I love nothing better than sitting down in December in my sitting room with a beautifully lit Christmas tree, watching a Christmas film with my fiance, and even perhaps Harry now he's starting to show an interest in Christmas and films. I have a good little collection all waiting to be played again in a few weeks, but one that hadn't made its way into my home so far was the third film in a fantastic and popular franchise, "The Santa Clause" trilogy. I realised last week I hadn't seen it so I reserved it at the library and sat down to watch it the other night, aiming to decide if it was worth an entry into my prized Christmas Collection, and after reading some reviews online, I wasn't too sure about it being much of a success!

When I first saw the first Santa Clause movie many years ago, I loved it, and its become one of those films I have to watch every year to get me in a real Christmas mood! The second one wasn't quite as good but its still a lovely Christmas film to bring out on a cold winters night. Disney have definitely got a successful franchise there, so were they going one step too far with a third film? What immediately ensured this film would be at least enjoyable was the fact that the brilliant Tim Allen was once again taking on the lead role of Santa - without him, the films just wouldn't work. A few other familiar cast members pop up in this film too, adding continuity to the trilogy and ensure children find it easy to follow on from one film to another.

It's nice to see that Judge Reinhold and Wendy Crewson have reprised their roles as Neil Miller, and Scott's ex-wife Laura Calvin-Miller once more, and again both seem to easily step back into their characters shoes for another humourous performance. Young actor Eric Lloyd is again present as Scott's son Charlie, but definitely has a tiny role compared to his main one in the first 2 films. Spencer Breslin comes back as Experimental Elf Curtis, and delivers a performance that is brilliant for his age! The other young actors, and the grown-up ones too, pull together to create a great ensemble for the film, and have created yet another high quality Disney movie.

I think that real fans of the first 2 movies are going to like this movie. It isn't as good as either of them, but its rare that third films are going to have the impact of its predecessors. However, what this film does have is plenty of Disney Magic, and of course that Christmassy feel which is always going to make it watchable at this time of year! The cast really bring this film together, delivering some great comedy moments and make both me and my fiance laugh quite a few times, no mean feat considering he didn't want to watch this at all! I did enjoy it a lot, and I expect that I'll be adding this to my own Christmas collection very soon, but please go into it with an open mind, and just enjoy!