Elf (2003)

Elf

Matinee with Snacks

I know, believe me, I realize I am both the last person to see this movie and the last person anyone would expect to see (or like) this movie. My hesitance came from my natural antipathy toward Will Ferrell born of his SNL career. But, the Christmas spirit was upon me, as well as the recommendation from many of my trusted friends, so to the multiplex I went. I have to say, it was not at all what I expected. Ferrell was completely watchable, but more significantly, it was one sweet little movie. I'd have to say it was sweeter than it was funny, but that does not detract from it at all. And I never dreamed I would ever have such positive feelings about Will Ferrell.

A simple, Christmas classic plot: human raised by Santa's elves must simultaneously find out who he really is and where he belongs and, of course, save Christmas. Amazingly, this film was very well-written by David Berenbaum, who somehow managed to under-write Haunted Mansion. Berenbaum combines all the sentimental elements of the best Christmas classics like It's A Wonderful Life and the stop-motion Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer without bogging the movie down with excess (and any holiday movie that is not bogged down in excess is a Christmas miracle in and of itself). Ferrell is of course the 6'3" orphan who goes to - where else? - a white-snow-encrusted New York City with open, friendly people and glittering windows. With a Gimbels, ho ho!

Director Jon Favreau, who balanced chaos and disaster perfectly in Made, balances our own post-millenial real life cynicism and dubiousness with Ferrell's elfin-bred sincerity and spirit, and magically, somehow makes it work. Favreau looked poised to make a film more like Bad Santa with some of his career choices and his humorously dark sensibilities, but instead he pulls off the miraculous feat of a movie about sheer innocence and belief in Santa Claus and makes it totally believable.

To begin with, he got The Good Girl's dark cynic Zooey Deschanel to out herself as having a truly lovely singing voice (yes, it's her). He even got professional crust-master Ed Asner to play Santa Claus, and stammering comic icon Bob Newhart to play Ferrell's adoptive elf father, and perennial tough guy James Caan as his biological father. So with all these unlikely characters, how did Favreau spin sugar plums out of prunes? Some of it is the writing, carefully balancing this man-child's ingenue gosharooty sweetness with the modern, rational, too busy for sentiment flavor of the day. But much of it (I have to admit) is due to Ferrell's interpretation of his character.

Buddy the man raised by elves is all openness and sincerity and cheer and all-carb diet and positivity. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that we all need some sweetness and positivity when all seems bleak. His indomitable Christmas spirit is matched only by the power he has to infect everyone else with it. While the inevitable transformation of Caan could have been less abrupt, it's hardly a complaining point. I didn't laugh so much as smile, and I didn't bust a gut so much as feel all warm inside. But baby, it's cold outside, and we could all use a little Elf to get us through the holidays.

-- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ These reviews (c) 2003 Karina Montgomery. Please feel free to forward but credit the reviewer in the text. Thanks. You can check out previous reviews at: http://www.cinerina.com and http://ofcs.rottentomatoes.com - the Online Film Critics Society http://www.hsbr.net/reviews/karina/listing.hsbr - Hollywood Stock Exchange Brokerage Resource

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X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 1223610
X-RT-TitleID: 1127234
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X-RT-RatingText: 4.5/5