Elf (2003) Review

CLAYTON'S CHRISTMAS CINEMA!

Elf (2003) Review

Will Ferrell may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but you can’t deny the man has talent and makes loads of people bust a gut laughing, even with some of his not-so-great films. You also can’t deny that Elf is a modern Christmas classic and one of Ferrell’s best roles to date.

Buddy the elf crawled into Santa’s bag of toys on Christmas Eve when he was just a baby living at an orphanage. Santa didn’t realize Buddy had stowed away until he got back to the North Pole, so Papa elf (Bob Newhart) adopted him and raised him as an elf. Then one day, adult Buddy (Will Ferrell) realizes he’s a human who’s been raised by elves, and embarks on an epic journey to New York City to meet his real dad Walter Hobbs (James Caan) and reconnect with him. Unfortunately for Buddy, his father is a workaholic at a book publisher who doesn’t have enough time for his wife or other younger son, and worse yet, he’s on the naughty list. Unfortunately for Walter, Buddy resorts to a childhood state of mind once he meets him and will stop at nothing to spread Christmas cheer to everyone in New York. Come Christmas Eve, there isn’t enough Christmas spirit to help Santa’s sleigh fly, so Buddy must enlist the help of his newfound friends and family to reignite the spirit of the holidays and save Christmas.

Elf is one of my favourite Christmas films ever. If you aren’t a fan of Will Ferrell, this movie might not be for you, but if you do enjoy his sense of humour, then this is a must-see. It manages to capture the magical feel of classics like Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer (thanks to some animation and even a direct reference to the original TV special) and also appeal to older viewers with some more adult humour a la Jingle All the Way or Bad Santa. Will Ferrell is instantly iconic as Buddy, and like his other memorable roles, he has numerous quotable lines (“He’s an angry elf”, “Son of a nutcracker!”, and “Buddy the elf what’s your favourite colour?” come to mind). As well as Ferrell, the whole cast is great. Caan is perfect as the grouchy old dad, and even the smaller parts are memorable, such as Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones) as rich author Miles Finch and Faizon Love as the manager at Gimbels. It’s hard to pinpoint anything truly wrong or bad about this film. Zooey Deschanel’s character is a Grinch throughout most of the movie (on purpose) and she’s sort of reminiscent of Phoebe Cates in Gremlins. Though she comes around by the end, her dour attitude is always a comedown. Not every single joke works, but when does that ever happen in a comedy? These small things never detract from how great the movie is as a whole.

Elf only gets funnier every time you see it. It has all the essentials that make a good Christmas film rolled up into one hilarious adventure, with Will Ferrell at his best. If there’s one film I would recommend the whole family sit down to watch together this holiday season, it is this one.