Phhh...you should know the drill by now.  Let's get on with number 6 shall we? 

Elf is a wonderful tale about a boy who finds out he's not really an elf, and discovers it's hard to be normal when you've been hardcoded to be an elf for so many years.  Before the title, we actually see Papa Elf who begins telling us the story of how Buddy the Elf came to be...

While delivering presents one night to an orphanage, Santa gets distracted by some cookies.  What he doesn't see while he's eating cookies is baby Buddy sneaking into his bag of presents.  Santa continues on about his Santa business, completely unaware that he's got a human baby on board.  What the movie doesn't explain is how Baby Buddy doesn't die from the freezing cold ride to the North Pole or what the poor nuns in the orphanage did upon discovering the baby's disappearance.  To clarify though, that crap doesn't matter.  What matters is that Baby Buddy has now arrived at the North Pole and everyone seems a little surprised to see him.  You would be too if you were an elf and a giant human baby was suddenly in your workshop...

 

What I love about Santa's Workshop in Elf is the fact that all the building interiors are white.  It looks freakin' cold!  It's a completely different look than what you normally see in Christmas films that feature the North Pole.  Having said that, let's get back to the movie.  We get to see a montage of some crazy situations involving Buddy as he grows up...

We get to see a nice progression as Buddy goes from being a wee little child to an adolescent.  Well actually, I don't know that you can really call him an adolescent.  He's huge either way...

Ultimately Buddy ends up buliding toys, though he's significantly slower at doing it than the other elves.  He's a little behind on his quota of etch-a-sketches and claims he's just a cotton headed ninny muggons.  The other elves are shocked, but try to comfort him, calling him special.  I don't know why they don't just come out and say "Hey idiot, you're a freak of nature!", but that's why I'm not an elf.  The decision is made that Buddy might be better of testing the toys...

While working in the testing department, he overhears two elves talking about the incident that happened earlier and one of 'em says he's glad Buddy didn't find out that he's a human instead of an elf.  Suddenly Buddy begins having flashbacks to all the akward things he encountered as he grew up, which kinda point to him actually being human...

Buddy has a difficult time coping with all of this, and talks to several people regarding the issue including this guy...

Santa Claus explains to Buddy who he is and who his father is.  Turns out his mother passed away shortly after giving him up for adoption and his father doesn't know he even existed.  Buddy decides to leave for the far land of New York.  He hops onto a chunk of ice, breaking it free from the ice shelf it's connected to and begins to float to New York...

My favorite part of that sequence is the appearance of a narwhal.  As it emerges from the water you can hear very ominous music playing, then when it's head is out of the water it says "Goodbye Buddy!" and it looks completely stop motion.  It's totally from out of left field and it's hilarious.  After a wild journey through enchanted lands and some "Lord the Rings"-esque mountain climbing, Buddy ends up in New York.  It's a strange land, completely different to the one he's been used to living in.  Obviously, he has to climbatize to the whole thing...

Eventually he meets up with his Father who at first thinks it's an Elf-o-gram or something like that.  He asks Buddy to sing, and so Buddy sings a song about how he's really his son and he was adopted and he doesn't sing very well at all.  It's a little uncomfortable, thanks in part to James Caan playing a mean guy.  You know, like he always does.  

After being forced out of his father's office and the Empire State Building, Buddy ends up getting a job at a department store.  This of course leads up to more shenanigans as he tries to fit in with the real world.  It's here at the department store where he first lays eyes on Jovie, a charming lady who thinks Buddy is weird but doesn't give him the cold shoulder...

The store closes down for the evening and since Buddy doesn't have anywhere to go he covertly stays the night there.  He doesn't get much sleep though, since he's busy decorating the place up. It's gotta look more like the North Pole, and Buddy does everything within his power to make it look that way.  In the morning as he's finishing up he hears some singing coming from the women's locker room and investigates.  Turns out it's Jovie who's got a nice singing voice.  Buddy sings along, innocently sitting on a counter while Jovie is getting ready for the day.  She's startled by the second voice and is even more startled to find Buddy sitting there happily singing along.  She wonders what he's been up to and he takes her out to show her what he's been doing...

