Jasonic's Favorites: Elf
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This has and always will be my favorite Christmas movie and it means way more to me after playing Buddy the Elf in a production of Elf Jr.: The Musical in 2019!
Released in 2003, Elf is one of those recent Christmas movies that people continue to watch every year -- myself included. It was a critical and commerical success and has become a modern classic in the Christmas variety, continuing to charm people on a yearly Yuletide basis. It is one of those original movies that has never banked on the franchise route for good reason though it has since been adapted into Elf: The Musical -- and its Jr. version -- and an animated adaptation of said musical known as Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas. I, personally, am in the camp that's glad they never milked it to have a sequel and have simply adapted it into other forms, which allows this movie to continue to have a strong legacy in the name of Christmas movies. As a Christmas movie, I have always seen this as one of the most enjoyably entertaining comdies of this century in part due to Will Ferrell's performance and a number of other factors that make it one of the most iconic Christmas movies of our time. With as many years as I had been watching this movie prior to 2019, I was more than stoked to get the lead as Buddy the Elf in an all-abilities adaptation of Elf Jr.: The Musical as it allowed me to really embody and understand why a character like Buddy actually appeals to me. As someone with neurodivergence, the way that Buddy is socially unaware of how the world works due to growing up in the North Pole his whole life is very identifiable to me and while it's mostly played for laughs, having an actor as silly as Will Ferrell take on the role of a man-child allows for certain autistics to identify with his child-like attitude and social unawareness. As someone who learned of my ASD (autism spectrum disorder) a little later in life, I can most certainly say that when characters like Buddy are written the way they are, I feel validated. That said, a modern Christmas classic like this has more charm than its main character alone and I'm about to prove why it works great on a fundamental level even if it's not everyone's cup of tea. Like with all my reviews of films about my favorite characters, I will examine to see if any criticisms against it are valid, but have fun digging into its Christmas charm regardless. Without further adieu, let's travel the seven levels of the candycane forest, pass the sea of swirly twirly gumdrops, and walk through the Lincoln Tunnel into Elf.
For Christmas fanatics, this movie may need no introduction, but I will start with the plot summary like I always do; the film opens with a fourth wall-breaking narrated flashback from Papa Elf (Bob Newhart) describing the story of how a baby at the orphanage crawled into the toy bag of Santa Claus (Ed Asner) and came back with him to the North Pole. Upon discovering the stowaway baby, Santa's elves name him "Buddy" after his brand of diaper and Papa Elf adopts him, with Buddy (Will Ferrell) growing up at the North Pole for thirty years not knowing he's actually human. Fate changes, however, when Buddy struggles to keep up with the other elves in toy-making, overhearing two others talking about how he (Buddy) is, in fact, human causing him to have an existential crisis. Papa Elf then shares where Buddy came from when his father, Walter Hobbs (James Caan), was with a woman named Susan Wells, Walter unaware that he and Susan had a baby before the latter put him up for adoption, Susan passing away shortly thereafter. Buddy then learns his dad works in New York City at the Empire State Building, learning also from Santa that Walter is on the naughty list much to Buddy's dismay; hoping to meet his dad and help get him off the naughty list, Buddy travels to New York for days on end, eventually arriving at the Empire State Building where Walter mistakes him for a Christmas-gram messenger. Believing Buddy to be ridiculous, Walter calls security on him, Buddy then making his way to Gimbels where the manager mistakes him for an employee on break and calls him back to the main area. While there, Buddy becomes smitten with the deadpan employee, Jovie (Zooey Deschanel), with whom he shares his elf philosophy, "The best way to spread Christmas cheer is by singing loud for all to hear." Knowing that "Santa" is coming to Gimbels the next day, Buddy then decorates the place overnight, but soon finds that the Santa in question isn't the real Santa, tearing his beard off as the two get into a brawl in front of the children and destroy the place. Buddy is arrested with Walter reluctantly bailing him out while still questioning whether Buddy truly is his son; a DNA test confirms it as Buddy is brought home to meet his stepmother, Emily (Mary Steenbergen), and half-brother, Michael (Daniel Tay). With the doctor speculating that Buddy is trapped in a childlike state of dependency, Walter is forced to change his tune to help him adapt to the real world in time for Christmas; with Walter's book publishing job on the line due to sales tanking this quarter, his Christmas spirit may tank as well. In the midst of him navigating the real world as a human, it's up to Buddy to help spread Christmas spirit back to New York in order that Santa's sleigh may continue to fly on Christmas Eve.
