I saw Elf before Thanksgiving, and it made me want to race open and hang all my Christmas decorations. Shortly after seeing it, I was struck by how many houses were completely decorated for Christmas, also before Thanksgiving. I assumed the occupants saw Elf and came home exploding with the spirit. It's just that kind of movie.

        I saw the film again this week, and am amazed at how well it holds up. In fact, it just might be the perfect Christmas movie. The story begins one Christmas long ago with Santa visiting an orphanage. A baby crawls into Santa's sack unnoticed and is taken back to the North Pole. The baby grows up to be Will Ferrell as Buddy, the human, raised by elves.

        Ferrell is a big guy and director Jon Favreau makes the most of Ferrell's size for comic value. The set, based on the animated classic Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, is wonderfully small and sentimental. And in that petitedom, Buddy is clutzy and out of place. Now Buddy is not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree, but even he starts to feel that he doesn't belong in the Pole.

        Finally, Papa Elf, Buddy's adopted father, tells him the truth of his heritage. Timeless Bob Newhart is Papa Elf, who also serves as the story's narrator. Bidding his friends goodbye, Buddy walks to New York to find his real father, who is James Caan, managing editor of children's books for a publishing firm.

        The sight of Buddy in his bright green coat and yellow tights seems like it would get old fast, but it holds up pretty well. Ferrell is fearless when it comes to physical comedy and he goes all out in Elf. Even though some of the slapstick humor has been seen in the previews, in context it's even funnier.

        In New York, Buddy finds his way to the Christmas section of a big department store, where he meets the very cute Jovie, a woman in an elf suit! Of course romance blossoms. Jovie is played by Zooey Dechanel and she's as cute as a button. She also sings up a storm, which is rather fun. At the cheeseball ending, when Zooey breaks into song, it was all I could do not to start singing with her.

        Elf just works. The story is sweet--predictable, but sweet nonetheless--the characters are fun and the final product is heartwarming. Elf is just perfect to keep you in the Christmas mood. There's both old and new here: enough homage to Christmas past to appease the sentimental and enough innovation to make the movie well worth seeing. Again.

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