Elf

Hello welcome. Last time I reviewed A Christmas Story so I shall be reviewing another Christmas movie (yes I know Christmas is over). Elf. Elf is the story of a human named Buddy (Will Ferrell) who is raised by elves. So let’s end December with my review of Elf.

We start the movie in an orphanage where a woman is putting a baby to sleep on Christmas but as soon as the woman leaves Santa Claus comes and buddy the baby crawls into Santa’s sack. When Santa gets back to the North Pole an elf named Papa Elf (Bob Newhart) adopts Buddy. But apparently humans age faster than elves and buddy grows fast.  Baby Buddy grows up into Will Ferrell and he is not very good at making toys. So one of the elves convinces him that he is special and sends Buddy to work in toy testing. But Buddy overhears some elves talking about him being a human and Buddy goes to his house where Papa elf tells him about his real father named Walter Hobbs (James Caan) and Walter never knew he was born and Buddy’s mother passed away. So Buddy goes to find his father in New York City.

 Meanwhile Walter is working at a Book Company and Walter refuses to reprint a children’s book to fix two blank pages. But then Buddy comes in and tries to convince Walter that he is his father. But he doesn’t believe him and kicks buddy out. Buddy goes to Gimbels department store and while he is there he is mistaken for an employee and he meets an employee named Jovie (Zooey Deschanel) who Buddy falls in love with. Later that night Buddy stays at the store and decorates it with Christmas decorations because Santa is coming to the store. The next day Santa (Artie Lange) comes to the store and Buddy rips off the fake Santa`s beard and Santa beats up Buddy. By the way  am I the only one that thinks Artie Lange dressed like Santa beating up  Will Ferrell dressed as an elf is a very strange movie visual…back to the film. Buddy is arrested and he goes to jail. When he gets to jail he calls Walter and Walter takes Buddy to the doctor and through a DNA test the doctor proves that Buddy is Walters’s son. Walter takes Buddy home to meet Buddy’s step mother Emily (Mary Steenberg) and Buddy’s step brother Michael (Daniel Tay). But Buddy confuses his family with his childish antics.

Buddy makes better friends with Michael after he helps him beat some bullies in a snowball fight. After the snowball fight he asks Jovie out on a date. Meanwhile Walter finds out that he might get in trouble if he does not come up with a good pitch. Buddy briefly gets a job in the Empire State Building mail room but he causes a ruckus and gets fired. Walter decides to save the company (and his job) by hiring the children’s author Miles Finch (Peter Dinklage). When Miles arrives they go over some ideas. But Buddy arrives and messes everything up and Walter gets angry at him and tells him to get out. The depressed Buddy writes a letter and runs away.

After Buddy leaves for the North Pole Walter’s colleagues find Miles Finch’s note book and they put a pitch together. But when the meeting starts Michael comes in and tells Walter that Buddy is missing so Walter puts his family before his work (for once) and goes out to find Buddy. Meanwhile Buddy sees Santa’s sleigh crash in Central Park. Buddy goes to the spot where Santa (Edward Asner) crashed. Santa tells Buddy that the engine fell out of the sleigh and that there is no Christmas spirit so the reindeer can’t fly. Buddy goes to find the engine and meets up with Walter and Michael. Michael finds out that he can make Santa’s sleigh fly by making people believe in him. So Michael brings Santa’s list to some news cameras near the crash and reads it out loud to make people believe. Then Jovie leads the people in the park in singing “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” and after everyone sings Santa’s sleigh flys. Now I have to admit making Santa’s sleigh fly by singing is a bit corny.

But we have an epilogue to get to. Walter opened his own printing company. Their first book is called Elf it’s about Buddy’s adventures. Several years later Jovie and Buddy get married and have a daughter named Susan. The End

I like this movie. Will Ferrell as Buddy is hilarious. I have to admit it is very corny sometimes. The premise is very funny once you think about it. I mean a human who is raised by elves…very weird. This is a good movie for the holidays. By the way I am 99.9% sure that I will review Mr.Magoo next.