Watching “The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause” was like eating a giant banana split. It started out great, but became overwhelmingly sweet toward the end. I expect a children’s movie to be corny, but this movie took corniness to a new level.

This film stars Tim Allen as Scott Calvin, aka Santa Claus, and Martin Short as his nemesis, Jack Frost. When trying to take over Christmas, Frost causes chaos in the North Pole. Meanwhile, Santa tries to please the very pregnant Mrs. Claus (Elizabeth Mitchell) by inviting her parents, Sylvia (Ann-Margret) and Bud Newman (Alan Arkin) to the North Pole.

This is the third of “The Santa Clause” series. The first movie was about Calvin becoming Santa. The second of the chain was the search for Mrs. Claus.

In the third “Santa Clause,” they fool the Newman’s into thinking that Calvin is a toy maker in Canada since Santa’s identity must remain a secret. This may have been the highlight of the movie with a few Canadian jokes and extravagant elf behavior as they pretend to be Canadian.

Also along for the ride were Calvin’s ex-wife, Laura Miller (Wendy Crewson), her husband, Neil Miller (Judge Reinhold) and their daughter, Lucy (Liliana Mumy). Together, along with the Clauses, they are one big happy family. Not a very likely scenario, is it?

Santa Claus battles to save Christmas from Jack Frost after the two travel back in time to the first “Santa Clause” film. The connection between the two films was appealing, but too brief and bungled. Much more could have been made from this plot, however, they did not accomplish the time travel effectively. It was way too rushed.

The movie was relatively entertaining from the beginning to about the middle. Although the film was somewhat humorous, there were also the played-out fart jokes and nauseating corny jokes only children would enjoy. The end was anticlimactic and predictable. Unless you have a child or younger sibling to bring, pass on this movie and save your money for lunch.

“The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause” premiers in theaters Friday, Nov. 3.

Rating: 2 Stars

Total stars possible: 4