Elf

Review by Jason Donner

A human who is raised by elves seeks his place in the world in the Will Ferrell comedy, Elf.

Elf may not be a perfect movie... to be honest, it's not that well written at all... at best, the script can be called mediocre. Thank God, however, it was serviceable because the cast and director has turned what would otherwise be an unambitious and forgettable movie into an instant Christmastime classic.

After sitting through the dreck that was Christmas with the Kranks and the slightly more tolerable dreck that is Surviving Christmas, Elf was a welcome breath of fresh air. Yeah, I know that this movie has been out for over a year, but the DVD has only been out for a month. For some reason, this movie kept eluding me until I borrowed it from my own mother who said it was the funniest thing she'd seen in years.

Well, she doesn't see much... but I will admit that this movie is very funny and has an infectious quality to it. Once you get past the silly elf costume that Ferrell parades around in, his character's innocence, naivety, and Christmas spirit really gets to you.

Elf hits you with what appears to be the generic message in all movies about Santa or the North Pole and all that junk and that is that it's okay to believe in Santa and all things that are good in the world. Elf commits the sin of becoming too heavy handed near the end and, as I said, the script is some pretty standard fare to be sure. What saves this movie is that the actors and director really got into it... they're here to deliver the Christmas cheer and they deliver buttloads of it.

Elf isn't the perfect holiday movie, but it is destined to become a holiday staple - if it hasn't already earned that title already. It's just so great to see a movie finally rein in the spirit of the holidays without beating us over the head with some kind of a message. Elf is fun, it's wickedly clever, and it's full of some great performances. Heck, I've even got its goofy theme going through my head right now. Dum-dum, dum-dum-dum, dum, dah-dum-dum dum.

I stop short of saying that it's heartwarming, but it's fun, it's spirited, and it's probably one of Will Ferrell's better movies. Ho ho ho!