Delightfully Funny Valentine to Christmas in New York

Rating: 9/10 (28 October 2005)

"Elf" is a laugh-out-loud with a tear-in-your-eye charming, updated tribute to one of my favorite movies "Miracle on 34th Street," much better than the tepid actual re-make.
Here, the plot turns in a now-vanished Gimbel's, but the family in much need of "faith means believing in something even when your common sense tells you not to" again lives in an apartment on the Upper West Side overlooking Central Park. While I couldn't tell from the credits just how much was actually filmed in NYC vs. Vancouver, I'll credit whatever it does, as it is such a Valentine to Christmas in New York, to mix holidays.
While Ed Asner makes me believe that he too thinks that Edmund Glenn really was Santa Claus, it is Will Ferrell's consistent wide-eyed innocence that carries the movie.
The product placements do get annoying, but mostly serve the script. Who knows if director Jon Favreau, who also has a cameo role, punched-up debut writer David Berenbaum's script, but it is delightful.
Zooey Deschanel is a sweetheart, while James Caan and Mary Steenburgen just pretty much get to reprise their TV roles, in, respectively, "Las Vegas" and "Joan of Arcadia."
The visual references to other movies are amusing, from the Disney-like animation at the North Pole to treating the Urban Park Rangers like the Dark Riders from "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring."
The holiday song selections are mostly classic, though it's nice to hear new Leon Redbone interpretations on two tracks.
(originally written 1/19/2004)