Review: 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-RT-RatingText: 4.5/5