Santa Claus: The Movie (known on-screen as simply Santa Claus) is a 1985 Christmas film starring Dudley Moore and John Lithgow. It is the last major fantasy film produced by the Paris-based father-and-son production team of Alexander and Ilya Salkind. The film was directed by Jeannot Szwarc and released in North America on November 27, 1985 by Tri-Star Pictures. The 2005 DVD release was released by Anchor Bay Entertainment, now Starz Home Entertainment, under license from the film's current owner, Studio Canal.Santa Claus: The Movie is a straightforward, nondenominational attempt to explore the mysteries of Santa Claus with the key objective being to answer some of the basic questions many children have about the Santa Claus mythos, such as how Santa's reindeer fly, how he and his wife made it to the North Pole and how Santa ascends chimneys, among other things.
The film chronicles the origins of Santa Claus (David Huddleston), who, along with his wife Anya (Judy Cornwell), goes from being a simple working man to becoming an international icon of Christmas. At the same time, the film also tells a contemporary story in which one of Santa's elves (alternately referred to as the "Vendequm" onscreen), a visionary named Patch (Dudley Moore), sets out to employ Santa's toymaking methods on his own, unaware that he might be ruining the magic of Christmas in the process.
Somewhere in the 14th Century, Claus is an aging, peasant woodcutter who delivers his gifts with his wife Anya to the children of a certain village. One night, Claus, Anya and their reindeer, Donner and Blitzen, are rescued from certain death in a blizzard, only to be transported to the vast "ice mountains, way up at the top of the world." Their expected arrival is heralded with the appearance of several Elves, or, as Claus's people call them in their legends, the Vendequm, led by a wise, venerable old elf named Dooley (John Barrard). Here, too, they encounter the overzealous elf Patch (Moore), and his three trusty companions Boog (Tim Stern), Honka (Peter O'Farrell) and Vout (Christopher Ryan). The kindly couple is then led into the wondrous, wooden elf compound. Dooley explains to Claus and Anya that they have been brought here to spend eternity crafting and giving a fantastic array of toys to every child on Earth.
Claus's first Christmas Eve as Santa begins when he is greeted by the Ancient One (Burgess Meredith), the oldest and wisest of all the Elves, who explains to Claus that he and Anya represent the fulfillment of a prophecy that a "Chosen One" would be brought into the Elves' world who, "having no child of his own, would love all children everywhere, and that he himself would be an artisan, and a craftsman, and a skilled maker of toys." He charges Santa with his sacred duties and the name by which he will be known throughout the world for all time to come: Santa Claus. Santa then boards his newly recrafted sleigh, while the reindeer are fed with an incredible feed that grants them the power of flight. Toward the mid-18th Century, Anya recommends not giving an unruly child a present, to punish him for his bad behavior.
The film then jumps forward to present-day Manhattan --- where, in a dark and lonely alley, a young orphaned and homeless boy, Joe (Christian Fitzpatrick) struggles to keep himself warm. Across the street, in an elegant townhouse, a young girl named Cornelia (Carrie Kei Heim) suddenly notices the boy before being scolded by her nanny, Miss Tucker (Dorothea Phillips). Back at the North Pole, after Santa tells both Patch and Puffy (Anthony O'Donnell) that he will choose one of them for the newly-created position of Santa's Official Assistant, the two elves compete for the spot. Patch eventually wins out by mass producing toys using his new Patch-o-Matic Supertoy Constructor, as opposed to Puffy, who chooses slower, more traditional methods of hand-crafting. However, unseen by anyone except the viewer, during operation, the machine malfunctions, screwdrivers snap, and the machine creates toys by means of a faster, more automated method --- but a method of poorer quality. Later, as Santa takes flight on Christmas Eve, he meets Joe who has been searching for food in the trash. Santa is appalled that such a young child is made to live on his own and offers to take Joe along with him. Santa's authenticity gets through to the normally cynical Joe, and the two go for a magical ride in Santa's sleigh. Santa shows Joe all the moves he can do, but falls short of showing him the "Super Duper Looper", as it is too hard for the reindeer. On Christmas morning many children find that their toys from Santa made by Patch's Supertoy Constructor prove defective. Ashamed in the company of his fellow elves, blinded by his own distrust of Santa, Patch leaves the North Pole, determined to prove himself to Santa. Puffy is then appointed Santa's Official Assistant.
