Santa Claus: The Movie - Plot

Plot

Somewhere in the 14th century, Claus is a peasant woodcutter in his mid-50s who, with his wife Anya, delivers his gifts 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 the venerable and wise elf named Dooley. Inside the elves' home, Claus and Anya also meet inventive elf Patch, and the more down-to-earth Puffy. Dooley tells Claus it is his destiny to deliver toys to the children of the world every Christmas Eve, which the elves will make in their large workshops. Donner and Blitzen are joined by six other reindeer and fed magic food that allows them to fly. When Christmas Eve comes, Claus is approached by the oldest of elves, the Ancient One, who renames him as "Santa Claus".

Centuries pass as the mythology of Santa is created, until the 20th century, where Santa is exhausted by the continuous workload he must do every year due to the world's increasing population. Anya suggests he enlist an assistant, to which Patch and Puffy compete to earn via a competition to produce the most toys in a limited amount of time. Patch uses a machine he has invented although it begins produce shoddy works without his knowledge, and he wins. During his annual deliveries, Santa befriends a homeless 10-year old boy in Manhattan named Joe and takes him for a flight in his sleigh. He attempts to have his reindeer perform the "Super Doopa Looper", an aerial trick that involves them doing a full 360° aerial spin, but Donner always fails due to her acrophobia. Santa and Joe perform deliveries, meeting nine-year old Cornelia, who is also Joe's friend.

Patch's toys begin to fall apart on Christmas Day, prompting him to resign from his position as Santa's assistant and exile himself from the North Pole. Traveling to New York, Patch meets B.Z., Cornelia's uncle and a scheming executive of a toy company that faces a Congressional investigation into the safety of his products. Believing B.Z.'s toys are popular due to witnessing several being removed from a shop window, Patch decides to help B.Z. make better toys, using some of the reindeer feed to create lollipops which can make consumers float in the air. Patch also constructs a hovercraft called the Patchmobile to deliver the products like Santa. Santa disapproves of Patch's actions, but feels disheartened about continuing his job if the children of the world do not care anymore. Meanwhile, Patch is disturbed when B.Z. plans to turn himself into the face of Christmas, and asks Patch to develop candy canes which enable flight.

While Patch works at night, B.Z.'s assistant Dr. Eric Towzer appears at his house and reveals the candy canes will explode if exposed to heat. Joe and Cornelia eavesdrop on the conversation, but Joe sneezes and is caught, locked up in the basement of B.Z.'s factory. Patch finds Joe and discovers Santa made a carving for Joe that resembles him. Thrilled Santa remembers him, Patch and Joe set off in the Patchmobile to the North Pole. Cornelia sets a letter to Santa informing him of the situation and he arrives and picks her up. Santa and Cornelia pursue the Patchmobile, which is powered by the candy canes which slowly ignite. Santa convinces his reindeer to perform the Super Doopa Looper in order to catch Patch and Joe as the Patchmobile explodes. Meanwhile, B.Z.'s crimes are uncovered when Cornelia calls the police. B.Z. eats several candy canes and tries to fly out of his office window only to fly up into the sky.

The film ends with the inhabitants of the North Pole celebrating the triumph with a joyous dance party. The film's final images are of B.Z. floating away into space, doomed to die in orbit among the floating remains of the Patchmobile.