Tim Allen has been gracing our screens for decades now, first rising to fame as a result of his portrayal as Tim “The Toolman” Taylor on the hit family sitcom Home Improvement in the early 90s. When it comes to movies, though, he hit the big time when he played a reluctant Father Christmas in the smash hit Christmas movie The Santa Clause in 1994 (one year before providing his now iconic voice to Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story). Since the success of The Santa Clause, it seems that Christmastime has intrinsically become part of Allen and his Hollywood career.

The Santa Clause spawned two financially successfully, but not quite as critically acclaimed, sequels, and on top of this, Allen has appeared in a further two non-associated Christmas-themed movies: Christmas with the Kranks and El Camino Christmas. Just in case you were worried that Allen’s Christmas output was beginning to go cold, he has been drawing big numbers on Disney+ with the newly released The Santa Clauses television series. Below, we take a look at all five of Tim Allen’s Christmas movies, and rank them from worst to best.

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5 The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause

     Walt Disney Pictures

There was so much potential with The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, but unfortunately expectations were never met. Allen, who had fully proven himself to be the ideal candidate for the initially reluctant and not-so-jolly Saint Nick, is paired with comedy legend Martin Short. The premise sees Short starring as the villainous Jack Frost, casting a spell which causes Allen’s character to lose the title of Santa Claus. Allen reunited with many familiar faces from the franchise to reverse the spell. What could have been comedy gold ended up being a rather bland affair relying too heavily on slapstick gags and special effects. Allen himself expressed it best: “By number three, all we had was money… The story kind of just got bigger and bigger. And the fact that Marty Short and I never did a scene together that was funny, I’m still going huh. That’s the funniest human being I’ve ever been around, other than me, and we never got a shot to do a real big scene together.”

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4 Christmas with the Kranks

     Sony Pictures Releasing

Despite being savaged by critics, Christmas with the Kranks has become somewhat of a staple of the Christmas holiday for many. Featuring a stellar cast including Jamie Lee Curtis and Dan Aykroyd alongside Allen, the movie revolved around the Krank couple, who decide to eschew Christmas this year as their daughter is away, and opt to take a cruise around the Caribbean instead, much to the chagrin of their Christmas-obsessed neighbors. Full of clichés, the Kranks, of course, are finally won round and enter into the Christmas spirits thanks to the persistence of their neighbors and the help of their daughter. Whilst being fairly unoriginal and not laugh out loud funny, there is enough humor and heart in Christmas with the Kranks to make it worthwhile of a watch if one is stuck for ideas.

3 The Santa Clause 2

There was a lot of pressure in following up the hit original of The Santa Clause, and The Santa Clause 2 almost pulled it off, only to stumble at the last hurdle. Plot-wise, Allen’s Santa is faced with a couple of conundrums: firstly, he discovers his son has been put on the naughty list, and, secondly, as Santa he discovers he is obliged to wed by this Christmas Eve — just a month away. Allen is on point yet again with his Santa mannerisms, and the humor and charm are all here in abundance; it’s just a pity that most of the humor is derived from a lot of the same situations as the original and much of the content simply feels like a rehash. Definitely a fun movie and worth a watch, it just lacks some of the festive magic that made the first so entertaining and memorable (via Boardwalk Times).

2 El Camino Christmas

     Netflix

Slightly different to the usual cliché-ridden Christmas movies audiences have become accustomed to over the years, El Camino Christmas plays out as more of a black comedy drawing inspiration from Quentin Tarantino. It tells the story of a young man who sets out to find his estranged father at Christmas (played by Allen), when they become trapped in a liquor store holdup with several others. The movie, which is certainly not aimed at children, features plenty of engaging character dialogue, some shocking moments, and has a slightly grindhouse feel to it. While far from perfect, it’s a thoroughly entertaining movie that is certainly worth a watch if you need a break from the usual festive cheer abundant in most movies popular around this time of the year.

1 The Santa Clause

     Buena Vista Pictures Distribution 

The Santa Clause is quite simply the perfect Christmas movie. It’s not too taxing and doesn’t pretend to be high art, but the jokes come thick and fast, and there’s plenty of heart, charm, and festive spirit, making for ideal family viewing. Definitely the best in the original movie trilogy, 1994’s The Santa Clause, sees Allen playing a perfectly average man — until one fateful Christmas Eve. After causing Santa Claus to slip and fall from the roof of his house and presumably die, Scott Calvin (Allen) puts Santa’s red suit on, which results in him officially, and unwillingly, taking over the role of Santa. This Christmas classic remains just as funny as the day it was released as we see Allen gradually growing more rotund and unable to control his ever-growing white beard to the bemusement of those around him as he comes to terms with the extraordinary changes himself. Unsurprisingly, the movie was a huge critical and commercial success.