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December 07, 2007

Elf

Elf

As silly family Christmas films go, this is a rather good one. Will Ferrell (Buddy) is completely inoffensive as a human who accidently gets adopted by Elfs, and works in Santa's grotto at the North Pole. When he grows up, he finds out the truth that he is adopted, and heads off to New York to find his father.

Even though he isn't a very skilled Elf, in human terms his skills are prodigious such as throwing snowballs with complete accuracy, making christmas decorations out of anything. These get him out of, and into, a lot of scrapes. But it is his inexhaustable good cheer and enthuasism (perhaps caused by the mountains of sugary food he eats) that is infectious and makes this feel-good movie feel good

The supporting cast are all good, Zooey Deschanel as love interest pays it just right as a cynical girl won over by the Christmas spirit at the end. And the ending (spoiler alert) where Buddy saves Santa, and everyone sings carols, is not cloyingly sentimental, just really happy.

Add in some knockabout slapstick comedy, one of the funniest lines I've heard this year "He's an angry elf" and you've got a film with just about nothing wrong with it.

Posted by se71 at December 7, 2007 02:45 PM

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