My Review of Elf (2003) · 7:51pm Dec 13th, 2021
Rating Scale:
12/10—a complete masterpiece; flawless and outstanding
11/10—Excellent, near-perfect film
10/10—the standard rating; awesome film with a couple of flaws
9/10—a wonderful film with several flaws
8/10–a great film with numerous flaws but not enough to ruin it
7/10—a fun and entertaining movie; not great but still enjoyable
6/10—a slightly above average film; it is something I might watch again
5/10—mediocre movie; not awful but not great either
4/10—a below average film; it could have been much better
3/10—a bad film; poorly written and poorly executed
2/10—a very bad movie; the few good things in the movie overshadowed by the bad things
1/10—a terrible movie; a total waste of time
0/10—a worthless piece of abomination; should have never been made
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen! This is Mr. J back with another Christmas-themed movie review for today! This afternoon, I will now be reviewing a family/comedy film entitled Elf from 2003. I remember watching this movie back in middle school with the whole class and with our teacher. I can't remember who it was that recommended this movie for us, but it was something we all laughed hard at and fully enjoyed watching back in the day. So it has been almost forever since watching this movie that I nearly forgot about half of what this film was about. That's why I decided to re-watch it a couple weeks ago so that I can remember the story, the plot, and the characters. Honestly, it felt really good watching a movie I haven't seen in a very long time. So what are my thoughts on the movie now? It's very simple....it is still a classic comedy film albeit with flaws.
Here we see a baby boy who sneaks into Santa's toy bag and gets unwittingly taken to the North Pole where all the elves live. There, he gets adopted by them and lives with them as a human elf. Now fully grown up as an adult man (taller than all the elves obviously), Buddy discovers he was adopted and is determined to look for his father.
I must say that this story was very well-written. In fact, our main character was a solid yet hilarious protagonist. Will Ferrell was just so funny in almost every scene he was in. However, there were a few scenes where his comedic timing was off and felt cringe-inducing. Nevertheless, he was still terrific in the role. I also enjoyed the performances of the late Ed Asner as Santa Clause, James Caan as Walter Hobbs, Zooey Deschanel as Jovie, and even Peter Dinklage as Miles Finch even though he had a minor role. Plus, Mark Acheson's cameo scene in the mail room was just so precious. I really enjoyed his scene and hearing his laughs. Those were the characters who stood out to me the most.
The editing, choreography, and acting were all brilliantly well-done as well. Props to Jon Favreao for excellently directing this film, David Berenbaum for the wonderful screenplay, and John Debney for the decent music composing.
What I especially enjoyed about this movie was how valuable family can be, and even though Buddy came across as weird, creepy, and idiotic to the other humans, he was eventually accepted into the family after getting used to him and seeing more of his personality. It is one of the main things I personally love about Christmas. It's not just about gifts, food, and presents. It's also about family and friends who care for you and love you.
Overall, this film was definitely a comedy gem worth re-watching after all these years. This gets a solid 8/10!
Peace!
Oh, I remember this movie and I enjoyed it as a child.
This movie is a definite favorite amongst my family and I. Any time we'd watch it whenever the Christmas season was around, we'd laugh our socks off!
I didn’t mention this before, but after seeing the movie again yesterday I discovered that it’s a movie that gets better and better the more people watch it.