Elf

Elf is a 2003 American Christmas fantasy comedy film directed by Jon Favreau and written by David Berenbaum. It stars Will Ferrell, James Caan, Zooey Deschanel, Mary Steenburgen, Daniel Tay, Edward Asner, and Bob Newhart. It was released in the United States on November 7, 2003 by New Line Cinema. The story is about one of Santa's elves (Ferrell) who learns of his true identity as a human and goes to New York City to meet his biological father (Caan), spreading Christmas cheer in a world of cynics as he goes.

Plot
Buddy (Will Ferrell) was accidentally transported to the North Pole as a toddler and raised to adulthood among Santa's elves. Unable to shake the feeling that he doesn't fit in, the adult Buddy travels to New York, in full elf uniform, in search of his real father. As it happens, this is Walter Hobbs (James Caan), a cynical businessman. After a DNA test proves this, Walter reluctantly attempts to start a relationship with the childlike Buddy with increasingly chaotic results.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) The film boasts a terrific cast, especially Will Ferrell, who pulls out probably one of his best performances to date as Buddy the Elf.
 * 2) Lots of funny and hilarious moments, mostly utilising Buddy's naivety and innocence.
 * 3) It has a near-seamless mix between live-action and Rankin/Bass-esque stop motion.
 * 4) It teaches the audiences of all of the best ways to spread Christmas cheer, especially with the famous line "The best way to spread Christmas cheer, is singing loud for all to hear."
 * 5) The tone is overall very charming and delightful.
 * 6) The relationship between Buddy and Walter is very heartwarming.
 * 7) The Santa Claus Is Coming To Town bit is considered the best part of the movie (aside from the comedy, of course).
 * 8) The visual effects are fantastic, and it's impressive that not all the effects used are CGI, due to the aforementioned stop motion.
 * 9) The film could arguably be the most quotable Christmas movie of all time, with lines like "You sit on a throne of LIES" and "I just like to smile, smiling's my favorite!" that can be used in any situation.
 * 10) Much like films such as Gremlins, The Polar Express, and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, this movie became so popular that some cinemas often rerelease it each year near the holidays, even to this day.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The scene where Buddy pours syrup, candy and pop tarts on spaghetti and eats it messily can be viewed as rather disgusting.
 * 2) * So much so that because of all the sugar he ingested, Ferrell struggled to sleep, suffered from headaches, and even came close to vomiting after a take.
 * 3) Buddy can be rather annoying at times (eg. when he sings in the store). But we love him just the same.
 * 4) Walter can be pretty unlikeable at times, particularly at that moment that he harshly yells at Buddy to get out of his life after he unintentionally caused a vertically-challenged author Miles Finch, who attacked Buddy after mistaking him for an elf, to walk out on a deal Walter was going to make to save the company he works at.

Reception
Elf received critical acclaim with critics and audiences praising Jon Favreau's direction of the film and Will Ferrell's performance as Buddy Hobbs. It holds a 85% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and the website's critical consensus reads: "A movie full of Yuletide cheer, Elf is a spirited, good-natured family comedy, and it benefits greatly from Will Ferrell's funny and charming performance as one of Santa's biggest helpers." Metacritic rates the film with an 64 out of 100, along with an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale from CinemaScore and an 7/10 from IMDb.

Trivia

 * The script was originally written in 1993. The first studio that optioned it, the Motion Picture Corporation of America, wanted Chris Farley to play Buddy. In an interview for The Holiday Movies That Made Us, writer David Berenbaum felt that it would have been "a completely different movie" with Farley in the lead role and decided not to sell the project to MPCA.
 * Terry Zwigoff was offered a chance to direct the film, but turned it down. He instead directed another Christmas film, Bad Santa.
 * Jim Carrey was reportedly considered to play Buddy.
 * The film inspired the 2010 Broadway musical Elf: The Musical and NBC's 2014 stop motion animated television special Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas.
 * The film is considered as one of the best Christmas movies ever made.

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