Thursday 1 December 2016

My Favourite Films - Elf (2003)

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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