24 movies Guaranteed to make you feel Christmassy

December 16th - Elf

Year : 2003 Director: Jon Favreau Starring: Will Ferrell, Bob Newhart, Ed Asner, James Caan.

Elf

The story begins one Christmas Eve in an orphanage when a baby crawls unnoticed into Santa's toy sack and is unwittingly stowed away to the North Pole. Santa decides that they should keep the child and call him "Buddy", and that Buddy should be raised as an elf. As Buddy grows older (and eventually "dwarves" the elves, it starts to become apparent that he is not like the other elves, and decides to ask why he is so different. He is then told it is because he is a human not a child. Buddy sets off to New York City to find his real father Walter. It doesn't take long to find out that Buddy has a lot to learn about human nature and, particularly, about the people of New York.

Elf is a fine christmas comedy film, nothing very complicated obviously, but it does have a certain effortless pacing to the film which, fittingly, makes the film feel like its gliding on ice. Will Ferrell actually pulls off the wide eyed innocence of the proverbial "Fish out of Water" or "Elf out of Frozen Water ", and that is a major part of why the film works so well. Yes some of the jokes are pretty hackneyed and some of the set ups are spotted a mile off, but Ferrell's delivery of them helps cover up some of their more obvious shortcomings. What also should be commended is the excellent cast who add a further layer of class, that helps to lift the film further above the plethora of other christmas comedies that get trotted out each year. If you fancy a dumb christmas comedy this would fit the bill.

Elf - just small enough to be squeezed in between 15th and 17th, placed at December 16th on our Christmas movies guide (USA edition)

Buy this film and more from our Christmas DVD store in association with Amazon.com