I love Christmas and like many Christmas movies. There are some, like National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, that I tend to watch every year. In 2003, Elf, a new family Christmas movie was released. I saw the previews and wasn’t sure if I wanted to see it or not. I read a few reviews from people that didn’t care for it and decided not to see the movie. In 2004, I saw several Christmas movies and decided to go ahead and rent Elf, which was released on DVD in November 2004.

Buddy never realized that he wasn’t an elf even though he was so much taller than all the other elves and had trouble building toys. Buddy had crawled into Santa’s bag and wasn’t discovered until Santa was back at the North Pole. Buddy was raised by Papa Elf and accepted by the other elves even though he didn’t exactly fit in. Papa Elf finally told Buddy the truth after he over heard two elves talking about him. Buddy’s real father, Walter, lived in New York City and was a publisher of books for children. Walter was on the naughty list. Buddy decided that he wanted to go to New York to meet Walter. Santa and Papa Elf were supportive about Buddy’s decision and he set off on his own.

Buddy was unprepared for life in New York City and had trouble adjusting. He was naive and innocent about things which caused him to end up in some trouble. He did find Walter who didn’t believe that Buddy was his son or an elf. Even after Walter accepted that Buddy was his son, he still didn’t believe that Buddy was an elf. Walter’s wife Emily and son Michael were more accepting about the situation. Buddy wanted a relationship with his father and tried to fit into his world, which didn’t work too well. Buddy developed feelings for Jovie, a woman that worked as an elf at a department store. Buddy ended up having to save Christmas.

The fact that Buddy was a human that had been raised by elves was unique. Other Christmas movies have featured Santa, elves, and the North Pole. It did seem like this movie showed more concerning the elves. It was a nice touch to have Papa Elf explain about the few job choices that elves have. It was shared that elves tended to eat mostly sweet things like candy and syrup all the time. The North Pole had a nice, friendly look to it. The North Pole had a very different look in the movie The Polar Express where it looked more like a large, busy city. In Elf, the elves were around, mostly working on the toys, but it didn’t look crowded or busy. It did look like the elves had fun even when they were working. I would have enjoyed seeing more of this version of the North Pole. Buddy was treated well by the other elves. They all knew he was human and didn’t hold it against him. Buddy did have difficulty with certain aspects of life as an elf, like building toys. He also had some problems because he was so much bigger and everything in the North Pole was built to elf scale.

I thought that Elf was a very funny movie. When I first saw the previews for it back in 2003, I thought it would turn out to be a very silly movie. I don’t mind silly movies at times, but the previews and a few reviews I had read made me think the movie would be too silly and actually downright stupid. Once the DVD was released, I read more positive reviews and ended up changing my mind about watching the movie. It was a bit silly, but not so silly that it was stupid or annoying like I was afraid it would be. Elf was a fun, light-hearted movie, that was very entertaining. During the beginning of the movie, most of the humor came from the fact that Buddy didn’t really fit in at the North Pole. There was some slapstick type of humor, like how Buddy kept hitting his head or things like that. I didn’t feel like that type of humor was overdone. People that don’t like that type of humor should probably avoid this movie. More humor was added to the movie once Buddy traveled to the city and tried to adjust to a way of life that was completly different for him. Buddy’s attempts to fit in there did provide some of the funniest moments in the movie. Buddy was just so innocent and naive about everything he encountered in New York. He ended up in some unique situations because of his innocence which did add more humor to the movie. There were a few things done for humor that were a bit gross, like how Buddy burped after drinking an entire two liter bottle of Coke. The gross humor wasn’t overdone like it has been in other movies.

Even though Elf was a very funny movie, it did touch on some more serious issues as well. Buddy’s parents weren’t married when he was born and Walter actually had no idea his mother had been pregnant. The fact that they weren’t married might cause some children to ask questions, so parents may want to keep that in mind when deciding if this would be a good movie for the family. There wasn’t much of an explanation for why the relationship with Buddy’s parents hadn’t worked out or why his mother decided to put Buddy up for adoption. It really wasn’t shown how Walter explained Buddy to Emily either. I did wonder what he told her. The movie didn’t dwell on the fact that Buddy’s parents hadn’t been married and that didn’t bother me at all. I just wanted to mention it because I know that sort of thing does bother some people. The movie was rated PG and really is fine for children to see. There wasn’t any swearing, though Buddy said a few unique phrases that I believe were meant to be elf curses. The movie wasn’t too long, though at 95 minutes, it was a bit longer than a lot of movies that are aimed at children are.

Once Buddy found Walter, the two did have some things to work out in their relationship. Walter really wasn’t that happy about having Buddy around. There were some sentimental moments later in the movie that some people may consider sappy. The part of the movie that I felt was really predictable was how a lack of belief in Santa was added later in the movie. It was briefly mentioned earlier in the movie by Papa Elf that not as many people believed anymore, and that was picked up late in the movie. Many Christmas movies end up having something like that included, along with how one character or a small group of characters must save Christmas. It worked the way it was done in Elf, but that part was still predictable.

