It’s that time again when the leaves fall, the snow comes and we retreat into our warm homes. What better way to get into the Christmas spirit than to watch a festive movie? Read this Elf movie review for the 411.
Elf Movie Review
Elf, a holiday classic about a young boy named Buddy raised by elves at the North Pole. As he grows up he starts thinking he isn’t a real elf because he looks different. He finds out he is not a real elf and that his dad is on the naughty list. Buddy sets out to find his dad in New York City. While he’s out on his Journey he encounters many obstacles. One obstacle, in particular, is that not enough people believe in Santa Claus making the Christmas spirit weak. Will Buddy find his Dad in the Big Apple and save Christmas, or will he fail causing children all around the world never to experience a Christmas?
Movie Information
Elf was released on November 7th, 2003 starring Will Ferrel and Zooey Deschanel. The film had a budget of around $33 million. On November 9th, 2003 the movie’s opening week in Canada and the US raised $32,100,00 at the box office. Elf grossed $178,053,220 in the US and Canada, worldwide the movie grossed $227,356,156. The movie was filmed in various locations like Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Production companies that worked on the film were New Line Cinema, Guy Walks Into a Bar Productions, and Gold/Miller Productions. The movie soundtrack consisted of multiple Christmas songs such as Santa Baby (Eartha Kitt), Baby It’s Cold Outside (Frank Loesser), and other holiday classics.
Awards
The movie was nominated for nine awards: Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie: Comedy (2004), MTV Movie & TV Award for Best Comedic Performance (2004), Kids Choice Award for Favorite Movie (2004), Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor: Comedy (2004), People’s Choice Award for Favorite Comedic Movie (2004), and the Satellite Award for Outstanding Youth Blu-Ray/DVD (2005). The Movie won two out of the nine awards, it won the ASCAP Award for Top Box Office Films (2004) as well as the Golden Trailer for Best Comedy (2004).
Actors
The film cast contains many great award-winning actors Like Will Ferrell (Buddy the Elf), Zooey Deschanel (Jovie), James Caan (Walter), Bob Newhart (Papa Elf), and Peter Dinklage (Miles Finch). Mr. Ferrell wasn’t the first choice to play Buddy. The producers in the 90s wanted Jim Carrey to play our beloved elf, however, Mr. Carrey turned down the role to pursue other projects. Will Ferrel was Nominated for the MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance (2004) and the Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor: Comedy (2004).
Concerns
The film is a light-hearted Christmas movie. That doesn’t mean there aren’t some scenes that can be confusing to a young kid. In the movie, there is a scene where Buddy is in New York City at Gimbles. The day he was there the store was having a Santa Claus meet and greet. Buddy went up to Santa Claus and started exposing him saying he wasn’t Santa in front of a child audience.
There’s a Christmas tradition where children get their photo taken with Santa. The children think the Santa they’re seeing at the mall is the real one. This is how it can lead to confusion for the child because they’re seeing on screen an elf from the North Pole yelling at a mall Santa that he isn’t the real one. This can lead them to lose their Christmas spirit or their belief in Santa at a young age.
Another concerning scene is when Walter (James Caan) receives a gift from his son at his office. You’d think that the gift was something cute like a mug because it’s coming from an elf. That isn’t the case in this situation, here we have an elf who is inside a department store. He’s not going to know what certain things are. He sends the perfect gift for that special someone to his dad. The gift ended up being a Christmas lingerie. This can be inappropriate for children who have never seen a woman’s undergarments before.
