Elf

Will Ferrell is an American actor comedian who first established himself in the mid 90s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series, Saturday Night Live. Considered a member of the ‘’Frat Pack’’, a group of leading 90s to 2000s comic actors, including people like Jack Black, Ben Stiller, Steve Carell, Vince Vaughn, Paul Rudd, and brothers Luke and Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell’s movie career has definitely been expansive and long-lasting (going from 2003 to the present), but it has also been very divisive. People seem to either love or downright hate his style of comedy which usually comes down to a lot of shouting, over-the-top reactions, a childish sensibility that come with a weird voice or accent, and concepts that feel more like sketch ideas rather than proper movie ideas. Regardless, some of his films have garnered cult status as well as occasional critical favour, with his first film post SNL in 2003, Elf, being his most popular among both sides. After being inadvertently taken by Santa (played by Edward Asner) when he’s visiting an orphanage (it doesn’t go that dark), a human boy later named Buddy (played by Will Ferrell) is raised at Santa’s workshop by the elves, mainly Papa Elf (played by Bob Newhart) but his obvious differences lead him to discover his human origins and that his birth father, a children’s book publisher at the Empire State Building named Walter (played by James Caan) is unaware that he was ever born and has now made a new family. Travelling to New York, he is met with the cold shoulder by Walter who is confused and rightfully disturbed that a random man in an elf costume is claiming to be his long-lost son, but Buddy’s desire to connect with his birth father leads him to stick around the city for a while. In this time, he bonds with his stepmother Emily (played by Mary Steenburgen) and half-brother Michael (played by Daniel Tay) and gets romantic feelings for unenthusiastic retail store worker Jovie (played by Zooey Deschanel), and slowly starts to add a shine of Christmas cheer to those around him, but will that work on his cold and detached father? Elf is held to a surprisingly high standard as not only the best Will Ferrell performance, but it is also hailed as a modern classic and among one of the greatest Christmas films ever made. While arguably not to that standard, there is enough blind innocence to this simple movie to makes it a passable watch.

Its important to recognize that going from being a stage performer on a sketch show to a Hollywood film would come with its fair share of trip-ups and oddities. Sketch shows can feel like stand-up routines in terms of concept, punchlines and executions, and that layout isn’t always going to work in most movie unless it creates an atmosphere where it should replicate that style. Elf straddles that fine line between comedy sketch and small cutesy family film just enough that it never feels like its going too far into a mindless sketch, and therefore keeps the correct tone and presentation to work as a basic but adequately put-together film. The premise is one that is cute and could lead way to some fun one-off bits, but therein lies the problem as its usually jokes that have little variety and all come from a premise that, while cute as a small idea, isn’t given proper time to feel fleshed out. The movie is surprisingly fast paced and doesn’t really give much time to let things that could be emotionally effective (at least by this movie’s standards) feel important, and instead gives most of the attention to these comedic moments that feel like sketch ideas that are placed into the movie to stretch out the length rather than advance anything. These moments don’t ruin the film entirely as the fact that the movie more child-oriented and inhabits a fantastical Christmas-film genre where things can be a little loose and not plot-centric, it becomes evident what the film’s prime focus is with how minimally the real plot is given attention against these comedic moments. The directing for this film was done by Jon Favreau, who is now known for his contributions to films within the Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars universes, but at the time, this was only his second directorial job, and this inexperience does come across slightly. While by no means doing an awful job and for what this movie could’ve become, his effort does shine in how the movie works at all, he doesn’t bring enough of a unique spin to this basic idea to make it feel as distinct as it could be (at least not once the film gets going) and presents it much more like a straightforward kids film rather than the film an idea like this could’ve produced.

This was the role that arguably helped Ferrell prove to the rest of the world that he could make it as a proper actor, even though upon looking back, this performance is nothing that new from his usual routine or even what he would grow comfortable doing in the rest of his roles.  From a writing standpoint, Buddy is not a very well-established character; he has very little going for him outside of the idea of him being an adoptive elf and his look, which does stand out pretty humorously against the regular looking New York City, but most of his jokes feel weirdly inconsistent and poorly set-up due to how little is known about him. His over excitement and child-like amazement at all things Christmas and Santa related works well and even his unawareness of most regular people activities and tools works to a fault, but his lack of people skills and common knowledge feels weird because nothing about what they showed previously made it out that he was like that with the elves, even though they looked and acted pretty normal. It feels more like Will Ferrell is doing whatever he wants to go for a joke rather than having a character react to things within the movie, and that can lead to some distracting and even annoying parts, but it is still met with a good half of a performance. His reactions to every-day human things and Christmas-related material are pretty good (his reactions to a fake Santa is pretty decent), and he does have that naïve child-like demeanor that makes him at least somewhat enjoyable to watch. The rest of the cast is nothing special sadly, resulting in a majority of the side characters feeling both under written and under-performed. James Caan is just playing the straightforward overworking jerk who grows a heart by the end, but the change is so sudden and so out of nowhere after saying something truly awful and hurtful that it feels like horrible whiplash. Mary Steenburgen and Daniel Tay do fine enough as Buddy’s human family, but they aren’t given much to work with outside of some throwaway scenes. Zoey Deschanel is pretty bad as the romantic love interest; being stuck with a monotone delivery that even for a tired and uncaring character seems a little too uncaring, a role that has nothing to accomplish outside of singing in front of people, and she shares zero chemistry with Ferrell, so the romance feels very pointless (also him singing next to her while she’s showering doesn’t help things). The movie also weirdly wastes talent like Bob Newhart, Ed Asner and even Peter Dinklage in roles that have very little screen time and would’ve made for more interesting roles than most of the main characters (especially in regard to Asner and Newhart).

The movie starts off with some pretty fun looking production design and visuals that take a page out of the Rankin/Bass Christmas specials with the stop motion, the sets that look like something within a snow-globe and the cuddly animals’ all having that distinct Rankin/Bass look, feel and sound. While those specials have their own form of oddness, it looked like that idea was going to result in this film having a great look that was corny and slightly cheap in terms of its budget but would work with it to make it at least colorful, creative, and fun looking. However, the North Pole is only shown in the first act of the film and is immediately forgotten about once he goes to New York, which is not very interesting to look at from a production or even a cinematography level. Once and a while there’s a decent shot of some festively-decorated environments, like when they’re walking down the New York streets at night with the Christmas trees up or when he touches up a retail store to look more Christmas-appropriate and it looks pretty nice,  but most of the time, its just bland looking offices, and buildings, which wouldn’t have been a problem if the movie didn’t have a concept of this type or showcased a visual style that was more unique than this. The music by John Debney is also a bit of a mixed bag. During a fun and pleasant looking opening credits sequence, the score is appropriately jovial, upbeat and carries with it that nice, charming Christmas cheer that makes it work for this kind of movie, but as the film continues, the score gets overly used and comes across as forcefully sappy and whimsical rather than punctual and effective.

Elf is a movie that has every right to be annoying and outdated (qualities that are fairly common for most Will Ferrell films), but this one has managed to hold onto an audience years later and is still viewed as a Christmas classic despite not really doing anything that special even during the time of its release. Maybe due to people growing up with it, it holds a special place in the hearts of many, but even with that in mind, the movie does carry a bit of innocent likability that makes it flawed, but ultimately harmless. There’s a passion to some of the performances (mainly Ferrell), its not always funny, but when it works, it is legit funny, there’s some pleasant visuals occasionally and it does have that simple but charming Christmas special quality that makes it wrap up in a nice package by the end. Not the trailblazer that many might believe it to be, but definitely not a poor present to get for the holidays.