Sequels, despite their obvious desire to cash-in and continue on its successful predecessor, can be very tricky things to judge sometimes. Often, you have sequels that manage to either manage to continue an ongoing story or surprisingly be surprisingly superior to the original film.

There are also those that are not entirely purposeful, but manage to be amusing and enjoyable enough to want to continue the ride of the original experience. Then there are sequels that feel so incredibly pointless that you know its time to call it day and stop beating an obviously dead horse. The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, now available on DVD, is one of those sequels.

In the North Pole, former-toy-executive-and-absentee-father-turned-Santa-Claus, Scott Calvin (Tim Allen) has run into a few problems. His former-schoolteacher-turned-Mrs. Claus, Carol (Elizabeth Mitchell), despite being pregnant with child, has grown continually isolated being in a world of toy-making elves, while the winter-weather-controller Jack Frost (Martin Short) causes trouble when he desires to be more popular.

Scott soon attempts to solve both problems, by first agreeing to let Frost work with the elves in the workshop, then inviting Carol's stodgy parents Bud (Alan Arkin) and Sylvia Newman (Ann-Margret) to spend some time with Carol. Aware that he has to keep the North Pole and his identity as Santa a secret, he converts the entire village of Elfland into a makeshift Canada.

However, while Bud and Sylvia visit, Frost sabotages the workshop in an attempt to drive Scott and Carol apart. When Scott is soon at his lowest, Jack tricks him into invoking his Santa contract's "Escape Clause" by wishing he was never Santa.

Scott soon finds himself in an alternate time, where his continued executive lifestyle has contributed to crumbling apart of the relationship not only between him and his now teenage son Charlie (Eric Lloyd), but between his ex-wife Laura Miller (Wendy Crewson) and second husband Scott Miller (Judge Reinhold) and their new daughter Lucy (Liliana Mumy). Now Scott must try to get his mantle as Santa back, when he discovers that Frost has used the powers of Santa to convert the North Pole into a commercial theme park.

The original Santa Clause managed to work due of its sweet story and The Santa Clause 2 also managed to work due to its great effects and numerously goofy distractions. However, The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause suggests the magic of the first two films has completely evaporated.

While the special effects continue to be fabulous, Tim Allen continues to be a hoot as always here as Santa Scott, and Martin Short manages to have some wickedly charming fun as Jack Frost, it does little to mask how pointless this third outing ultimately is. The first-half of the film barely limps along, relying on corny sitcom-styled humor and tired