Elf
PG, 95 minutes, South Wind 12
contributed photo
Every Christmas of my youth, I would scan the TV Guide to find out when all my favorite Christmas specials were scheduled to run. These included classics such as How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Prosty the Snowman and my personal favorite Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. It is the last that concerns me today. Remember how beautiful the North Pole was in all its claymation glory? Seeing clay figures move about in their antique whimsical way just says Christmas to all who grew up with the Reindeer classic. In Elf, the claymation returns and the North Pole is inhabited with everyone we remember and love about those old Christmas specials. The wise talking snowman, the lovable forest creatures, Santa himself and the 6-foot-2 human dressed in elf clothing.
Will Ferrell plays an elf on the hunt for his real family in the new release Elf.
What? You don't remember the human who was raised by elves?
How can that be when my comic hero Will Ferrell plays him so wonderfully in this unabashedly cute Christmas comedy?
One Christmas Eve Santa visited a human orphanage only to capture a stowaway baby boy in his Christmas
satchel. Thirty years later, Buddy is having trouble fitting in with the elf world. Finally his adoptive father Papa Elf (Bob Newheart) breaks down and tells Buddy the truth about his origins and that his birth father is currently residing in New York City. Buddy decides it is time to find the family he never knew so he travels to the big city to find his father.
His father (James Caan) is a struggling children's book publisher and when a full grown man in a green tunic and yellow tights turns up at his Empire State Building office he is less than thrilled to discover that the jolly fellow is indeed the son he never knew he had.
The Will Ferrell we all love on Saturday Night Live or in Old School is still there, but he is now sweeter, happier and just plain in love with the world and everyone in it. He couldn't be more precious when dealing with his new little brother (Daniel Tay) as they participate in a major snowball fight in Central Park
or when falling for a department store elf (Zooey Deschanel) who sees the charm hidden in all of Buddy's antics.
To top everything off, the film, directed by Made's Jon Favreau, has a classic Christmas feel, especially in the North Pole sets. The presence of a little Christmas magic is all it takes to get Santa's (Edward Asner) broken sleigh to fly again, and it is up to Buddy to spread some cheer to all of angry old New York City. Ridiculous as the plot is, the film doesn't take itself seriously, which is perhaps why it works so well. We've got talking animals over here and the real life dilemma of being able to believe over there. The film is flimsy Christmas fun and it only takes a Will Ferrell in tights to make us ask ourselves why we just can't believe.
—Lindsey Ramsey
Grade: B
thursday, november 13. 2003
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jayplay 21