The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause

Completing a needless trilogy of revisionist yuletide lore, this shrill franchise fable follows bitter Jack Frost (Short) and his Machiavellian maneuverings to steal Christmas from Santa (Allen). (Clause fans will remember that St. Nick is actually Scott Calvin, a troubled divorc who found happiness after accidentally killing and then co-opting the identity of Father Christmas.) Frost turns the occasion into a swag-saturated consumer orgy, which the film condemns even as it hams up product placement for Red Bull. (Now playing; Click here for venues.) — Stephen Garrett