Elf

I love Christmas. Candy canes, mistletoe, frosty windows, colored lights, Santa Claus, evergreen trees, brightly-papered presents, all of it. But more than that, I love the celebration of Christ’s birth, the acknowledgement of the beginning of my faith. Also, I love movies. The dissection of films is one of my main leisure pursuits, and writing for this blog has become one of my biggest focuses. So, naturally, when two of the biggest loves of my life intersect, I am especially excited.

That being said, let me also say that Elf, one of the latest contributions to the Christmas movie canon, is not the greatest Christmas movie I have ever seen. In reality, it leaves a lot to be desired. It doesn’t have very lofty ambitions, though, so I wasn’t expecting too much from it. It’s cute, it’s harmless, it’s pretty funny, and that’s about it. In the scope of other much greater Christmas movies (Miracle On 34^th Street, It’s a Wonderful Life, The Nightmare Before Christmas, even the first Santa Clause), it falls short, but is at least better than the piece of chicken-fried crap called Santa Claus: the Movie.

Elf centers around the story of Buddy the elf, and also on Will Ferrell’s performance as the title character. Ferrell is really the only actor in the movie who really believes in his role, and you have to admire the reckless abandon he brings to every role he plays. Even so, director Jon Favreau (a much better director than an actor) pulls him back in places, representing the reins to Ferrell’s wildly bucking horse. The unabashed homage to the classic clay-mation Christmas cartoons brought a smile at first, but went from charming to annoying when it didn’t stop at the credits. The part where the narwhal is wishing Buddy good luck made me think “wait a sec, is the movie honoring those cartoons, or making fun of them?

Ferrell’s very funny, and I really like the approach that he takes in this, one of innocence and selflessness. James Caan is good as Buddy’s biological father, and funnier than he lets on in his other movies. Zooey Deschanel, while she is very appealing, is pretty vapid as Buddy’s love interest. She was great in Almost Famous, but it seems she had a downward spike after that. Bob Newhart’s cameo is nice, though, and he gives exactly what the audience wants from him: Bob Newhart as an elf. The theme is the father-son relationship, and how it’s stronger than circumstances, but its presentation is pretty weak, like it was little more than an afterthought. The movie’s Stranger In a Strange Land vibe is neat, and the things Buddy does in reaction to this cynical world of ours are sometimes hilarious and sometimes tragic.

Overall, however, the movie’s just alright. But I can’t help but think that there are so many other Christmas movies out there that are so much better. I think you should see all of those before you see Elf. What I like about this movie is that it doesn’t try to have this deep message about Christmas, as many Christmas movies do. A few succeed admirably, but some of the best Christmas movies and TV specials are very simple, with a simple message. Elf is one of those, but because the plot had so much to do with Christmas and the theme really didn’t, I was a little let down. The intersection of those two things was pretty cool, but not enough to garner it a higher score.

Iconic lines:
“What’s a Christmas Gram? I want one!”
“It’s just like Santa’s workshop! Except it smells like mushrooms, and everyone looks like they want to hurt me."
“Have you seen these toilets? They’re GINORMOUS!!!”

22 Rating: 5

Particle Man