Most critics find The Santa Clause a likeable family comedy that handles its mix of jokes and sentiment better than the premise promises. The praise clusters almost entirely around Tim Allen: his shift from sceptic to Santa, and the way he keeps a flip, insincere manner while letting kindness show through it. Several reviews also credit the effects for serving the story rather than swamping it.
The reservations are about tone and pacing. Even the friendlier notices admit the comedy and the schmaltz sit awkwardly together at times, and Radio Times feels the action wants a couple of bigger set pieces. The spread is wide. The Los Angeles Times calls it imaginative and moving, while Empire, writing some years after release, finds it bloated and misjudged, with the slide into seasonal sentiment the chief failing. Most of the rest land somewhere between amiable and good.