Elf, a heck of a story...

Well, I don't know about you, but "ELF" has got to be one of the most original Christmas movies/stories to hit the screen since the original "Santa Clause" w/Tim Allen. Already, within one week of Turkey Day we're watching for the second time tonight on basic cable Will Farrell as the deranged elf man. A semi-all star cast with Ed Asner as Santa, Bob Newhart as "Poppa," James Caan as Buddy(aka the deranged elf man) the elf's real father Walter Hobbs, Zooey Deschanel as Jovie and Mary Steenburgen as Buddy's nurturing step-mother, ELF takes the whole Santa's workshop homies to another level.

Buddy, as a toddling orphan ends up in Santa's bag on Christmas Eve as Santa was visiting an orphanage. He then ends up taking "Buddy" home with him to the North Pole and letting him stay with one of his chief elves, who is the crew chief for his sled. Poppa, crew chief extraordinaire raises Buddy the best of his ability, but still has to tell Buddy the truth. After all, Buddy is well over 8 feet tall(not really, but he's huge) and has had a beard since he was 15 years old(according to Leon, the Snowman who resembles Sam the Snowman from Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer. Leon is spoken by Canadian singer Leon Redbone). So Poppa Elf gives it to Buddy straight basically telling him his mother placed him for adoption as Walter was unable to take care of both of them, and she subsequently dies. Santa also informs Buddy that due to Walter's self-absorbed nature(which we see throughout the movie), he IS therefore, on ....the dreaded, "naughty list." So, armed with this info, Buddy decides to make the trek to NYC to meet his father, eventually showing up at Walter's high-rise white collar office and get's into all sorts of trouble, IE, gets himself thrown out of the Empire State Building office repeatedly with his goofy antics, he's mistaken as a Gimbel's employee due to him wandering in the store and of course; his attire(Another one of the former and famous huge department store fixtures of NYC and larger cities across America back in the day. It was once a part of Saks 5th Ave as it once owned Saks, but Gimbel's finally went bankrupt in '87, thus selling Saks) which is where Buddy first meets Jovie, a part-time/seasonal employee of Gimbel's who catches Buddy's eye...and then some. A huge mistake on Buddy's part as he literally beats up a store Santa after freaking out that this man is a fake and smells like beef and cheese as, well, he still has not realized he's a grown up and not a 10 year old child...nor an elf! So, the rest, as you know, has the movie up with enough insanity to make you thank God you're not a member of the Hobbs family or a Christmas elf, there's a hilarious snowball fight scene that finally bonds Buddy with his half little brother Michael! They bond, they jump on the beds at Gimbel's, they end up decorating the house for Christmas together and Michael ends up giving Buddy advice on how to ask Jovie out on a date(with Michael telling Buddy to take Jovie out for food, and not just candy. Real food, on a date), which ends up being as ridiculous of a first date as you've ever seen...or been on...maybe. The movie ends up with a decent moral ending, and Walter giving in to the deranged elf man and realizing that his corporate "who cares" attitude needs to be checked and he needs to think of others. It does have a great message; "The way to spread Christmas cheer is to sing loud for all to hear." Very nice, and quite true!

It's funny for all ages, doesn't discriminate and isn't the typical sugary, cavity inducing family movie one would expect for a Christmas movie. It's energetic, funny and actually really good!

Directed by Jon Favreau("Iron Man," "Swingers") and you'll see an unexpected cameo that's uncredited; Peter Billingsley, aka Ralphie from "A Christmas Story" plays one of the head elves, Ming Ming. See if you can catch him!

BTW, Black Friday is upon us, and fyi I've got the link to all stores that are participating with Black Friday sales....just check this link RIGHT HERE, YEAH?

I shall be on at least two more times before Thanksgiving. FYI; it's supposed to be near 70 degrees tomorrow in Chicago, so I will be out w/the kiddies for a good part of the day. Also, re: Thanksgiving and Black Friday weather? It's going to be in the high 20s for both the parade and shopping, so dress warmly, keep your wallet and purse near you and be safe; but most important....have fun! It's the most wonderful time of the year, after all!