
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