Elf. New Line Cinema presents a film directed by John Favreau. Written by David Berenbaum. Running time: 95 minutes. Rated PG (for mild profanity). Starring Will Ferrell, James Caan, Zooey Deschanel, Edward Asner, Bob Newhart, Mary Steenburgen, Daniel Tay.

Elf

Some early reviews of Elf have been calling it a new Christmas classic. That's almost certainly hyperbole, but not a huge stretch. Unlike most Christmas movies, which are either too dumb or too schmaltzy to work, Elf understands what made such real classics like A Christmas Story so great. It is filled with Christmas spirit, a wonderful energy that more than compensates for the tries-too-hard ending.

When we're children, the magic of Christmas is unmatched by any other day of the year. However, as we grow older, the magic of the holiday slowly grows weaker. The true success of Elf is the way it appeals to all age groups, without ever trying to force anything. Sure, much of the film is hilarious, and some of it is even oddly touching, but nothing about Elf impresses more than the fact that anyone, young or old, can go into the theater and come out filled with Christmas spirit. It's only the middle of November, but, while watching Elf, it feels like December 25.

Buddy (Ferrell), as an infant, crawled into Santa's toy sack and ended up at the North Pole. Adopted by Santa (Edward Asner), Buddy grows up as in the workshop. Only when Buddy begins to notice how different he is from the other elves (he is over six feet tall) does his step-father (Bob Newhart) tell him the truth. Buddy leaves for Manhattan, where his real father (James Caan) lives and works. Dressed only in typical elf clothing, Buddy is somewhat lost in the Big Apple, although he certainly doesn't realize it. Armed with a huge smile and plenty of Christmas spirit, Buddy sets out to spread cheer throughout the city. During his odyssey, Buddy falls in love with a cute department store elf named Jovie (Zooey Deschanel), brings his family closer together, and saves Santa.

One would think that the elf-in-Manhattan routine would lead to plenty of cheap or exploitive laughs, but Elf never sinks that low. The screenplay always treats Buddy with respect; instead of seeming stupid, Buddy is just cheerfully naive, a child in a man's body, because that's how he was raised. Buddy is bewildered by things like revolving doors and escalators, and he is shocked at the lack of love for Christmas in the city. "You sit on a throne of lies," he tells a department store Santa, just before yanking off his fake beard. It is moments like these that we start to care for Buddy as an actual person, as strange as that seems.

But that turns out to be, oddly enough, the main problem with Elf. Whenever Ferrell is offscreen, the film loses focus and drive. The scenes of Buddy's father at work or at home are clichéd, and, unfortunately, uninvolving. As ingenious as a lot of Buddy's scenes are, everything that happens without him seems straight out of a screenwriting manual. And the sideplot in which Buddy renews his brother's faith in Christmas is the most uninteresting. Ferrell does his best to spice up these scenes, but his little brother (Daniel Tay), is just not a good character. And it doesn't help that Tay isn't much of an actor, either.

Will Ferrell, in his first leading film role, is wonderful. Always wearing a big, sincere grin, he gives quite simply the most joyous performance of the year. As played by him, Buddy is always endearing, and he never outstays his welcome. I see a great acting career ahead for Ferrell. The beautiful and charming Zooey Deschanel is oddly underused, but is still great whenever she is onscreen, and she gets to show off a gorgeous singing voice. James Caan, Ed Asner, and Bob Newhart are all strange casting choices, but their performances work.

Elf, while not being the holiday classic that some have proclaimed, is still the best Christmas movie to be released in quite some time. It never panders to the audience in the way that The Santa Clause movies do, and its humor is funny, no matter what age group you belong to. For the holiday season, I can't see any other movie beating Elf at its own game.

© 2003 Matt Noller