Guest Blogger: Jill 2

The 2003 movie staring Will Ferrell has become a Christmas classic around the best time of the year; the review by Roger Ebert, “this is one of those rare Christmas comedies that has a heart, a brain and a wicked sense of humor, and it charms the socks right off the mantelpiece.” The film is basically about the story of Will Ferrell who was raised in the North Pole and when he finds out he isn’t an elf, he decides to make his way to New York to find his biological father. Of course, Will Ferrell in his role in Elf is prime Will Ferrell; you can’t hate him in that movie. He’s the perfect amount of funny without it being overdone. Also James Cann, who plays Buddy’s biological father, was perfect for the role, playing the serious and workaholic dad who makes a change for the better in the end. In the movie, Elf, the character Buddy, is a happy, go-lucky, innocent “elf” who just wanders around the streets of grumpy little New York and just sheds his Christmas cheer all over everyone. Buddy just wishes to find where he belongs in the world and to make the people he loves feel loved back. Buddy’s love interest, which is played by Zooey Deschanel, is a character that is that one, “not a big Christmas fan”, and a little bit of a downer in most things, but when she meets Buddy, their very different attitudes mix well so she can let loose and look at things just a little bit differently to enjoy life half as much as the character Buddy does. The themes in the movie would be that family is and should always come first, no matter what, also to never stop believing; in yourself and others around you, and Christmas is the best time of the year no matter what people say. I highly agree with the critic of the movie review Elf, Ebert saying at one point, “It took me about 10 seconds of seeing Will Ferrell in the elf costume to realize how very wrong I was”. Elf is one of the best Christmas movies of all time, I say, and something I look forward to every year to watch over and over with my whole family until they are all sick of it. It has a little bit of everything for everyone and just a good movie you can sit back and watch and never get sick of the jokes and acting Ferrell put into the film. This movie is one you must see at least once in your lifetime or you would not feel complete without it. Why? Because anyone could watch it and enjoy it from beginning to end, I don’t know anyone who could watch this movie and not be quoting it for months, maybe even years on out after.