Elf
December 2004 Reviewed by: Rad Bennett Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

This theatrical surprise hit of 2003 seems destined to be this year’s biggest DVD holiday entertainment. It looks crazy on paper: tall Will Ferrell as Buddy, a human elf; Bob Newhart as a real elf, his adopted father; and Ed Asner as Santa Claus. What’s going on? Well, seems that during Santa’s appointed rounds some years ago, a baby at an orphanage crawled into the jolly old man’s bag and got whisked back to the North Pole. Kind of heart, Santa assigned Bob Newhart to be Papa Elf and raise the child. This he did, imparting all the elf wisdom he knew how, but Buddy grows much taller than anyone at the North Pole. In the present, realizing he literally doesn’t fit in, Buddy sets out to find his real father.

Buddy’s real father is a publisher of children’s books who is, of course, about to cross over the line into a dark zone of greed and avarice. It is Christmas and Buddy finds work at a department store, where he falls for a young store elf (the delightful Zooey Deschanel), and endeavors to win his dad’s heart back to the good side of the Yuletide season. If this sounds a bit like formula, it is; and that is a shame. All the characters are perfectly drawn, every actor exactly right for his role and obviously enjoying it to the max. The movie oozes genuine charm in every scene, but the script is often bogged down in syrup. The actors save it to the point that this is excellent holiday entertainment, but, with more careful and inspired writing, it could have been a holiday masterpiece.

The DVD, however, is something of a model. There are two DVDs in the Amaray case, one with the widescreen transfer of the movie, the other with a pan-and-scan full-frame version. The images on both transfers are colorful, if lacking in the ultimate sharpness that defines a state-of-the-art DVD these days. The recorded sound is rich and full without being punchy. The soundtrack serves well both the dialogue and John Debney’s zippy music and is perhaps even better than the original sound of some of the source music.

The movie is showcased in New Line’s infinifilm series. That means, simply put, that the discs have more extras than Santa has gumdrops. For starters, there’s a running feature you can activate as you view the movie: at important points in the story an icon will appear on the screen. If you hit "play," a small featurette begins that enhances or explains the scene. When the extra is finished, you are automatically taken back to the movie at the same point you left it.

There are featurettes galore on the making of the film, on different aspects of Christmas, even on the source music used throughout the movie. There are video games and "Elf Karaoke," as well as a "Read Along" story. There are the obligatory commentaries, in this case from lead actor Will Ferrell and director Jon Favreau.

All of these activities will keep you and your family busy for days, but the best is yet to come: the DVD-ROM features. Put this disc in the DVD-ROM drive of your computer and you will be amazed. Okay, you’re jaded, but I was totally mesmerized and astounded at the interactive properties of this disc. For starters there was a "Script to Screen" feature. This is not new for New Line and is one of the studio’s best extras. You can display the script on your computer screen, overlaid with the movie itself, and compare the script to the finished product. It is a cool feature that no other company has imitated.

You can also access an image gallery, print out other activities, and make your own storybook. But the coolest feature of all is "Be an Elf." In this process, you find a photo of yourself or a friend and import it into a program that allows you to choose costume and background. The result is a very good-looking greeting card with you as an elf! It did not look fake, the elements were so well integrated; it looked thoroughly professional. If you want a DVD that will keep on giving, long after the movie is gone, Elf is it!

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