Intermission: 'Elf' gives esarly Christmas smiles to viewers

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aJim Wunderle owns Wunderle Sound Services and is a Springfield free-lance writer and musician.|ret||ret||tab|

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I'm not a Scrooge or anything, but I have become disgusted with the over-commercialization of what is one of the two most important holidays for believers in one of the world's largest religions. Every year the hype gets started sooner and sooner. Eventually I can foresee the big chain stores having a Christmas department going year round. |ret||ret||tab|

Neither am I a big fan of Christmas movies. "It's a Wonderful Life" and "A Christmas Story" seem to be exceptions to the norm of such dregs as "The Santa Clause 2" and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." |ret||ret||tab|

My wife and I usually spend some part of the holiday season rewatching the first two "Godfather" movies. To each his own tradition, I suppose.|ret||ret||tab|

With that in mind along with the fact that "Saturday Night Live" smirkmeister Will Ferrell was starring it was with some trepidation I dragged myself to see Jon Favreau's latest directorial effort, "Elf." Halloween was a scant week in the past, and they're already rolling out Christmas movies! I was not in a holiday mood.|ret||ret||tab|

To my surprise, "Elf" turned out to be a pretty pleasant film and has enough sweet, goofy humor to keep the kids happy while throwing together a cast that includes Bob Newhart, James Caan (himself a "Godfather" alumnus), Ed Asner, Mary Steenburgen and the radiant Zooey Deschanel. |ret||ret||tab|

This quality cast, as well as a good bit of humor that might be over the heads of younger viewers (but not off-color), ensures that adults with or without kids in tow should have a good time.|ret||ret||tab|

Newhart, as Papa Elf, is a worker at Santa's (Asner) toy factory. He narrates the tale and his dry delivery sets a perfect tone.|ret||ret||tab|

We learn the story of Buddy the Elf. In reality, Buddy is a human baby who crawls into Santa's bag at the orphanage one Christmas Eve and ends up at the North Pole, among the team of elves who populate the workshop. Since Buddy is an orphan, Santa decides he should stay and be raised as an elf. He entrusts the child to Papa Elf who does his best to raise Buddy and teach him the ways of toy making and all things elfin.|ret||ret||tab|

Needless to say, Buddy outgrows his friends and family at an alarming pace, and one day the painful truth must be told. The unsuspecting Buddy is shaken when he finds his parents were human. His mother died and Buddy was placed in an orphanage. His father was unaware of his existaence. Santa, who keeps a list and checks it twice, knows where Buddy's dad lives and sends the overgrown "elf" to New York City to find his roots.|ret||ret||tab|

Walter Hobbs (Caan) is Buddy's real dad and works a high-pressure publishing company as an editor of children's books. He's so stressed he pays little attention to his new son or wife (Steenburgen) and has ended up on Santa's "naughty" list.|ret||ret||tab|

The movie kicks in when Buddy gets to New York. There's not much new ground covered here it's a fairly rote "fish out of water" tale but Ferrell plays the wide-eyed innocent Buddy for all he's worth.|ret||ret||tab|

He gets a job at Gimbels (being a Christmas elf, of course) meets a pretty gal (Deschanel) and eventually convinces dad to let him come live with the family.|ret||ret||tab|

His mannerisms are odd, but his sweetness rubs off. Little brother Michael (Daniel Tay) warms up to Buddy after a bit, and Steenburgen's portrayal of the mother is completely convincing. She's an actress with a lot of gentle charm, the kind needed to make us believe she'd take in the son of her husband's former lover. A son who thinks he's an elf.|ret||ret||tab|

There are sight gags galore, and Buddy's outrage at the "fake" Santas he encounters at Gimbels are a riot. The main subplot involves Walter's troubles with trying to meet a rush deadline for a yet-to-be-scripted children's book. |ret||ret||tab|

There's a hilarious scene featuring Peter Dinklage as a high profile if somewhat vertically challenged author brought in as a hired gun. |ret||ret||tab|

Older viewers will be in for very few plot surprises, but just because the ride is familiar doesn't mean it's not fun. In spite of my misgivings before I "had" to go see "Elf," I came out with a smile on my face. I only hope the inevitable sequels keep up the same values.|ret||ret||tab|

Of special note is the fact that Springfield's own Joe Bauer gets a big opening-title credit as visual effects supervisor for "Elf." I had the pleasure of doing location audio and sound effects for Bauer's student film, "The Visit," several years back. |ret||ret||tab|

Soon after that he went Hollywood and has worked on the "Star Trek: Voyager" TV series as well as several films such as "Frailty" and "Final Destination 2."|ret||ret||tab|

Good job on this one Joe! (And you never paid me for "The Visit.")|ret||ret||tab|

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