Elf

Before "Enchanted" there was "Elf". The reason this movie works is because of Will Ferrell's performance and Jon Favreau direction. The other cast members and cinematic elements supported these two central characteristics quite well. The story is good but it is made better by Ferrell and Favreau. It has sincere Christmas spirit and comedy due to the perfect balancing of realism with phoniness.

Favreau established a North Pole that is both a parody and a tribute to classic Christmas TV specials from the 50's and 60's. You have characters that are stop motion animated and the North Pole exterior appears a little phony but in a good way. The reason why we accept this in the movie is Ferrell's performance. Some comedians create comedy through energy, wittiness or some other method. Ferrell's unique method is seriousness and that may sound wrong at first. A better word would be genuineness. In many of his movies, Ferrell has energy and a great sense of comedic timing but what makes him great in "Elf" particularly is that you believe his performance. Buddy was raised by elves at the North Pole and it doesn't matter if no one believes him. He can't even understand how parents put presents under the tree on Christmas Eve and not Santa. That moment for example is funny because of Ferrell's sense of seriousness. The talent of director Jon Favreau can be seen in the establishing shot of Gimbel's when Buddy gets hit by the cab. The Christmas soundtrack and camera movement disguises the oncoming collision and anyone who has seen the movie before forgets about the impending gag. Another great thing that Favreau did was to contrast a cliché North Pole with a realistic New York City. The humor of the entire movie works because we have a believable character from a Christmas special thrown into the real world at Christmas time. Walter appears naughty on the outside but the fact he looks up Susan in his old yearbook shows that he can be redeemed. The filmmakers did a good job in depicting his character change. Some of my favorite moments include the Bigfoot reference when Buddy shows up on the news and that the Central Park Rangers are on the naughty list. I love the ironic highpoint in the climax when Walter sings and it saves Christmas as well as his own life. Otherwise, Santa's sleigh would have run over him.

My first Will Ferrell film was "Anchorman" but "Elf" showed me how special he is. The other cast members were well chosen. This movie introduced me to James Caan, Zooey Deschanel and Ed Asner (who's interpretation of Santa by the way is both comedic and classic in nature). Jon Favreau casts himself as the doctor but the cool thing is that it doesn't feel at all like a cameo. Favreau is a hands on-type director it seems and in his brief acting role, he lets Ferrell & Caan carry the scene at the doctor's office. He doesn't highlight himself and I like that. The same goes for his later role of Happy. It was also great to see Bob Newhart, Mary Steenburgen and Michael Lerner in this show. The special effects with the elves are well done by the way. I had assumed that there was a mixture between forced perspective and CG compositing like on "The Lord of the Rings" but it turns out that it is all done with forced perspective. The stop motion characters such as Leon were really well used as mentioned.

Jon Favreau, who would later direct "Iron Man", did such as good job with this being only his second directorial film. "Elf" was a huge success and will certainly become a Christmas classic. It was even turned into a stage musical. There is an amazing balance between the cliché and the authentic. Ferrell is funny and it is enough to make a good story great.

4 Stars