Spaghetti with syrup is Breakfast at Champions for Elves

ELF (2003)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Christmas elves are magical beings who spend an entire year creating toys in the North Pole for Santa Claus. Okay, we all know that but accepting a human who becomes part of Santa's Elves is unusual to say the least. This is part of the story of "Elf," a heartwarming enough and sporadically funny Christmas movie that has become a classic since its 2003 release. My misgivings are that it doesn't go far enough with its pleasing narrative and most of the plot you will see coming from a lot closer than the North Pole.

That is not to say that there is no fun to be had here. Will Ferrell is perfectly cast as Buddy Elf, the human who is looking for his father who is apparently on the naughty list. Backstory on Buddy is that he was an orphanage baby given up his deceased mother who crawled into Santa's bag after seeing a teddy bear. Santa (lovingly and grumpily played by Ed Asner) sees his sack moving after delivering presents, finds the baby and thus Buddy is the given name. Buddy is raised by Papa Elf (Bob Newhart, of all people) yet Buddy, who is of course human, appears taller than all the elves not to mention the numerous Christmas trees in the wintry horizon. Buddy finds out the truth that he is not human (which may explain his inability to meet his toy-making quota) and wants to find his father (James Caan, again, talk about strange casting) who is a cold-hearted workaholic publisher of children's books.

There is much sprightly fun with Zooey Deschanel as Jovie, an apathetic worker at the Gimbels department store where she is one of "Santa's Elves." Buddy takes a romantic interest in her and their relationship is charming and rather sweet - she is clearly amused and smitten that someone takes a liking to her and her rendition of "Baby, It's Cold Outside." Not as much fun is James Caan who seems spectacularly uninterested in almost anything going on in his life, yet Caan's character eventually succumbs to Buddy's innocent charm. Mary Steenburgen plays Caan's wife who is tickled pink by this Elf and the scene where she pretends to enjoy Buddy's spaghetti is a doozy.

Though I enjoyed "Elf" overall, I wish more time was spent on the North Pole. It is truly hysterical watching Ferrell parade around his fellow elves like a giant who has to keep tilting his head to enter the small domiciles (it is also great fun seeing some Rankin Bass stop-motion characters) and who is often held to a lower standard to the point that he tests toys like Jack-in-the-Box. It is also damn funny seeing Bob Newhart as the narrator and Papa Elf who truly cares for his adopted son. It is only the James Caan subplot that hinders the enjoyment a little - how tired the notion that a childlike adult can make his real dad's heart melt who decides not to give in to corporate pressure (I am sure I remember seeing such cliches in animated TV Christmas shorts).

Still, Will Ferrell enthuses and is like a giant baby who whirls around the screen like some caffeinated elf who had one too many bowls of spaghetti with maple syrup (his food of choice). He is the heart and joy of this movie, not something I say very often about Will Ferrell.