Well December is upon us so I guess this is the perfect time
to talk about my favourite movies that also happen to fall under the Christmas
banner. Unfortunately that is quite a small roster, which is a shame, I love
movies, I love Christmas, the two should go hand in hand, yet it so rarely
works for me, so expect only several Christmas films to be discussed this
holiday season. Now while most people would save their favourite for last, I decided
to flip the system and start off by talking about my all-time favourite
Christmas film, Elf. The reason why is because this is always the first
Christmas film I watch in order to get in the mood, so, let’s begin.
Elf was directed by Jon Favreau and stars Will Ferrell &
Zooey Deschanel. It follows the story of Buddy, an orphaned baby who was
accidentally kidnapped by Santa Claus and is raised in the north pole thinking
he’s an Elf. As he grows up and learns the truth, he sets out to find his real
family in New York City. And from there we get a lot of wacky fish out of water
scenarios as Buddy doesn’t understand social norms and has to teach his real
father (James Caan) the meaning of Christmas, blah blah blah, let’s get to the
good stuff.
Now here’s the thing, I am not a Will Ferrell fan. I think a lot of his work is repetitive,
lazy improve shrouding as actual comedy when really he’s just shouting nonsense
and it baffles me that this has entrapped audiences. Though I guess the
majority of his work is harmless, but I really just don’t find it funny at all.
With that being said, I absolutely adore the man in this film. I’ve said it
before and I’ll say it again, happiness-is-not-a-bad-character-trait. Seeing
Ferrell as Buddy the Elf has got to be one of the most joyous and upbeat
characters that seems to find the fun in every scenario he’s in. Everything
from spinning in a revolving door, getting his shoe shined, being handed a
flyer, the man is having fun with everything he is doing. Two moments that no
matter how many times I watch this film always get to me are when he gets run
over by the taxi, and when he answers the phone with “Buddy the Elf, what’s
your favourite colour?”. Some might say his over excitable nature can get
irritating, not for me, I absolutely love him. I think what prevents it from
getting annoying-like a lot of Ferrell performances do-is that there is still
an emotional depth to the character, he wants to develop a relationship with
his family, he wants to understand how things work and he’s a hard working
fellow himself. Alright he’s not exactly Rick Deckard, but he’s still a well
enough developed character for me to call him a great character. And I’ll be dammed if I don’t choke up every time
near the end when Buddy says “I don’t belong anywhere…”
There’s also something to be said for how much physical
humour is in this film, again, just looking at the moments mentioned earlier,
the taxi moment is funny simply for Buddy’s body language and how his posture
barely changes mid-crash. Or with the phone call, he doesn’t just rush to the
phone, he full on dives for it. Or when Deschannel is yelling at him to get out
of the shower, he just covers his eyes like a child and runs straight into the
lockers. The more I analyse what comedy works for me, the more I realise
slapstick might be my favourite form of comedy because it is very difficult to
do, especially in live action, so when it works, it really works.
One aspect of this film that people don’t really talk
about-and understandable why because it isn’t really one of those aspects that
come to mind-are the special effects. Favreau is notable for being very anti-CG
at this point in his career, something he would obviously have a change in heart
once he got to Iron Man. So the opening of this film is not only a nice tribute
to the classic Rankin-Bass stop-motion Christmas specials, but also gives the
film a very unique style in our modern day sensibilities of film making. But
the tributes don’t stop there, one of the stop motion characters is actually
voices by Ray Harryhausen of all people, ain’t that a nice little treat? On top
of the stop-motion there’s a lot of use of forced perspectives in order to
create the effect of Buddy being bigger than all of the other elves. Wow, whoda
thought Elf the Christmas movie would be a visually complex and stunning film?
But on top of judging it as a film in it’s own right, how
does it work as a Christmas film? Because I live in the firm belief that it’s
not just enough to have you film take place at Christmas. Christmas isn’t a
place or time, it’s a feeling, a sense of community, an ideology. The idea that
in a time of cold miserable weather and people reflecting on the past year, why
not spend this time with the people you love and want to spend more time with?
A time that says you should try and spread as much joy as possible to both
people in your life, as well as complete strangers, just because we all
universally agreed that this is a time where we should all be happy and help
one another. Hm, maybe that’s why I don’t love that many Christmas films,
because there are so few that actually represent that. Elf, is most certainly a
film that represents that feeling. In fact it might do it better than most
because it also discusses the cynicism that comes with the holiday season. Not
everyone does see it as a time of goodwill and peace on Earth, but as a
commercialisation that glorifies capitalism, or a forced religious ideology
down our throats-even if Christmas loses its Christian ties with each passing
year, and for good reason if you ask me.
Elf acknowledges not everyone gets into the Christmas
spirit, for one reason or another, people don’t get all that excited, and
honestly with the more time that passes, yeah that magic disappears quicker and
quicker. The internet exposes kids to a lot more information at a very young
age, and in some ways that’s a good thing, but in other ways it means it isn’t,
in this case the whole charade of Santa Claus goes faster than it used to. Now
sure there are plenty of films that talk about this these days, but they didn’t
a decade ago, and certainly not in family films, and even for the ones that did
tackle it, they didn’t do it as successful as Elf did it. True, every
generation is going to have its Scrooges and Grinches that’ll find someway to
take out the joy of Christmas, after all those two aren’t used as examples
because they roll off the tongue, but this was the film that tackled it from a
modern sensibility. And of course like A Christmas Carol or How The Grinch
Stole Christmas, they resolve it in the best way possible, by reaffirming how
the Christmas spirit can be brought back, in this case, not through a great
implausible deed, or life changing epiphany, but just by singing a damn
Christmas Carol. But wait, doesn’t that
mean the Jim Carrey Grinch also tackled this? No! Don’t you dare bring up
that piece of shit movie!
Sadly it seems this “Lack of Christmas spirit” thought
pattern is getting stronger and stronger each year, and it’s not even that
people are anti-Christmas, but they’re not exactly pro-Christmas either, and
that’s just as bad. Which is probably why we don’t get as many Christmas films
these days, and even rarer we get a good one. I can only think of one
legitimately great Christmas film, though I’m not going to mention it by name,
because I’m going to feature it later on this month. Frankly, I miss Christmas
films. I miss films that’s entire purpose is to spread joy, tell entertaining
stories and hopefully inspire people to get in the Christmas spirit. Elf is one
of those movies. It has an insanely loveable lead (And the best performance
from Will Ferrell), really creative visuals, memorable dialogue, great comedy
and a real sense of Christmas spirit behind it. It’s my all time favourite
Christmas film and one of my favourites in general.
Merry Christmas
-Danny
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