Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with a quick look at Jon Favreau's foray into directing mainstream comedy, ELF.
As a huge fan of Favs (both as an actor and director) and the stars (Jimmy "the Dream" Caan, Will "I'm so damned funny" Ferrell and Zooey "Bette Davis Eyes" Deschanel) I was really pulling for this film to work. I saw the first trailer in a low-res internet version, but other than that I was pretty unaware of anything about the film, except for the concept. A man is raised by Elves in the North Pole. He goes to New York City to find his real father. Fish out of water, basically.
I must admit I wasn't sure if the concept would work, but I was confident in the talent involved... And they didn't let me down. Let me say right here, right now... ELF is the best Christmas movie to come along since A CHRISTMAS STORY. Where A CHRISTMAS STORY popped the bubble of the holiday spirit... poked at it with the stick of good nature, ELF emphasizes the fantasy side of Christmas Cheer. The elves, reindeer, jolly fat men (not Harry... he's more Bugs Bunny than Porky Pig), claymation North Pole creatures... That sort of thing.
Will ELF be a Christmas classic like A CHRISTMAS STORY? I really don't know. I've seen it twice (once back at the Austin Film Festival a couple weeks ago and tonight at the sneak screening) and it held up terrifically. But time will tell. You can't pick the classics before they become classics and they can only do that over a period of time.
A large part of the success of the film can be attributed to its star. Will Ferrell jumps headfirst into the mainstream with this flick and both audiences I saw this film with just ate him up. He has that unique talent to be goofy, but not stupid. His wide-eyed crazy man smile is both cute and creepy. That combination just makes you laugh.
Favs did a fantastic job filling in the supporting characters. From Ed Asner's perfect Santa to Faizon Love's pissed off toy store manager to Bob Newhart's Elf character, the adopted father of Buddy (Ferrell), played with a perfect mix of sweetness and sarcasm to the cutest little girl I think I've ever seen in my life (she's in the scene with Ferrell in the doctor's office). And Rage Cage is in it, playing a writer along with Andy Richter. Also, see if you can spot Ralphie himself, Mr. Peter Billingsley, in the film. Odds are, if you've visited this very website in the last, say, two weeks, you've already seen his face. hehe
And Claymation! Yay for Claymation North Pole animals and the Claymation snowman, Leon. I don't know who to give credit for these guys... Is it Favs, the director or David Berenbaum,the writer? I guess both deserve the credit, but extra geek points for awesomeness goes to whoever got RAY HARRYHAUSEN to voice the Claymation Walrus! Whoever you are, you rock!
The claymation really swung me over to absolute adoration of the movie. Who hasn't grown up watching Rankin/Bass masterpieces? Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman... The Claymation immediately reverted me back to that child state of wonder, watching in terror as the Abominable Snowman tore after that lumberjack dude with the head many times too big for the rest of his body.
ELF is a mainstream flick and a little bit cookie cutter, but it still somehow feels fresh... I think that's mainly thanks to Favs's lively direction and the sheer amount of quality actors in front of the camera. Jimmy "The Dream" Caan is great as the straight man. Rigid. On the Naughty List. I don't really buy his transformation at the end of the movie... it's a little too sudden, but it's easily forgiven and forgotten.
My biggest complaint with the film has nothing to do with the movie. The finger of doom is pointed at NEW LINE'S MARKETING DEPARTMENT. You fools put too much into the trailers... If I hadn't seen this film a few weeks ago, most of the best gags would have been ruined for me by now. How dare you put the snowball fight in the trailers! How dare you show the boardroom meeting fight! You should be ashamed of yourselves... At least you didn't give away the Jack-In-The-Box scene from the beginning of the movie... not yet at any rate...
So, if you've got a little brother or a parent who doesn't want to see THE MATRIX this weekend, or if you can't get in, this is a quality family film that won't leave you feeling preached at or covered with a happy-happy sugary coat. From ages Nine to Ninety, most people with any sort of heart will love this movie and laugh until the cows come home.
I also want to comment on the one trailer to play before the film... I was expecting RETURN OF THE KING again, but instead got the brand spankin' new SHREK 2 trailer. I like the first film, but I knew then it'd age very quickly. And it has. I hope SHREK 2 was made a little more timelessly because the trailer is damn funny. I have my money on Antonio Banderas's Puss-in-Boots character stealing the film. If you haven't seen Antonio's comedic side, all I can say is he's a natural and the little bit we see of him in the trailer is a crack-up.
Before I go, I want to put up a little announcement. Like last year, I'm going to be writing up a column listing some great geek gifts, to be posted on Thanksgiving. From board games to video games to toys of all sorts... Everything is fair game. But to do this I need your help. Email me at aicnquint@yahoo.com if you have the perfect, off the wall geek wet dream of gifts. If you're working at a big toy or game developer and want me to check out some upcoming products that you think fit into the GEEK category, you can email me at aicnquint@yahoo.com as well.
I'm off, squirts. Time to write up my MATRIX REVOLUTIONS review, which should follow this one shortly... 'Til then, this is the one and only Crusty Seaman bidding you all a fond farewell and adieu.
-Quint
