The 12 Movies of Christmas starts at the Dietrich Theater on December 6, where the theater shows some festive classics to help spread the holiday cheer and get you in the holiday spirit. And, I will also be starting my own Happy Holiday series for this month that includes some of the selections the theater will be showing and more! So, to kick things off, I checked out one of my favorite holiday comedies - the 2003 Will Ferrell comedy Elf.
Buddy was accidentally transported to the North Pole as a toddler and raised to adulthood among Santa’s elves. Unable to shake the feeling that he doesn’t fit in, the adult Buddy travels to New York City, in full elf uniform, in search of his real father.
As it happens, this is Walter Hobbs, a cynical businessman. After a DNA test proves this, Walter reluctantly attempts to start a relationship with the childlike Buddy with increasingly chaotic results.
‘Elf’ is just like most of the other festive classics that everyone enjoys (such as ‘Christmas Vacation, ‘A Christmas Story,’ ‘Home Alone,’ etc.) - no matter how many times you see it during the holiday season, it’ll give you plenty of holiday cheer.
This festive holiday favorite delivers a lot of very humorous moments that will have the whole family laughing. Will Ferrell was the perfect choice to play the childlike Buddy and I really can’t see anyone else playing the titular elf.
One of my favorite moments is the montage sequence when Buddy arrives in New York City. A lot of those moments had Ferrell improvising and feature a few people who had no idea what was going on - so, a few of their reactions were genuine.
‘Elf’ also has some heart-warming moments, such as when Buddy is getting close to his new family, and ultimately Walter. This Christmas favorite also gives a nice nostalgic feeling for anyone who has grown up with the Rankin/Bass stop-motion holiday specials since a few of the North Pole characters are very similar to the Rankin/Bass characters.
‘Elf’ will be showing at the Dietrich Theater on the following dates/times during the 12 Movies of Christmas: Dec. 6 at 1 pm; Dec. 8 at 4 pm; Dec. 13 at 7 pm; Dec. 19 at 7 pm. If you and the family can’t make it during the festival, you can stream the movie on Max.
Trivia: The script for ‘Elf’ was initially written in 1993 with Chris Farley and Jim Carrey being early candidates to play Buddy. It’s been rumored that the original ‘93 script wasn’t as family friendly as the iteration that everyone knows and loves now. The film makes heavy use of forced perspective to exaggerate the size of Buddy compared to all the other elves, just like how it was used in the ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Hobbit’ trilogies.
Rating: PG for some mild rude humor and language (running time (97 minutes)
Make sure to keep checking my Wyoming County Press Examiner reviews page on Facebook to see what else I plan on checking out during my Happy Holidays Series and much more!
Several minor traffic accidents occurred when Will Ferrell walked through the Lincoln Tunnel in his costume, because people were so surprised (and distracted from their driving) to see him wearing an elf outfit.
The cotton balls Buddy eats while in the doctor's office were actually cotton candy that had not been dyed.
Will Ferrell turned down $29 million to be in a sequel in late 2014.
Wanda Sykes was originally slated to play the Gimbel's Manager but backed out at the last minute. She was replaced by Faizon Love, who insisted on still wearing the nametag made for Sykes, which is why his tag inexplicably says "Wanda".
The crew was adamant to make the movie an homage to Rankin & Bass' Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964), and had started to include references to that film, in the confidence that all copyright issues had already been taken care of. This turned out to be an oversight when the studio's legal department informed them that no permission had been obtained from Rudolph's copyright holders. Soon, lawyers from New Line Cinema popped up in all facets of production, suggesting that Will Ferrell should start wearing a blue costume instead of green, which would mean that they had to either re-shoot all of his scenes, or digitally color-correct his and other suits. However, all legal issues were later cleared when they found out that Rudolph was never properly copyrighted, containing an error in the Roman numerals of its copyright notice, so the movie could freely include elements from it.
On the final day of shooting in New York City, it was just director Jon Favreau, Will Ferrell and a camera man driving around the city looking for locations to shoot. They would jump out and ask pedestrians if they would be willing to be extras for some quick cash while Ferrell paraded around acting like Buddy, or they would let Ferrell surprise people and ask their permission afterwards (like with the man Buddy mistakes for Santa). Much of the montage when Buddy first arrives in New York City was filmed then, such as when he is getting his shoes shined, and jumping between traffic.
The elf Ming Ming, who appears briefly in the beginning of the film, is played by Peter Billingsley, who starred as Ralphie Parker in the classic holiday film A Christmas Story (1983).
To recreate the old charm and timelessness of classic Christmas movies and prevent the special effects from becoming dated, most of the shots with Will Ferrell, Bob Newhart and Edward Asner in the workshop with the elves were done with forced perspective rather than CGI (a technique New Line Cinema had already used with their Lord of the Rings movies). For the scene where Buddy rides a bicycle with Papa Elf, Ferrell is riding in the front and Newhart is standing on a platform several feet behind him to make him look smaller; Papa's hands on Buddy's shoulders are from a young actor standing out of sight behind Ferrell's back. A similar set-up was used for the scene where Buddy sits on Papa's lap, but using the young actor's legs.
Will Ferrell's first leading role. It was producer Jon Berg who suggested Ferrell for the role of Buddy, because despite being known only from Saturday Night Live (1975) and having never played a leading role, Berg felt that Ferrell had the innocence necessary to portray the character.
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