The plot may not be anything special, but it honestly comes from a place of Christmas charm and, wouldn't you know it, this movie has more of a flat character arc for Buddy. He doesn't necessarily change over the course of the story and is always spreading heart-warming Christmas cheer to people who need it most; sometimes those types of movies are charming for both kids and adults and this one is great fun for the whole family. There may be some adult content in it such as Buddy not understanding what lingerie is when he reads the sign "The perfect gift for that special someone!" and delivers it to his dad of all people. Moreover, a scene I didn't fully understand as a kid was when Buddy saw his fellow mailroom worker put whiskey in his coffee and mistook it for syrup, pouring the whole thing into his own and getting drunk along with him. It was moments like this that are subtle enough for kids to not fully understand while adults can get more of a laugh out of it, which adds to Buddy's charm. As far as how he interacts with the people around him in his flat character arc, a lot of this perfectly sets up the climax of everyone working together to spread Christmas spirit by singing along to Jovie's Christmas carol of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". A common thing in movies surrounding New York post-9/11 appears to be the New Yorkers uniting for some reason to help the hero and literally a year before this movie, this trope existed in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man, which I adored even if I was too young to understand the point of people uniting after disaster like that. Given that the climax wasn't intended to be an epic battle of sorts, but rather a race to save Santa's sleigh power on Christmas, it totally works for the lighter Christmastime tone that this movie has and Buddy is, perhaps, the best example of a character who has the power to change the people around him despite his flaws. For that matter, the romance with Jovie may not be as huge a part of the movie as the musical adaptation I was in, but no matter how unrealistic the trope is of a cute woman falling for a man-child, I find it to be a wholesome thing when people who lack Christmas spirit or are too shy to sing in front of people warm up to the idea of following the main character's philosophy to help save the day. It's standard fare nowadays, but this was always an excellent trope when I was younger as it inspired me to be better -- case and point: game universe Sonic the Hedgehog. Having embodied Buddy the Elf in my Christmas musical, I understand moreso why he appeals to me nowadays because, in a sense, he and I are similar -- always inspiring people by our example, but not always our words.
The actors do just as excellent of a job in their roles as well; Will Ferrell is the perfect amount of silly to represent Buddy the Elf, acting as a man-child who doesn't understand at all how the world works. With iconic lines like "Son of a nutcracker!", "I'm a cotton headed ninnymuggins," , and "You sit on a throne of lies," Ferrell brings the perfect amount of hilarious charm to his character and lays the template for those playing Buddy in the musical adaptations -- myself included. James Caan (RIP) is an excellent contrast to Buddy's carefree and overly quirky nature, his Walter Hobbs being very committed to himself and maintaining his job while having a very disinterested attitude toward family -- Buddy especially. He was a great actor overall and his change in attitude by the end is very apparent in how his sons inspire him to be better. Zooey Deschenel was the perfect Jovie, her signature deadpan attitude from her various comedies really showing here; she, too, contrasts Buddy with how she is complacent about getting through the holidays until Buddy inspires her to be better. Her singing voice is also an excellent hidden talent and serves her character well in the climactic Christmas carol scene. Bob Newhart (RIP) was, in my opinion, the perfect casting for Papa Elf; to my knowledge, this character doesn't appear in the musical adaptations -- at least not the Jr. version -- and probably for good reason as no one can really portray him like Newhart did. His deadpan stammering is iconic and suits the comical narration he gives at the start about Buddy's adoption and raising him as his own as he grew older. He was a great actor and for good reason, I haven't seen the other adaptations try to replicate him. Ed Asner (RIP) also did an great job portraying Santa Claus; he was practically perfect for the role with his jolly attitude and gruff voice representing an accurate portrayal of what Santa Claus is like in many commercial takes on the character. This was one of the few live roles I ever saw him in and I firmly believe he, too, was one of the greatest actors to do the kind of stuff he did prior to his passing. Mary Steenbergen wasn't given as much to do as Emily Hobbs, but she does get to be the supportive stepmother type who encourages the reluctant father to nurture and care for Buddy and empathizes with his needs. Daniel Tay, on the other hand, is probably a rare example of a child actor that isn't cringe and is initially reluctant to accept that he has a brother like Buddy -- unlike the musical I was in where his character immediately accepts Buddy as cool. With Buddy's man-child demeanor, Daniel Tay's Michael soon grows to bond with him in ways that appeal to his kid side and eventually supports him to ask out Jovie; watching them act like kids together was a charming part of the middle and was a great use of Daniel Tay's limited acting roles in his life. The majority of side actors do great with their roles as well with people like Peter Dinklage adding to the mix with his smug, no-nonsense persona that's easily enraged by Buddy repeatedly calling him an elf; in addition, Michael Lerner (RIP) is also a great antagonist as Mr. Greenway who is often overlooked due to his limited screentime -- he gets more of a role and interactions with Buddy in the musical though. Jon Favreau also having a cameo as the doctor is a nice director cameo tie-in and the fact that they also got Peter Billingsly (Ralphie from A Christmas Story) to be the head elf is also a nice treat for Christmas movie fanatics as it provides a connection from one iconic Christmas movie to another. They were all great choices and acted well in their roles.
