The wife and I went to see ‘Elf’ Saturday nite, making sure we slid into the last matinee of the day. That way if it sucked at least we saved a few bucks, a mantra to learn in these days of big marketing and little substance…..

I didn’t expect that with ‘Elf’, or Will Ferrell, and wasn’t disappointed! It’s the perfect holiday movie for adults and kids. Buddy the elf (Ferrell) is a larger than life elf, who finds out he is not really an elf, but had arrived unexpectedly at the North Pole as a toddler, found in Santa’s sack after a nite of delivering gifts to an orphanage. Having been so busy at the workshop and not having time for a family of his own to that point, Papa Elf (Bob Newhart) decides to raise Buddy as his own.

Buddy learns his birth father lives in New York City, and decides to make the journey to reunite with his dad….which is quite the trek as you’ll see. Needless to say Buddy’s dad is a somewhat ruthless children’s book author, but Buddy ends up helping spread the Christmas message to them and other New Yorkers.

WIll Ferrell as Buddy was the perfect cast, as he’s not over-the-top like Jim Carrey, and surprisingly I saw some new sides to Will’s acting, as it never got old, the ‘I’m an elf..’ bit. Plus the guy could make anyone laugh! And the other good thing with this movie is it never turned into ‘The Santa Clause’ or some old-time Christmas movie. It stays light-hearted, yet there was even a moment when the wife almost shed a tear, and still re-introduces one of the oldest Christmas doctrines, how Santa really got his sleigh to fly (with a modern twist)…the movie does all this without losing momentum…

I highly recommed ‘Elf’ and give it five stars, which means something once I get my movie reviews back online, dammit!