Right off the top I should mention that Elf was NOT what I was expecting it to be√¢‚Ǩ¬¶ and that’s a good thing. I thought it was going to be one long slapstick Will Ferrell flick. Although SOME of the film was that way, in reality Elf is a simple family Christmas film, and a pretty good one at that.
Don’t get me wrong, Ferrell is definitely Ferrell in the movie. He totally has no pride whatsoever (which is what makes him hilarious) and pulls off some great physical humor in the film. And even though there was no mature content in the film at all, I found that Ferrell was more like himself in this film that he was in Old School.
The last 20 minutes of the movie were terrible, but not bad enough to erase all the good stuff that was there up to that point. Bob Newhart was wonderful as Ferrell’s adopted Elf father. James Caan was a little out of place. Caan is too good of an actor to be taken at face value in such a simple little cute movie and just didn’t fit in.
Overall, Elf was enjoyable. Not a Christmas classic, not great, not a must see, but definitely worth your time and price of a ticket.
