2008 Woodie Awards
Movie Reviews
Elf
Natalie Shirkey
Issue date: 11/20/03 Section: Arts & Entertainment
- Page 1 of 1
This hilarious story includes a cast of interesting actors. The main star is comedian Will Ferrell, cast as Buddy the Elf, and Bob Newhart is his adoptive father, Papa Elf. James Cann plays Buddy Elf's real father.
Buddy is a human raised by Elves in the North Pole, who sets off on a journey to find his biological father in Manhattan. He never felt like he quite fit in with the other elves at his gigantic height of 6 feet 3 inches tall. It is revealed that he is an orphaned baby who wandered into Santa's toy bag. And it is eventually apparent that his real father is a grouchy jerk played by James Cann.
This is a very cute tale that wraps many ideas into the story line; it deals with classic Christmas nostalgic type movies such as A Christmas Story, and fantasy lives of elves from movies like The Santa Clause, starring Tim Allen. How The Grinch Stole Christmas also rings a bell when you see the real dad of Buddy, acting like a greedy Grinch. To top it all off you have comedian Will Ferrell, who contributes huge comic relief. It's a great twist to the story when Buddy sets out to reunite with his dad by publishing a book. He tries to imitate his real dad, a children's book publisher. It doesn't work, for Buddy finds his dad to care more about money than love. He finds the world to be a cruel place that has forgotten about the fun of Christmas.
Buddy plans to restore the Christmas spirit by showing everyone how to have a little more heart. And Buddy also gets his dad's attention by publishing a biography of his life. This is a super fun comedy that is sure to entertain you, as well as pluck your heart strings- assuming you have a big heart. It's a bright star compared to other Christmas movies I have seen, because it ties in so many great ideas and or movie themes.
Buddy is a human raised by Elves in the North Pole, who sets off on a journey to find his biological father in Manhattan. He never felt like he quite fit in with the other elves at his gigantic height of 6 feet 3 inches tall. It is revealed that he is an orphaned baby who wandered into Santa's toy bag. And it is eventually apparent that his real father is a grouchy jerk played by James Cann.
This is a very cute tale that wraps many ideas into the story line; it deals with classic Christmas nostalgic type movies such as A Christmas Story, and fantasy lives of elves from movies like The Santa Clause, starring Tim Allen. How The Grinch Stole Christmas also rings a bell when you see the real dad of Buddy, acting like a greedy Grinch. To top it all off you have comedian Will Ferrell, who contributes huge comic relief. It's a great twist to the story when Buddy sets out to reunite with his dad by publishing a book. He tries to imitate his real dad, a children's book publisher. It doesn't work, for Buddy finds his dad to care more about money than love. He finds the world to be a cruel place that has forgotten about the fun of Christmas.
Buddy plans to restore the Christmas spirit by showing everyone how to have a little more heart. And Buddy also gets his dad's attention by publishing a biography of his life. This is a super fun comedy that is sure to entertain you, as well as pluck your heart strings- assuming you have a big heart. It's a bright star compared to other Christmas movies I have seen, because it ties in so many great ideas and or movie themes.