[PEOPLE: Directed by Jon Favreau (Iron Man 1-2, Made). Starring Will Ferrell as the elf (it was going to be Jim Carrey… And that actually might not have been as funny.) Also with James Caan (Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs) as Elf’s dad, Bob Newhart, Ed Asner, Mary Steenburgen (Back To The Future 3), Zooey Deschanel, Amy Sedaris, and even Peter Dinklage (Death At A Funeral, Nip/Tuck).
PLOT SUMMARY: Elf that’s really a human returns to the real world.
VISUALS: Seeing Bob Newhart as an elf? Priceless.
SOUNDTRACK: Christmas songs.
The 12-second belch was courtesy of Maurice LaMarche! Awesome.
MORALS: Something about open-mindedness with your children? Oh, and also, everyone should believe in Santa, of course.
GOOD STUFF: Will Ferrell acting like his typical typecast man-boy character. It works even better when there’s a good reason for him being such an idiot.
BAD STUFF: Family friendly.
CONCLUSION: Cute. Glad I watched it. Good Christmastime movie. Ferrell is almost always funny.
RATINGS:
Clint: Netflix: 3/5 stars. IMDB: 7/10.
Carolyn: Netflix: 3/5 stars. IMDB: 7/10. “Nothing spectacular, but it was a cute Christmas story.”
The native public rating for this movie is: IMDB: 6.8/10, Netflix: 3.6/5 stars (Netflix‘s predicted rating for us was 3.3/5 stars–and they were right to estimate us lower than average in this case).
RECOMMENDATION: Watch, but only during Christmastime.
SIMILAR MOVIES: Fred Claus.
MOVIE QUOTE: “It’s just like Santa’s workshop! Except it smells like mushrooms… and everyone looks like they wanna hurt me…”Mood: Merry Christmas :)
Music: Charlie Brown – The Christmas Song
November 13, 2011 at 7:02 AM
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