Elf

This movie is an annual tradition for my wife & I. I'm torn as to whether this or A Christmas Story are the best Christmas movie around. I think this one probably takes it. Will Ferrell is Buddy, a human baby raised at the North Pole among elves. As he grows up, he learns that he's not quite the same as everybody else and is told that he's a human not an elf. He's sent to New York City to find his father, played by James Caan. Buddy soon wins over his father's family with his infectious positive attitude, lands a girlfriend, and saves Christmas by helping people rediscover their Christmas Spirit. There's a million laughs throughout and this is really just a great movie. It's a sweet, happy movie that tells its story really well. Zooey Deschanel works well as Ferrell's girlfriend. Here she's just a pretty blonde girl with incredible eyes that can sing, not the quirky "it girl" for nerds she'd later become. The real revelation here is Ferrell though. He's just incredible in this movie. I am 100% serious when I say that I feel he deserved an Oscar Best Actor nomination for this movie. He is absolutely 100% invested in this role and plays it perfectly - total sincerity and commitment. This is a really, really great movie. 9/10. A side note: at the end of the movie, Buddy is shown reading a book of his adventures to young children. The makers of the movie somehow failed to capitalize on this by not releasing the book shown to the general public. Oh, they released a book - but it's very small and doesn't tell the story of the movie. Seriously, how do you screw that up?!?