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Will Ferrell continues to show a comic
prowess that I love in the movie Elf. He plays Buddy, a human who, as an orphaned
baby, snuck into Santa’s bag one Christmas Eve. Santa, played by Ed Asner, doesn’t
discover the child until he gets back to the North Pole. At that point, he designates
one of his senior elves, played by Bob Newhart, to raise the youngster as his own. Even
though Buddy is over six feet tall, he’s unaware of the fact that he’s not an elf.
Unfortunately, he’s not able to produce toys like the others, and that eventually leads
to him finding out about his human roots.
When he’s told the story of his
past, Buddy decides that he wants to meet his father, who is unaware of Buddy’s
existence. Buddy’s mother passed away, and she never told Buddy’s father that the baby
existed. So armed with an old snapshot of his parents and a snow globe of New York,
Buddy leaves the North Pole to spend Christmas with his human family.
It’s difficult to imagine anyone else pulling off the role of Buddy. The
closest I can think of might be Tom Hanks’ performance in Big. Buddy is
definitely a man-child, but Ferrell plays it straight and does not seem to try overdoing
it.
This is a sweet film that offers a lot of the elements found in other
family Christmas films, including Miracle on 34th Street, It’s a Wonderful
Life, and A Christmas Story. Even if the ending isn’t really a surprise, it’s
certainly a pleasant gift. Elf is a movie that should be watched and shared with
the whole family.
This Infinifilm™ offers a lot of extras. As with other
Infinifilm™ titles, you can see the material incorporated in the movie, or you can watch
exactly what you want when you want. Some of the extra material includes featurettes
like “Deck the Halls,” which shows people obsessed with holiday decorating, “Kids on
Christmas,” which is a Kids Say the Darndest Things type of feature, and “How They
Made the North Pole,” a behind-the-scenes feature. In addition to the plethora of
featurettes, you’ll also find a commentary, deleted/alternate scenes, and more.
GRADE: A (movie) A ++ (DVD)