Eventually, Patch meets up with B.Z. (John Lithgow), a businessman who is under investigation by the United States Senate for shoddy manufacturing processing at his toy company. Prior to this, we see Patch passing by a toy store, where B.Z.'s toys are being recalled. Mistakingly, Patch thinks the toys must be unable to stay on the shelves, as they must be selling like hotcakes. B.Z. convinces Patch to work with him and B.Z. airs a television commercial that is broadcast on every major television network on Earth. Among those watching the commercial are Joe, Cornelia (B.Z.'s step-niece) and Santa himself. Patch eventually takes flight on Christmas Eve just like Santa, in his own vehicle called the "Patchmobile" and delivering lollipops. Patch's outing turns out to be a large success, with his worldwide popularity now rivaling that of Santa's, a fact which Santa is quick to note as he drops off presents to households that already have Patch's special lollipops. His well-received lollipops result in B.Z. making Patch exclusive to his company at a press conference. After this success, the ever-reluctant Patch considers himself ready to return to the North Pole, but after revealing to B.Z. that the magic lollipops can make children fly, B.Z. is quick to capitalize on this and suggests using the same magic for candy canes in an effort he plans to market as "Christmas II". Joe and Cornelia catch wind of the plan from B.Z. and Towzer (Jeffrey Kramer) a few nights later, resulting in Joe being captured by Grizzard (John Hallam) and taken to B.Z.'s factory.
Towzer then reveals that the candy canes in production overreact when exposed to extreme heat, rendering them volatile. B.Z. dismisses this news as a reckless afterthought, and proposes to Towzer that the two of them escape to Brazil, which has no extradition treaty with the United States, thus leaving Patch to take the blame for all the possible chaos. The next morning, Cornelia writes to Santa about Joe's capture; once he learns of this, Santa wastes little time in taking off for Cornelia's place, regardless of the fact that he must make do with only six reindeer, as a result of Comet and Cupid both having come down with the flu. Cornelia tells Santa that she contacted the police about Joe's kidnapping, but doubts she was taken seriously. Back at B.Z.'s factory, Patch rescues the captured Joe. Though Joe is initially angry at Patch for ruining Christmas, Patch discovers that Joe is carrying a wooden likeness of Patch crafted by Santa, suggesting to Patch that Santa might like him after all. The two now resolve to deliver all the candy canes to Santa as a present in the Patchmobile, unaware of the canes' lethal side effects.
At the same time, B.Z. finds himself surrounded by the New York City Police Department, in response to Cornelia having called them, which they did indeed take seriously. The NYPD, already having apprehended and handcuffed Grizzard and Towzer, yells to B.Z. via a bullhorn that they have a warrant for his kidnapping of Joe, and that he must either surrender or they will enter his office. As the policemen are on their way up to his office, B.Z. eats an entire handful of the magic candy canes — only to find himself floating higher and higher, disappearing into the stratosphere. Meanwhile, Patch and Joe continue on their journey, until they find themselves in need of rescue, as the Patchmobile's continuing speed causes the candy canes to heat up, in turn causing certain unprotected wiring to violently self-activate. Santa, in pursuit, manages to rescue them from the exploding Patchmobile after a tense moment where ultimately, he must execute the one move he has never been able to properly execute: the previously mentioned "Super Duper Looper".
The film ends with a joyous celebration with Santa, Anya and the other elves .... and it seems that Cornelia and Joe will stay with Santa at the North Pole. Dooley reacts to the idea mockingly, saying: "As if I don't have enough to do! Now I'm going to have to be a school teacher!" To which the two children gasp: "School?!" The final scene ends with B.Z. suspended in space along with the remnants of the Patchmobile, floating higher and yelling for help.
