2003-11-18

At the beginning of his review of Elf, Roger Ebert poses the question, "If I were to tell you "Elf" stars Will Ferrell as a human named Buddy who thinks he is an elf and Ed Asner as Santa Claus, would you feel an urgent desire to see this film?" I have to say that the answer is a resounding NO. However, G and I went to see Elf tonight and it was the perfect tonic for my pre-Christmas irritability.

The story of Elf is fairly simple and worthy of a few good eye-rolls (before you actually see the movie, that is): a human baby crawls into Santa's sack during his visit to an orphanage and ends up being raised at the North Pole as an elf, despite the fact that he's a good five feet taller than his adoptive father, played to great comedic effect by Bob Newhart. I swear, Bob Newhart is only getting funnier as he gets older. Anyway, eventually the truth about Buddy's adoption comes out and he decides to go to, where else, New York City and look for his biological father.

Sounds awful, right? Well, it's actually pretty funny. For one thing, Will Ferrell plays Buddy totally straight-faced, without a hint of irony. Zooey Deschanel is utterly charming as a jaded Gimbel's employee whom Buddy falls in love with.

The soundtrack is perfect, filled with jazzy Christmas carols and a great version of "Baby It's Cold Outside" sung by Deschanel and Ferrell.

My only complaint is that in one scene there is a framed print of a children's book cover (James Caan runs a company that publishes children's books) titled Where the Bear's Be. That apostrophe should not be there! That's a plural, not a possessive!

Overall, Elf was an enjoyable movie that put a smile on my face and left me with a little more Christmas Spirit than I usually have at this time of year. Talk to me again on December 20th, though, when I'll have had fifty days solid of Christmas carols whenever I go grocery shopping.

Posted by polarcanuck at 9:43 p.m.

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