After watching
The Nightmare Before Christmas, I didn't really think that this experiment was actually going to get me into the Christmas mood. I mean it was good, but I didn't come out feeling warm and fuzzy like you do during the holidays. So when I started watching
Elf the other day, I was expecting pretty much the same scenario. A nice movie whose holiday theme was splattered across the screen but not felt in the hearts of the audience. Well what I took for granted was that
Elf actually meets all our expectations of what Christmas is
. And by that I mean the materialistic, commercial Christmas we all know and love.
Elf starts out at the North Pole. Conveniently, Buddy discovers he's a human and travels to meet his dad in Manhattan right around Christmas time. That means that there's snow everywhere and the streets are all decked out in holiday lights and wreaths. And we get all the great Christmas classic songs, that I personally started singing along to. I just couldn't help myself. Thanks to that though we also get this lovely and hilarious duet:
We also get proof that Zooey Deschanel looks better with black hair and
can play a role outside of the quirky hipster girl trope she's created for herself. One more thing: I forgot that this movie gave us the word ginormous. It's actually quite funny. This movie really does entertain. Will Ferrell plays the character with so much sincerity that when he's made to don full business attire, we still believe that he's an elf-man-child.
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| The only time his acting fell short. He can't wait to spit that out. |
Buddy gets a job working in the toy section of a Macy's like department store. There's lots of nice Christmas toys everywhere in this movie so that parents watching will know what to get their kids. Product placement galore! But ok, a movie's gotta get financed one way or another. Plus, it really does make it feel like Christmas. Sorry world-let's face it-we're materialistic jerks. Sure Christmas will be nice with just my family, but it'll be better with presents. And murdered pine trees dressed up in tinsel, and cookies, and multicolored lights, and delicious turkey dinners, and..
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| Haha so cute. I feel like going to Macy's now. Wonder why |
Regardless, of all that, this movie really did make me wish it was December 25th. I'm doing all I can to not annoy those around me by singing Jingle Bells.
Materialistic Spirit Verdict: 5 out of 5 candy canes
Christmas Spirit Verdict: 3.5 out of 5 snowballs
Source: http://dontpaniccinemanic.blogspot.com/2012/07/christmas-in-july-elf.html
