Elf (2003)
Directed by Jon Favreau
When young Buddy falls into Santa's gift sack on Christmas Eve, he's transported back to the North Pole and raised as a toy-making elf by Santa's helpers. But as he grows into adulthood, he can't shake the nagging feeling that he doesn't belong. Buddy vows to visit Manhattan and find his real dad, a workaholic.
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27 films that influenced Elf
What critics say influenced Elf
"Elf," formulaic but lovable, is essentially "Big" in pointy shoes.
Ferrel has an innocence and wonder about his character, and the ability to play a child in a man’s body, that reminds me of Tom Hanks in “Big.”
It's a lot like "Splash," and a lot like "Big," and a lot like some other movies that did not star Tom Hanks.
His Buddy, a cheerful combination of Stan Laurel and Tom Hanks in "Big," is an endearing elf Candide, a true naif who can't help but make the best of everything.
If there's a distinct whiff of Big about all of this, it's worth pointing out that director Jon Favreau (Made) and writer David Berenbaum fully embrace the likeness, even setting some of their picture in a large department store.
He also earns strong performances from the supporting cast, notably Zooey Deschanel, who sings a beautiful version of "Baby It's Cold Outside" (originally in the 1949 film Neptune's Daughter) and Ed Asner as a grumpy Santa.
In a very subtle way, Elf kept reminding me of George C. Scott’s They Might Be Giants speech, where he postulates that modern man is all wrong, and that beauty is all around, but hard to find or overlooked (“The earth is shining under the soot”).
Director Jon Favreau ("Made") hides the cliches in Berenbaum's script by playing up its eccentricities (Buddy's love of maple syrup is worked in a scene that may be homage to Dan Aykroyd's drunken Santa gross-out salmon bit in "Trading Places").
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A kissing cousin to 1988's notorious Scrooged–another Christmas fable that grapples with New York City cynicism–Elf clearly doesn't believe the yuletide sentiments it's peddling, which doesn't affect the comedy but torpedoes the heartwarming ending.
But a helping of familiar holiday schmaltz and some poor visual effects nudge "Elf" off the must-see list reserved for essentials like "Scrooged" and "A Christmas Story."
Certainly, it fancies itself an instant classic, with its numerous references to holiday immortals -- Miracle on 34th Street, It's a Wonderful Life, the claymation of Rankin-Bass -- intended to suggest that it not only borrows, but also belongs.
The North Pole has a retro look, Buddy ends up at Gimbel's, one of the department stores immortalized in Miracle on 34th Street (1947), and there's an animated snowman like the one in the classic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer TV specials.
I've heard it compared to It's a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, and A Christmas Story.
It is even less effective than the similar scene in the 1994 remake of Miracle On 34th Street.
Buddy's disruptions extend to the working world as well, when he takes a job at Gimbels (shades of Miracle on 34th Street).
It's a lot like "Splash," and a lot like "Big," and a lot like some other movies that did not star Tom Hanks.
Certainly, it fancies itself an instant classic, with its numerous references to holiday immortals -- Miracle on 34th Street, It's a Wonderful Life, the claymation of Rankin-Bass -- intended to suggest that it not only borrows, but also belongs.
I've heard it compared to It's a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, and A Christmas Story.
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Some of them, like ''Santa Clause 2'' and ''How the Grinch Stole Christmas,'' spread the very disease they are meant to cure, clogging vulnerable immune systems with virulent sentimentality and turning perfectly decent, mild-tempered folk (movie critics, for instance) into Scrooges and Grinches.
The two of them know how to draw maximum energy from bright colors without allowing them to look garish — visually as well as spiritually, “Elf” is the opposite of the 2000 “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” ) The script, by David Berenbaum, is tight and lively and gives the actors plenty to work with.
In year's past, I've been disappointed by "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" "The Santa Claus 2," and "Jack Frost," but fortunately this year's "Elf" can be added to the fun list that includes such recent films as "The Santa Clause" and "Jingle All the Way," entertaining movies that make you laugh hysterically and can be watched over and over again without boredom.
I thought it would be clunky, stupid and obvious, like " The Santa Clause 2 " or "How the Grinch Stole Christmas."
But when Santa’s sleigh crash-lands in Central Park on Christmas Eve New Yorkers like the people of Whoville in How the Grinch Stole Christmas break out into song and their energy bestows enough holiday spirit to thrust Santa’s reindeer-driven sleigh back into the sky.
It's the kind of kiddie wonderland Henry Selick, of The Nightmare Before Christmas, would love -- a brightly lit fantasia, in which dark things lie just beneath snow-covered surfaces.
While it isnt a great film on the level of "The Nightmare Before Christmas", I predict that it will one day be one of those films that constantly plays quietly on the TV in the background during holiday celebrations.