During the parts of the movie that took place in the North Pole, there were a few animated characters around. I only remember seeing Buddy talk to any of those characters. He had a discussion with Leon, a snowman, at one point. The other animated characters, little animals, turned up when Buddy was leaving. The characters that were animated were done with the stop motion type of animation that reminded me a lot of some of the older Christmas cartoons like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Those characters may not have been as impressive looking as some that could be created as completly digital characters, but they fit in with the movie well. Some other special effects were used in a few other scenes throughout the movie. The effects were well done and didn’t really stand out.

Buddy was the main character and in the most scenes of Elf. He loved living in the North Pole even though he didn’t really fit in. He had a sheltered life there which caused him to have a childlike innocence about most things. He didn’t understand certain things, which did make him look stupid to some people. He tried very hard to fit in and really wanted to have a relationship with his father. Will Ferrell fit the part of Buddy perfectly. He is very good at playing this type of odd ball character. Ferrell can go overboard and be annoying. I didn’t feel that happened with his performance in this movie. I liked him in this movie better than I did Kicking & Screaming. He seemed to go overboard in that movie. I also liked him in Bewitched in which he played a different sort of character. Jovie worked as an elf in a department store. Her outfit is what Buddy first noticed. He was interested in her though he wasn’t sure how to proceed. He helped her overcome some shyness she had, mostly about singing. Zoey Deschanel was fine in the part. I didn’t like her as much in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. That was probably because I felt like the character was changed a bit to much from the book.

Walter put work ahead of his family most of the time which caused his relationship with Michael to suffer. He was quickly clear exactly why he was on the naughty list. He wasn’t exactly mean, but he wasn’t nice either. He was repossessing books from either an orphanage or a school. Walter wasn’t as developed as he could have been, but it worked out all right for the movie. This was a very different sort of role than I have usually seen James Caan play. I thought he handled the part well. Emily seemed to be much more accepting of Buddy than Walter was. She had a fully grown step son who was dressed like an elf sprung on her out of the blue and she didn’t ask questions. Unfortunately, Mary Steenburgen didn’t get much to do as Emily. Michael seemed embarrassed by Buddy at first, but the two quickly developed a friendship. Michael wanted a better relationship with his father. Santa and Papa Elf had small parts. Ed Asner and Bob Newhart were both good in the parts. The director, Jon Favreau, had a small part as a doctor Walter took Buddy too.

Main Cast

Ed Asner - Santa
James Caan - Walter
Zoey Deschanel - Jovie
Will Ferrell - Buddy
Bob Newhart - Papa Elf
Mary Steenburgen - Emily
Daniel Tay - Michael

Jon Favreau - Director

DVD Information

Elf is now available on VHS and DVD. I bought the DVD in November of 2005. The DVD contains two discs. One has the widescreen version of the movie and the other has the full screen version. Each disc contains some bonus features. The DVD is an infinifilm DVD by New Line Cinema. I have seen a few other infinifilm DVDs before. They contain the option to watch the infinifilm version of the movie which shows little facts throughout the movie. There is also the option to go directly to a bonus item from the movie and then return to the same spot in the movie once the bonus item is finished. I have never done that since I don’t want to interrupt the actual movie to watch a bonus item. When I watch those, I wait until after the movie is finished.

The Elf DVD contains several extras. There are commentaries by Will Farrell and Jon Favreau that I haven’t listened to yet. The discs contained cute animated menus, but I did have a bit of trouble finding the extra content that I was interested in watching because of the way it was arranged. I’ve had that sort of trouble with other infinifilm DVDs. Some of the extras were found under Beyond the Movie features, and others were under All Access Pass features. Infinifilm must be selected to get to the extras instead of picking special features from the main menu on the DVD like I’m use to doing for most of them. It was irritating to me that it wasn’t easier to find the extras. Selecting infinifilm was the last thing I did since I was thinking that would just make that special version of the movie play. I don’t remember any other movies that have been released on DVD since Elf that have had this format, so maybe New Line Cinema stopped doing it. I did watch the deleted and alternate scenes and thought they were cute. I also watched and enjoyed the different behind the scenes features that showed how different things, like the animation of the few animated characters was done or how they created the look of the North Pole for the movie. There are also several games included and some DVD-ROM content to access from a computer.

Elf is a very fun, entertaining Christmas movie that is good for families. There were some silly moments, but I didn’t think it went overboard. The movie was just very enjoyable to watch. I’m sure I’ll be watching it every year at Christmas time since I know own the DVD.

Christmas Movie Reviews
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation ~ Bad Santa ~ Christmas with the Kranks ~ The Polar Express ~ The Ice Harvest ~

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up Ages 8