It’s the Christmas season again and time to review another classic Christmas comedy. Director Jon Favreau, best known for directing the “Iron Man” movies, brings us the 2003 motion picture simply titled “Elf”. It’s actually quite rare for a Christmas comedy from the 2000’s to stand the test of time as a holiday classic. Most of them like “Fred Claus” and “Deck the Halls” just crash and burn. I’ll be honest, while I do like this movie, I certainly wouldn’t call it one of the best Christmas movies I’ve ever seen. I have some reservations that way it down, but it still has its charms, and it certainly has it's laughs. So, to continue with my Christmas reviews, lets look at this early 2000's comedy and see what either works or doesn't.
The plot goes like this, one Christmas Eve a baby accidentally stows away in Santa’s bag, and is whisked off to the North Pole. This baby was already an orphan, so one of Santa’s elf’s decides to take him in as a son and names him Buddy. As you’d expect, this guy doesn’t fit in with the other elves, and longs to learn who his real family is. Once he discovers that his real father is alive, and working in New York city, he sets out determined to meet him. Unfortunately, there’s a catch ... his dad is on the knotty list, and now nothing will stop Buddy from bringing holiday cheer and family togetherness to him. I like this premise a lot, but the way this story is told can feel a little mixed at times. Most of it is delightful, some of it is cringe, and the jokes come off as hit or miss.
Before I get into all of that, let’s talk about the absolute best thing this movie has to offer ... and that's Will Ferrell as Buddy the elf. Holly smokes, how could you not love this guy? This was actually Will Ferrell’s very first movie after he left “Saturday Night Live”, and it’s easily one of the best performances of his carrier. He is so innocent, so energetic, so adorably naïve, that you can’t help but smile whenever he’s on screen. Not only is the performance fun to watch, but the character himself is just wonderful. He’s so full of Christmas spirit, and is so determined that everyone else is feeling the same amount of holiday cheer. His hyperactive joy is so contagious, I just can't get enough of the guy. Most of his jokes are side splitting, including a laugh out loud funny montage that involves him arriving in New York city for the first time. My favorite joke by far is when he exposes a "fake Santa" for what he is. Unfortunately, I'll have to admit that some of his jokes are painful ... mainly his jokes that involve un-healthy food. Personally, I'd like this movie so much more if they'd just remove all the gross-out food jokes.
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James Caan is also wonderful as the bitter father, and perfect reactions to all of Will Ferrell's antics. Honestly, if it wasn't for James Caan, this movie wouldn't have had an anchor to balance out the films relentlessly giddy tone. He's also quiet funny, in a dry and satirical way. Unfortunately, while the rest of the cast is great, I don't think the remaining characters are all that special. Santa and his elf’s especially are either too grouchy or too disinterested. I do love Ed Asner, and on some level it's great to see him in the role of a Santa. Unfortunately, despite having a great actor in the role, nothing else about this Santa ever worked for me. Although, I loved seeing Peter Billingsley, who's most famous for playing Ralphie in "A Christmas Story", as one of the lead Elf's. Oh, and there’s also a girl friend, who really doesn't amount to much more than an average girl friend. The only other credible performance aside from Will Ferrell has got to be Peter Dinklage as a children's author, who Buddy confuses for an Elf do to his height. While Peter Dinklage is very well known now, largely thanks to "Game of Thrones", he was still mostly unknown at the time of this film, and I think this small role helped kick start his recognition.
Now, being a Christmas movie, this film at least has plenty of genuine holiday charms. The opening credit scene get’s things started on a good note, with some colorful visuals, an upbeat musical score, and some charming stop-motion animals that are very reminiscent of the classic Rankin Bass specials that we grew up with (and possibly suffered through). Even the North Pole is populated with stop motion animals, even a snow man character called Leon the Snowman, who's clearly inspired by Sam the Snowman from the 1964 special "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer". There’s also a candy cane forest, which I really wanted to see more of, because that's a very imaginative setting for a Christmas movie. Unfortunately, everything else about this portrayal of the North Pole ... in my view anyway ... sucks. The workshop and homes are all so dull and ugly looking, with absolutely zero color on display. There’s no magic in the air, and it has this slightly depressing overtone. Aside from the colorful uniforms worn by the elf’s, all you get to look at are ugly white walls, and white furniture, but thankfully this is only a small problem. There’s still plenty of other scenes that are worth looking forward to, including a wild snowball fight, and a scene in which Buddy goes overboard decorating a shopping mall for Christmas.
However, my biggest reservation with this movie is the ending, as I feel the whole third act of this film completely forgets about our lead elf and his family problems. Instead, we transition into this other story that involves Santa crashing in New York, and he can’t fly the sleigh because no one believes in him. There’s a group of evil park rangers that want to see Santa dead, and it’s up to our supporting characters to bring Christmas cheer to everyone else. Meanwhile, our main character, who we’ve been invested in and rooting for get’s very little to do in the climax. Plus, his family problems, which have been the main focus of the whole movie, get resolved way too fast, and it always makes me wonder if there was any point to the whole thing.
Thanks for reading my review of the 2003 Christmas staple “Elf” ... and continue to enjoy the Christmas or other holiday specials you Love!
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