It’s a remarkably delightful film when it comes to laughter, heartfelt emotion, and Christmas spirit.
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It is every year around the holiday season that Hollywood inundates us with at least a few holiday-style films. They are usually meant to be warm and heartfelt and to lift our spirits in hopes that we may make it through the most stressful period of the year without a bah-humbug attitude. Unfortunately, when you really think about it, there are very few Christmas and holiday genre films that have made the hall of fame when it comes to being one of the greats. And the best ones were made back in the 1950s through the very early 1980s. I need not list any of them here because if you are truly a Christmas movie buff, then you know exactly which films I´m talking about.
I´m pleased to report that New Line´s "Elf," directed by Jon Favreau, is close to exceptional enough to place among the list of memorable holiday films. Probably not as good as the all-time great contenders, but it does make a very good effort in attempting to delight its audience. It´s a remarkably delightful film when it comes to laughter, heartfelt emotion, and Christmas spirit. However, it lacks in depth, taking us through a journey that feels rushed because, god forbid, we wouldn´t want to bore the audience with a deeply involved story. And a deeply involved story is most likely why so many Christmas movies tend to flop. After all, Hollywood has produced many films for the MTV generation, which has close to the attention span of a matchstick, so it would be a little demanding to make them watch a movie that asks them to think. As for "Elf," it manages to save itself from the disaster of intellectual boredom by keeping us delighted with a good dose of holiday comedy, a tad bit of potty humor, a good touch of family spirit, and more holiday warmth than an overflow of rum in a bowl of eggnog. I can only imagine Martha Stewart would have to say, "Elf is a good thing," even if this year, she´ll have to say that from behind bars.
"Elf" is the small tale of a man named Buddy (Will Farrell). When Buddy was a toddler in an orphan house, he snuck his way into Santa´s (Ed Asner) toy bag and accidentally ended up at the North Pole during Christmas Eve. Buddy was raised by elves and adopted by Papa Elf (Bob Newhart) in the hope that he would fit in with everyone else. This, of course, makes for some of the comedy of the film as Buddy is an enormous six-foot giant compared to everyone else, and he manages to foul up everything he gets into. One night Papa Elf breaks the news to Buddy that he has a biological father named Walter Hobbs (James Caan). Between Papa and Santa, they both send Buddy off to the big city, New York, to find his real father after thirty years of never knowing who he was.
Along the way, we run into more funny moments as Farrell acts so true and genuine to the role that you can´t help but laugh. Buddy is an overly happy elf who becomes simply giddy with anything that has to do with Christmas, and his meals consist of holiday candy and a good serving of maple syrup on anything, including spaghetti noodles. By the time he meets his father, he is very excited, but he is greeted by a reluctant James Caan, who refuses to accept the fact that Buddy is his son. Walter Hobbs, as you can imagine, plays the role of a "Scrooge" type of character who is caught up in the corporate world and has neither the time nor the heart for anything to do with Christmas. It´s actually a fitting role for Caan, even if it does seem a bit stereotyped for him; but let´s face it: he plays the serious, arrogant roles rather well.
Walter has a blood test done on Buddy and is told the harsh truth that Buddy is his son. The outcome is the worst possible news Walter could hear as he is now faced with the responsibility of caring for his newfound son, whom he feels is a mentally gifted person (I would have said "challenged" but it´s not good to offend elves when they are the guys who report to the Big Man on Campus, if you know what I mean). Walter brings Buddy home to meet his new step mom, Emily (Mary Steenburgen), and his little brother, Michael (Daniel Tay). As can be expected, mom thinks he´s gifted and wonderful, and his little brother thinks he´s a freak. Nonetheless, that all changes one day when Buddy helps Michael out in an over-the-top snowball fight in Central Park.
After the bonding event, Michael is even kind enough to help Buddy win over a female interest named Jovie (Zooey Deschanel), whom he meets while working in the Gimbels department store. There are some funny moments of innocent cat-and-mouse games between Jovie and Buddy, and their night out on the town is definitely a hoot. The chemistry here is that Buddy has never experienced the emotions of being attracted to a girl. On the other hand, Jovie has certainly been hit on more times than a Vegas slot machine and it shows in her attitude. Yet, the delightful interaction between Buddy and Jovie does make for a small amount of love interest in the film, although it never overshadows the overall plot. It is also never pushed beyond pure innocence and the emotions of first love.
As the film moves on, we realize the underlying plot is of people finding the Christmas spirit, which they, of course, have lost so much of. As it is, Santa´s sleigh used to fly on Christmas spirit alone, but it is now powered by a rocket engine since so many people have lost their Christmas spirit. I always thought it was reindeer that made Santa´s sleigh fly, so I can only assume the film´s creators were unaware of this. It is also funny how Hollywood seems to think we have all lost the joy of Christmas when in fact many of us can´t wait to get our decorations out right after Halloween. Nevertheless, the movie assumes that we have all gone bah-humbug and have no hope when it comes to the spirit of Christmas. No matter how the underlying plot may seem impractical and emphatically attempted by almost every holiday film, it still manages to touch the heart, if even only for a small moment. And to be honest, that´s what a holiday movie should do.
There are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments throughout the film, and a couple of my favorites are the violent ones. One in particular is one where Buddy beats the crap out of a fake Santa (Artie Lange) in Gimbels department store. Buddy had been mistaken for a Gimbels employee, and on the day Santa arrives, he immediately has him pegged for a fake and starts beating on him. Of course, there´s an entire line of kids standing around horrified by the event, yet I found it hysterical for some reason and wished there could have been a little more Artie Lange in the movie.
The other hilarious scene is when Walter hires a professional writer, Miles Finch (Peter Dinklage), to come up with a children´s story by Christmas Eve for his publishing firm. Miles is an arrogant, pompous, rude writer who stands probably less than four feet in height. Buddy enters the meeting room were Miles, Walter, and other colleagues are discussing their story plans, and, as you might expect, Buddy mistakes him for an elf. Miles warns Buddy to never call him an elf and then dares him to say it one more time. Buddy repeats it as many times as Miles asks him to while he, little four-foot Miles, is beating the tar out of Buddy.
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[release]12339[/release]