The licensed music choice as well as some of the original score is very befitting of a Christmas movie regardless of whether the songs are actually Christmas-related; the song "Main Title" by John Debney has that perfect holiday feel to go along with the opening especially with its quirky Rinkin-Bass elements that reflect Buddy's world in the North Pole and the characters that appear in it. This contrasts nicely with Buddy entering New York with a montage of him playing around while the song "Pennies from Heaven" by Louis Prima plays; here, Buddy is playing around in the real world while interacting with the locals, some of which were improvised while the camera was running. The quirky nature of the montage shows Buddy's initial reactions to the world outside the North Pole prior to going to the Empire State Building. Perhaps one of my favorite versions of "Sleigh Ride" plays when Buddy first sees his dad walk past Gimbels and gets the idea to give him "the perfect gift for that special someone" by humorously delivering the lingerie to him. The Ella Fitzgerald version of that song, in my opinion, is perfect for when you're in the department store shopping for Christmas and that's one of the things I love about working in one during Christmastime so I think it's perfect that they included it in this movie. One of the most interesting scenes in this movie is, without a doubt, Jovie and Buddy's unexpected duet of "Baby, It's Cold Outside"; awkward as the scene may be with Jovie in the shower while Buddy is sitting there in the women's locker room singing along with her, it does make great use of Zooey Deschenel's singing voice. The fact that they released an official single version with her voice alongside Leon Redbone (also Leon the Snowman in this movie) was a nice touch and that version is also heard during the credits. One of the more underrated bits of the Music from the Motion Picture portion of the soundtrack is perhaps "The Nutcracker Suite" by The Brian Sizer Orchestra; played during Buddy's overnight decorating montage of Gimbels, this makes for a more upbeat and jazzy version of that classic musical movement perfect for the amount of energy and commitment that Buddy puts into his decorations. If I were to hear that song anywhere else, I would automatically think of this scene from the movie and feel jovial thinking about it. A song that isn't on the soundtrack, but is still in the movie is the Frank Sinatra recording of "You Make Me Feel So Young"; played during Buddy and Jovie's date montage, it makes for a fun, romantic time between the two of them and is one of the best romance montages I have seen in a Christmas movie of all things -- it may not be stellar, but it works for displaying Buddy's characteristics as Jovie falls for him over time. The amount of classic Christmas song recordings in this movie is astounding and the movie closes that out nicely with the Leon Redbone recording of "Winter Wonderland" as the credits roll. It is for these reasons and more that I still think of Elf as my all-time favorite Christmas movie.
Overall, Elf may not be the deepest, most fandom-inducing movie ever, but it still has a surface-level charm that makes it work for what it is; it's got great comedy that works for Buddy's flat character arc, funny and great acting, and a great choice of soundtrack that allows it to be one of the most charming Christmas movies of all-time. I started watching this movie on the regular most Christmases starting at age 12 and little did I know that it would deepen my understanding of the musical version that I participated in thanks to my friend in 2019 when I was 24. The way that Buddy is very much an autistic man-child is very identifiable -- even though I can firmly say I am not a man-child myself -- and it's one of those movies that's been adapted into other forms that allow it to preserve its own legacy without going the franchise route. Will Ferrell has stated that he's not interested in reprising the role of Buddy the Elf despite Favreau at one point wanting to make a sequel though eventually Favreau came around to say, "That particular film, I don't know what story would be told after that. It's very complete." And I agree. I don't think any other story needs to be told after Buddy saved Christmas once and with many of the actors from the original film gone away at this point, I don't see the point. With that, I think it was a smart idea that they left this film alone and adapted it into a stage musical as well as the animated musical from 2014 -- for that matter, thank God for Will Ferrell. All that said, I give this film a solid B and recommend it for any Christmas movie aficionado.
Thank you all for reading and I will see you in the next review!
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