The perfect holiday movie for the cynical New Yorker (or anybody from any other metropolis) is so colorful and cheerful, yet not one that will give you a sugar overdose. It's the story of Buddy the elf, Will Ferrell, an actor I normally can't abide. He's an orphan who crawled into Santa's bag and was adopted by bachelor elf Bob Newhart and when he learns the truth of who he is heads to the Big Apple to locate his father, the cynical James Caan, and ends up finding a family.

Stepmom Mary Steenburgen (along with Dianne Wiest and Sissy Spacek the perfect on-screen mom) immediately takes to him, half brother Daniel Tay finds a playmate and world weary Zooey Deschanel goes from wanting to kill him on their first meeting to completely entranced by his sweetness. Caan must find the kid in himself to from the Scrooge like publisher to a loving husband and father, and that will take a Christmas miracle.

Having not seen this until now, I felt like a complete freeze miser for unintentionally missing it, although I did see the musical on Broadway in 2012. This film pays great tribute to our modern Christmas culture with references to the Franken-Bass TV specials of my childhood and even gets a very funny Keebler elf reference in as well. Who better to play Santa than Ed Asner? He's completely loveable with absolutely no Lou Grant gruffness.

One of the funniest gags is the reemergence of the long defunct Gimbles department store where Buddy meets Deschanel and turns the Santa village upside down by redecorating it overnight. When he surprises her in the employee lounge (complete with shower) as she sings "Baby It's Cold Outside", it's a magical moment, one of many that starts with the sight of Santa's real village.

Everybody is absolutely perfect here, not a false note in the film. So old fashioned in theme but very modern in spirit, this never falters in any way. The ensemble seems to have been magically delicious in loving the script because they are all filled with joy even when acting grumpy like veteran little actor Peter Dinklage, playing one of Caan's prestigious clients whom Ferrell accidentally insults. Putting my own big city cynicism away for the evening, this made me feel like Scrooge the morning after all of his nightmares when the spirit of Christmas returned to him. At times, this can even bring on a tear of joy.

"Elf" is a pretty cute film--but they're starting to overplay it a bit. Just this Christmas season, it's been on TV 1483857 times (give or take 2). And I worry that being shown so much that folks might have a backlash--might start to hate the film even though it's decent family entertainment and is worth your time.

Will Ferrell stars as 'Buddy'--a STRANGE young man indeed. Apparently, as a baby he was accidentally kidnapped and brought back to the North Pole by Santa. Not knowing what to do with the boy so he gave him to an elf (Bob Newhart) to raise as his own. However, he's a terrible elf. Part of it that he's absolutely too big to live as an elf--and part of it is that he's a bit...well....stupid. Eventually, after not fitting in for a very long time, the elves inform Buddy that they now know who his read father is and Buddy leaves the Pole for New York City to find his dad. Once there, Buddy once again does NOT fit in--and makes a mess of most everything. Can Buddy sort all this out and connect with his dad or will the audience leave the theater feeling depressed and miserable (yeah, right!).

The film has many funny moments (my favorite was when he exposed FAKE Santa to the kids waiting to see him), a few sweet ones and some very clichéd ones--but I can forgive this, as it IS a family comedy and I am not expecting Shakespeare! Well worth seeing....and a bit odd seeing Ed Asner playing Santa!

Orphan Buddy (Will Ferrell) sneaks in Santa (Edward Asner)'s bag and ends up in the North Pole. Papa Elf (Bob Newhart) raises Buddy as an elf. His giantness causes all kinds of problems. Santa allows him to go to New York City to find his birth father Walter Hobbs (James Caan) who is actually on Santa's naughty list. He gets a job at a store and befriends fellow worker Jovie (Zooey Deschanel).

Childlike Will Ferrell is giving off so much joy and innocence. He is so silly that it is impossible to not laugh at his slapstick humor. He fully commits and that's what makes it so hilarious. The only minor difficulty lies with James Caan. His personality is way too intense for a wacky comedy. But it picks up whenever he reunites with sweetheart Zooey Deschanel. And he has good fun with his brother Michael. Jon Favreau has created a wacky comedy with a heart.