By Maya Minwary
Assistant A&E Editor
Christmas movies are usually filled with cheesy jokes and cliché plots. Take the case of the 1998 teeny-bopper movie “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” starring Jessica Biel and Jonathan Taylor Thomas. The movie explores the story of a college student who struggles to get home in time for Christmas; in the meantime he finds the true meaning of the holiday. Typical.
Of course, there are cult classics worth watching every Christmas like “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “A Christmas Story.” These movies become timeless for their innovative story and humor.
Will Ferrell’s (former star of “Saturday Night Live”) new movie “Elf” is a cross between being another Buddy (Will Ferrell) sleeps in the window of the New
disastrous holiday movie York department store at which he works while his
about a six-foot human father Walter (James Caan) looks on, having just
raised by one of Santa’s found out that the elf-man is his first-born son.
elves and a hilarious
family movie worth seeing more than once.
“Elf” follows a typical storyline about Buddy (Ferrell) who, as a baby in an orphanage, crawled into Santa’s toy bag. When Santa discovered his little stowaway, an elder elf (Bob Newhart) decides to adopt Buddy and raise him as his own son.
All was well in the North Pole until Buddy grows into a gigantic adult — well, compared to the two-foot elves, anyway. His ungainly size wreaks havoc in Santa’s community as he can’t make toys as fast as the other elves, and Papa Elf finally tells him that he’s really a human being.
Buddy also learns that, although he was placed in the orphanage because his mother died, his biological father Walter (James Caan) is still alive and works as a heartless businessman in New York City. So, Buddy decides to search for his father and his roots.
When Buddy arrives, after an arduous trip through the candy cane forest, past the sea of swirly, twirly gum drops and a short walk through the Lincoln Tunnel, he finds out that the human world isn’t as friendly as the North Pole. His own father, who never knew he had a son with Buddy’s real mother, thought Buddy was a crazy man seeking his money. After a DNA test confirmed their blood ties, Walter brings Buddy home to his family. He meets his new mom Emily (Mary Steenburgen) and his 10-year-old cynical half-brother Michael (Daniel Tay) who doesn’t believe in Christmas, Santa or elves.
In fact, all of New York City seems to lack the Christmas spirit. Buddy decides to save Christmas for his family, New York City and the whole world.
The general plotline of “Elf” is nothing novel. True, I haven’t heard of any other movie about a human raised as an elf, but the whole soul/family searching and saving Christmas makes the film too predictable.
Nevertheless, director John Favreau (“Undeclared”), who also made a cameo appearance as the doctor in the movie, did a great job of twisting an almost catastrophic movie into a comedic family film worth watching for its laugh-out-loud cast.
Ferrell’s ability to act like a naïve, big kid on screen by eating cotton balls and already-been-chewed gum and drinking a whole two-litter bottle of Coke is probably what saved the movie.
“Santa!” Buddy screams when he finds out that the department store where he works is going to bring a “Santa” for the kids to see. “I know him, I know him.”
Another surprisingly delightful cast member is Zooey Deschanel, who plays Jovie, Buddy’s new found love. Deschanel, who’s had smaller roles in “Almost Famous” and “Mumford,” stars in “Elf” as the pessimistic young store department employee who Buddy eventually falls in love with. The 23-year-old actress sings in this movie with a harmonious, deep voice that’s reminiscent of Judy Garland.
Overall, while the plot line seems almost too cliché for the movie to be worth paying the pricey $7 to $10 cinema price, the great cast members in “Elf” (who are sure to make the audience laugh) and its upright, clean comedy make the film worth seeing this holiday.
November 13, 2003
