dvd on tap: Elf [Jon Favreau]

Will Ferrell strikes again! A delightful Christmas treat way back in 2003 - my sister and I went nuts aping his line - "I know him, I know him!", Ferrell plays Buddy, a human raised by Santa and his elves after sneaking into his bag one Christmas Eve when he was still in diapers. Being the odd one out in the North Pole, they suggest he find his real parents back in America.

Hijinks ensue when you put an adult human dressed as an elf - who doesn't know anything except making toys and preparing Christmas - right smack into the Christmas season in the Big Apple. His dad Walter, played by James Caan, is an understandable grinch of a book publisher, given the pressures in putting out new children's books and showing the bottom line to his bosses. At first, he gets put off by the appearance of his "son" but then relents when even his new wife and son accept Buddy into their home, with all his quirks (ever had spaghetti and syrup at the same time?). Buddy even gets to work in a Macy's-like store and even gets to fall in love (no, no bed scene, this is a family movie, you gutter rat) with a colleague (Zooey Deschanel).


Pervert elves, nekkid wimming - - FAAAAAAANtastic!

Elf sometimes beats you over the head too hard with Buddy's do-goody style and its overall damn-the-cynics storyline, but it provides lots of laughs and charms your heart over the long run (Jon Favreau, take a bow). The producers were smart to release the DVD over a year later after its theater run. This one has definite replay value.