This hilarious Christmas film tells the tale of a young orphan child who mistakenly crawls into Santa's bag of gifts on Christmas Eve and is transported back to the North Pole and raised as an elf. Years later Buddy learns he is not really an elf and goes on a journey to New York City to find his true identity.
(16 votes)
2.
Elf is genuinely good. Not just Saturday Night Live-movie good, when the movie has some funny bits but is basically an insult to humanity; Elf is a smartly written, skillfully directed, and deftly acted story of a human being adopted by Christmas elves who returns to the human world to find his father. And because the writing, directing, and acting are all genuinely good, Elf is also genuinely funny. Will Ferrell, as Buddy the adopted elf, is hysterically sincere. James Caan, as his rediscovered father, executes his surly dumbfoundedness with perfect aplomb. Zooey Deschanel, as a department store worker with whom Buddy falls in love, is adorably sardonic. Director Jon Favreau (Swingers) shepherds the movie through all the obligatory Christmas cliches and focuses on material that's sometimes subtle and consistently surprising. Frankly, Elf feels miraculous. Also featuring Mary Steenburgen, Bob Newhart, Peter Dinklage, and Ed Asner as Santa Claus. --Bret Fetzer
(16 votes)
3.
This holiday season, discover your inner elf!
One Christmas Eve, a long time ago, a small baby at an orphanage crawled into Santa’s bag of toys, only to go undetected and accidentally carried back to Santa’s workshop in the North Pole. Though he was quickly taken under the wing of a surrogate father and raised to be an elf, as he grows to be three sizes larger than everyone else, it becomes clear that Buddy (Will Ferrell) will never truly fit into the elf world. What he needs is to find his real family. This holiday season, Buddy decides to find his true place in the world and sets off for New York City to track down his roots.
Although Buddy experiences a world he never knew existed, he quickly learns that life in the big city is not all ice skating and sugarplums, and he finds himself as much an outsider there as back in the North Pole. Buddy seeks out his real father, Walter (James Caan), a workaholic publisher of children’s books with a place on Santa’s “naughty” list. Walter doesn’t believe Buddy is who or what he says he is; in fact, the only thing Walter believes in with any certainty is the bottom line. Buddy also discovers a new mom (Mary Steenburgen), and learns he has a ten-year-old half-brother (Daniel Tay) who doesn’t believe in Christmas or elves or Santa. In fact, everyone seems to have forgotten the true meaning of Christmas.
With the holiday season fast approaching, Buddy takes it upon himself and his earnest elf ways to win over his family, realize his destiny and, ultimately, save Christmas for New York and the world.
Will Ferrell (Old School, “Saturday Night Live”) stars as Buddy the elf in New Line Cinema’s family comedy Elf. Directed by Jon Favreau (Made) from an original script written by David Berenbaum (Disney’s upcoming The Haunted Mansion), the film features a stellar supporting cast that includes James Caan, Zooey Deschanel, Mary Steenburgen, Daniel Tay, with Edward Asner (as Santa Claus) and Bob Newhart (as Papa Elf).
Elf is a Guy Walks into a Bar production, produced by Jon Berg, Todd Komarnicki and Shauna Robertson. The executive producers are Toby Emmerich, Kent Alterman, Cale Boyter, Jimmy Miller and Julie Wixson Darmody. The co-producer is David Householter.
New Line Cinema will release Elf (rated PG by the M.P.A.A. for “some mild rude humor and language”) nationwide on November 7th, 2003.
(15 votes)
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