Santa is in town, and Buddy is excited to see his friend again.  He's a little too excited, stepping in front of a bunch of children who are waiting to tell Santa what they want for Christmas.  Suddenly, Buddy realizes it isn't the real Santa and the two begin exchanging harsh words.  Finally Buddy informs the imposter that he sleeps on a bed of lies, and after ripping off Santa's beard the two get into fisticuffs...

The decorations get trashed, and Buddy ends up going to jail.  He calls his dad to come bail him out, and it's obvious that his Dad isn't too excited about it.  He also realizes he's going to have to try and help Buddy for a little while and brings Buddy to his home.  He then has to explain to his wife that he's got a son, and while she's excited about it he's a little hesitant.  As the two arrive at their apartment, they open the door to find Buddy has been hard at work...

As the film progresses we find Buddy hanging out with his little brother, who's annoyed at how chipper Buddy is.  Suddenly the two get ambushed by villainous snow ball throwers!

They're pinned down, and Buddy instructs his little brother to begin making snowballs.  As it turns out, Buddy is an expert snowball maker and quickly constructs dozens of snowballs in mere seconds.  Then, he begins throwing them out in volleys that are pretty much unreal, but it's still funny.  Finally there's only one guy left, and Buddy makes quick work of him...

Buddy and his little brother then spend the rest of the day hanging out, goofing around and eventually Buddy asks Jovie on a date.  His brother helps to look less like an elf and more like a regular person.  Eventually Buddy goes to work with his Dad, and after some irritations, his father sends him to work down in the mail room.  The place itself is dreary, and lacking of any real fun.  Buddy, in all of his wonderfulness, is able to change that and soon the mail room has erupted into an absolute party...

One of my favorite moments in the film is the arrival of one Miles Finch, who is supposed to help Walter (Buddy's Dad) get a story ready to publish.  It's a pretty tight squeeze for Walter enough as it is, but they've hired this Miles Finch fellow to come in and make things work.  Well, everyone is impressed with this guy, and he ends up being this pompous asshole of a midget...

As Walter and his crew are meeting with Finch, Buddy busts in the room after a successful date with Jovie.  He's in love, and he's just excited to talk to everyone about it.  He's stopped mid-sentence though as he spots Finch.  He then proceeds to call Finch an elf and there's a hilarious amount of nonsent that follows.  Poor Buddy gets beat up by the angry midget, and then gets yelled at by Walter, who is now in a bad spot with his employer.  Long story short, Buddy runs away and while he's doing so he sees Santa's sleigh crash in Central Park.  Knowing that he can see Santa again, Buddy goes to see what's up...

It turns out that the engine on Santa's sleigh is busted and there isn't enough Christmas Spirit to carry the sleigh without the engine.  Buddy is tasked with fixing the engine, and Walter and Michael (Buddy's brother) show up in Central Park to discover that Buddy truly is who he's said he was.  This leads into a chase sequence (always a bonus by JFP standards) and some good 'ol fashioned Holiday cheer...

Finally,the engine gets ripped off the sleigh and it's up to people who believe in Santa to save the day.  It's a pretty neat scene as the crowd that's gathered to see the disturbance begins to sing, along with people in various other locations.  It ends up being enough to power the sleigh and Santa and Buddy fly off to take care of Christmas.

 The film wraps up with Buddy and Jovie back at the North Pole visiting Papa Elf.  They've got a little baby and Papa Elf requests to hold the child, and well, Buddy gets confused...

I had a tough time picking which scene to call my favorite, but finally chose one that I think suits the film well.  At the end of the day, this is a Will Ferrell movie, which may detract some people from watching it.  However, he plays the part of an ignorant and childlike man-elf absolutely perfectly.  The movie is packed with laughs, (so many in fact that I kept rewinding and rewatching certain parts) and has the underscoring message of sharing the Christmas spirit.  It actually deserves to be higher on my list, and maybe it will be next year.  For now, I leave you with this final picture of Buddy reading his story to children...

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