Oh, this is going to hurt so much. The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause was the last entry in the series and perhaps the worst of the three movies. Everything about this movie is just unpleasant as this movie just makes you wish you were spending time with anyone else. This movie also makes the decision to introduce another legendary figure as its villain, Jack Frost. Now I know this is not the first time that Jack Frost has been seen as a villain as that is also the case in Frosty’s Winter Wonderland
I am not a fan of when Jack Frost is seen as a villain. The line of Jack Frost nipping at your nose has always made me think of him more as a playful figure kinda like a wintery Peter Pan. The best take that I’ve seen on Jack Frost in my opinion came from the underrated Rise of The Guardians.
In that movie, Jack Frost is a bit more playful and mischievous showing off the fun of winter and why kids love playing in the snow during this time of year whereas this take on Jack Frost plays more on the cold and cynical side of winter and how it can turn people off.
Actor
Martin Short
Martin Short is a good comedic actor and does the best with what he is given to work within this movie. I won’t blame him for the character being so bad. He did the best with how the character was written even if the character was quite annoying. He does play him in a fun way if it isn’t always the best part of the most enjoyable of the movie.
First Appearance
Okay, when we meet this take on Jack Frost, we see that he is jealous of Santa Claus because Santa gets a holiday. He even goes so far as to list how Santa gets the merchandise like the TV specials and gets nothing. I didn’t think I’d be doing this again so soon but I guess the Rankin Bas special doesn’t exist in this world. Sure, it’s not as popular as the big three that get a lot of rotation each year but he does have a Christmas special. And if we take this even further and want to go more obscure, Jack Frost appeared as a heroic supporting character in one of my favorite specials, Disney’s Christmas Fantasy on Ice
And even though it came out after this movie, I brought up Rise of the Guardians where not only was Jack a hero but he was also the main character in that movie. So, you just have to know where to look to find Jack Frost in media so long as you know where to look. So, that whole idea that Jack Frost gets nothing around this time of year is a bit absurd. This bugs me even so much because the whole idea of Jack Frost being forgotten feels forced. This is even brought up when Santa’s niece interacts with Lucy and says that she’s never heard of Jack Frost. Perhaps, this’d work better with a different figure like Iceland’s Christmas Witch.
People aren’t as familiar with her but that’s the whole point. The idea of having a feeling jealous and overshadowed by Santa Claus is not a bad one in itself but I think it’d work better with a holiday figure that people may not know a lot about. Now, she would have to be toned down to fit into a family movie considering this but I still think it could work.
she didn’t become associated with Christmas till several centuries later, when the idea of a rampaging witch punishing naughty children fused with the yuletide atmosphere. Jól (Yule) is the title often given to an Icelandic Christmas.
I think it’d be more interesting than making Jack Frost a villain.
Personality
Jack Frost is cold, calculated, and he is a bit of a wordsmith as he uses the power of the tongue to work his way into people’s graces to get what he wants. He is willing to deliver into trickery as seen when he unscrews the base for the Christmas tree. Perhaps the biggest thing that keeps me from outright hating Jack Frost as a character in this movie is his taste for sarcasm. I appreciate a man that is willing to delve into sarcasm. After all, my favorite shirt says something like this.
Yeah, Jack Frost in of himself isn’t bad as a character but like I said I just wish it was anyone else as a villain because I don’t think he fits what the movie is going for. Also, I am so confused by the idea that he can put on the Santa suit as Cupid mentions in the second movie that his arrows cannot work on the Legendary Figures and I’m surprised that Santa’s suit doesn’t have the same rules as the arrows.
Grand Desire
He wants to be as popular as Santa and feels that he is worthy of his holiday. Again, I get where he’s coming from but Jack Frost is the literal personification of the winter season and that’s not as bad as the film is making it out to be I’d think that’s a cool gig to have.
Most Evil Deed
I’m going to do this a little differently and not look at what I view as what I think his most evil deed is but rather what the film presents as his most evil deed.
The film wants to argue that Jack Frost commercializing The North Pole and Christmas is a bad thing. I agree with this in theory but come one this is a Disney movie and as much as I love Disney, they are the kings of commercialization. Also, Scott Calvin/Santa argues The North Pole was turned into a theme park. Excuse me…
I’m sorry but hearing that line in a Disney movie feels a bit hypocritical. And I get the whole ideas this segment is a riff on It’s A Wonderful Life but it doesn’t work in my opinion and that whole section feels a bit shallow in regards to how the movie plays out.
Villain Song
North Pole, North Pole
Yep, Jack also gets a villain song which is just a riff on stuff like “New York, New York” and it’s meant to show that Jack doesn’t understand what Christmas is really about and he’s just more interested in making money than celebrating the holiday for what it truly is.
Defeat
Okay, so Jack Frost’s defeat is like a mix of Back to The Future Pt. II and Frozen. Yes, I know this movie came out before Frozen but my point still stands. Starting with the BTTF portion, the whole movie is built around Jack Frost tricking Santa into saying he doesn’t want to be Santa anymore. Santa pulls the same trick on him, which takes us back to the original movie where we see Scott Calvin become Santa Claus.
Now as for the Frozen portion, warm hugs. Yep, Lucy who I mentioned prior uses a warm hug to thaw out Jack Frost and remove the evil inside of him. It’s just so ridiculous and gets rid of Jack Frost’s cool design to make him look boring.
Sorry, but if I want a Disney character and warm hugs, I’ll stick with Olaf.
Is Jack Frost A Good Villain?
He’s a fine villain in a bad movie but I still don’t think he needed to be the villain in the movie. There are so many other interesting ideas that could have been used instead of using him. Not bad and certainly not the worst part of the movie but just furthers my opinion that I don’t like Jack Frost being a villain. Join me next time for something a little different as I look at…
Aldrich Killian
About Author
Fully agree Jack Frost as an antagonist is just a bad idea. He’d be better off as a trickster who serves as an unwitting antagonist (causes a problem without any malicious plans to do so, and then has to help Scott fix it.)
That sounds better than what the movie did.
I agree that it doesn’t make a lot of sense for Jack Frost to be the villain. Especially a villain that commercializes the North Pole. It wouldn’t surprise me if that part was left over from an earlier draft of the script where a corporate CEO was the villain instead, but remained in after they made the villain Jack Frost because they couldn’t bear to cut it and didn’t care that it didn’t make sense with Jack Frost in the role.
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As far as jealousy as a motivation, it made more sense for Jack Frost to be jealous of Frosty’s popularity in Frosty’s Winter Wonderland, as Frosty himself is a product of Jack Frost’s handiwork.
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Anyway, the basic premise of Jack going back in time and stealing the Santa suit before Scott Calvin can take it does have its basis in something that has bothered people about the premise of the original movie: If anyone can become the next Santa Claus just by putting on the suit after the previous Santa can no longer perform his duties, then what would happen if the wrong person got the suit? It’s a valid premise for a sequel, certainly. But it doesn’t really work for Jack Frost to be the villain in that scenario.
It really does feel like an evil CEO type was meant to be a villain. Now, it does make some sense as Jack wants to be as popular as Santa but even then, it feels wrong. I totally agree that this movie presents an interesting idea with what if the wrong person becomes Santa but doesn’t know how to execute it.