By: Lily Sheldon & Sophie Elmstrom

*Warning: This review contains spoilers.

The movie ‘Elf’ is a comedy Christmas movie starring Zooey Deschanel and Will Ferrell. It was directed by Jon Favreau and was released on November 7th, 2003. This movie is a fan favorite amongst many Christmas fans and we will give you a rundown.

The movie starts when Buddy the Elf (Will Ferrell) is accidentally transported to the North Pole as a baby and raised with Santa’s elves. One elf (Bob Newhart) in particular stands up and becomes Buddy’s “father”. Buddy realizes that he doesn’t fit in when he starts towering over the elves, so he travels to New York to find his real father (James Caan). Santa (Edward Asner) gives Buddy a warning ahead of time informing Buddy that his father is on the naughty list and Buddy is determined to fix him.

Buddy goes through quite the journey while he is walking to New York City, including a scuffle with a local raccoon. Once Buddy arrives he soon realizes that people aren’t as nice as they seem to be. He visits his father’s office in the Empire State Building but Buddy is quickly kicked out by the security. With nowhere to go Buddy finds himself at the store Gimbels and gets mistaken for a worker at their Christmas area. He meets Jovie (Zooey Deschanel) who shows a cold personality towards the Christmas season and is just at her job for the money.

Buddy learns that Santa is visiting the store the next day and spends all night setting up decorations for “Santa”. Buddy then causes a brawl when he realizes this mall Santa is not in fact the one he knew in the North Pole. Buddy goes to jail and his father picks him up with resentment towards him, but he gives in and takes Buddy to get a DNA test where they soon discover that Buddy is in fact his real son.

Once Buddy finds a place to stay with his father and brother he begins hanging out with Jovie a lot more and introduces her to why Christmas is the best holiday. They soon fall in love with each other.

Walter, Buddy’s father, works as a publisher and gets fired once Buddy runs away from home and he has to leave his meeting to search for him. Michael (Buddy’s half brother) is concerned and scared for his safety while he and Walter frantically search for Buddy. While on this search, on Christmas Eve, Santa’s real sleigh crashes in Central Park, and Buddy and his family are left to save Christmas. In order to save this holiday they must make the holiday spirit come back to life as this is how Santa’s sleigh is powered. Many people in the park begin to sing Christmas carols and it generates enough energy to power his sleigh. Christmas is saved and Buddy makes a book about his adventure to New York with his father’s publishing company. Buddy marries Jovie and they bring their newborn to the North Pole to visit Papa Elf.

This movie received 86% on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 7.1/10 on IMDb. Some audience reviews loved the humor aspect of the movie, and the light-hearted feel. People also really enjoyed seeing Will Ferrell as Buddy, as they think he fit the role very well with his humor. Reviewers think that this is one of the best Christmas movies out there and it will put you in the holiday spirit with a smile on your face.

Overall, we rated this movie a 10/10. It is very funny, and a classic Christmas movie. We have both watched this movie countless times, and it never fails to keep us entertained. We think the story line is very unique and that they casted the movie perfectly. This movie gives us more Christmas cheer every time we watch it. We are so glad to have this heart-warming comedy for the holiday season.

You can watch ‘Elf’ on Hulu.