Elf (Ultimate Collector’s Edition) – Blu-ray Review

Blu-ray Reviews, Reviews

Will Ferrell is a very polarizing comedian. There are some who love every movie he has been in, no matter how good the film is or not. There are others, who like certain Will Ferrell movies but can’t stand others. Finally, there are those who can’t stand Will Ferrell at all with his crazed, manic comedy style. Before 2003, though, Ferrell was only really known for supporting roles or as part of a comedy ensemble. His first big breakout starring role was a Holiday film called Elf. Just in time for this Holiday season, a Blu-ray Collector’s Edition has been released.

In Elf, Will Ferrell plays an elf named Buddy, who lives at the North Pole and could be considered Christmas’ #1 fan. Buddy tries hard, but he is probably the worst elf at North Pole. There is a reason for that, and finally one day Papa Elf (Bob Newhart) tells him that Buddy is not an Elf at all. It is revealed that Buddy somehow got stowed away on Santa’s sleigh when Santa paid a visit to his house when he was an infant, and Papa Elf raised him as his own. Buddy’s real father, Walter (James Caan), isn’t the nicest person in the world. He’s actually a bit of a scrooge. That doesn’t stop Buddy from deciding to try and find his Dad who lives in New York City. But after living his entire life in the magical North Pole, the harsh realities of New York life are hard to adapt to for this child in a man’s body dressed in a giant elf costume. Fortunately, Buddy walks into a department store and catches the eye of a fellow worker (Zooey Deschanel), who might be able to help him adapt. Unfortunately, Walter doesn’t have time to deal with a long-lost son, especially when he is too busy publishing cheaply made children’s books.

This is basically a classic fish-out-of-water story at its heart. It’s fun watching Will Ferrell as this man-child character struggling to live in this new world. There is lots of humor here for the entire family, including some witty lines for adults, a little toilet humor for kids, and everything in between. Ultimately, we realize that this film tries to deliver the message of finding the Christmas spirit that many humans have lost along the way. As a result, the ending is fairly predictable. But the biggest problem is that Elf often times tries to be too many things at once.

This is Will Ferrell’s first real starring role, and it proved to be the perfect breakout role for him. No one else could have pulled off this role as perfectly as Will Ferrell. He brings a much needed and believable child-like innocence to the character. Ferrell’s comedy style can get annoying real quickly, but in this film he brilliantly walks the fine line of craziness and restraint. The most underrated performance has to be Zooey Deschanel. She is fantastic here, even though she is not completely believable as Will Ferrell’s love interest. That said, Ferrell and Deschanel do have great chemistry together on-screen, and they play off of each well. James Caan is decent as the typical Scrooge character, but everyone else in the supporting cast seems to pull out all the stops to make all their roles work.

Still, director, Jon Favreau, and writer, David Berenbaum, try too hard to mix various films together into one. At times, Elf is a kid’s film, a standard comedy, a love story, a fish-out-of-water story, and a film about restoring the Christmas spirit. But because of Ferrell in the lead and the supporting staff, and some good laughs along the way, the comedy delivers as an entertaining holiday movie.

The video on this Blu-ray disc is presented in 1080p/AVC/MPEG-4 at the 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen color ratio, which is enhanced for 16:9 TVs of course. This transfer is just okay. The colors aren’t as bright and the images aren’t as vibrant as you want them to be on Blu-ray. The visuals are really not that big of an improvement over with the standard definition DVD.

The audio included on this Blu-ray disc is available in either English TrueHD 5.1 Surround sound or English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound. German Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound, or Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound. There are subtitles available in English, Spanish, and German as well. There are no major problems here, but like the visuals, the sound isn’t really Blu-ray quality.

Collectible Tin Extras – The biggest new extra, and the reason why this set is an Ultimate Collector’s edition, is because of the collectible tin that the Blu-ray disc is housed in. Also in the tin, are other Elf Christmas-related collectibles, including: a yellow Christmas stocking, stickable gift tags with Buddy’s face on them, a magnetic picture frame and magnet with some Elf-isms around it, and a five-song soundtrack sampler from the film.

Audio Commentaries – This are two full-length audio commentaries. One is with the
director/writer, Jon Favreau, while the other is with the star, Will Ferrell. Favreau’s commentary is obviously more insightful, but Ferrell’s does have some good insight. Neither one of them is that entertaining, though. Ferrell is more serious in his commentary. If these two would have been in the same room together to record an audio commentary, it likely would have led to a more lively and entertaining commentary. There would also be less overlap too.

Fact Track – This is you standard “pop-up” trivia track that you have the option of turning on while watching this film. There is just various random facts about the history of Christmas, and terminology from the film. Nothing really worth seeking out, though.

Focus Points – While you are watching this film, a bright yellow disc will pop up on the screen. If you hit a button on your remote, it takes you to some behind-the-scenes material that goes along with the scene you are watching. Most of it is found elsewhere in the extras, but there some unique images of the crew pulling around a fake sleigh and reindeer around Central Park for easy reference, Will Ferrell’s full body digital scan, a Steadicam shoot on the skating rink, and various interviews with extras from the film.

“Tag Along with Will Ferrell” Featurette – This runs 7 minutes and it follows Will Ferrell around all day. It starts off as his day begins in hair, wardrobe, and makeup. There is also various “making of” footage as well.

“Film School for Kids” Featurette – This runs 21 minutes and it breaks down the various roles and people that go into putting a movie together. Not like other standard “making-of” featurette, this one not only features the writers and directors, but also video assistants, dolly grips, carpenters, and everything in between. Jon Favreau also tells us what the set was like while filming.

“How They Make the North Pole” Featurette – This runs 12 minutes and it takes a look at the North Pole sets. It also tells us the tricks involved to make Buddy look like he towers over the elves. Fairly interesting.

“Lights, Camera, Puffin!” Featurette – This runs 6 minutes and the Chiodo Brothers talk about the stop-motion animation that was used for some of the creatures at the North Pole. They take you through sketching out the original concepts to working out the lighting on-set to animating their creations frame-by-frame.

“That’s a Wrap!” Featurette – This runs 12 minutes and it takes a look at post-production. We see how all of the sound, visual effects, and editing really come together to make this film.

“Kids on Christmas” Featurette – This runs 6 minutes and it asks regular kids various Christmas questions. If you think kids say the craziest things, this is the featurette for you.

“Deck the Halls” Featurette – This runs 10 minutes and it’s all about elaborate holiday decorations around the world.

“Santa Mania” Featurette – This runs 6 minutes and it’s all about Santa Clause, and those that love him around the world.

“Christmas in Tinseltown” Featurette – This runs 7 minutes and it has Johnny Grant, the honorary mayor of Hollywood, talking about Christmas in Hollywood. The main focus is on the annual holiday parade from its early days all the way to today.

Elf Karaoke – This runs 4 minutes and this features invites kids to sing along to such Christmas songs as “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”, “Deck the Halls”, and “Jingle Bells”, etc.

Deleted Scenes – There are 8 scenes that didn’t make the final cut of the film, and they total 11 minutes. Jon Favreau also gives you optional commentary to explain why these scenes didn’t make the final cut. Some funny stuff in here, but mostly nothing that will be greatly missed.

Elf is a solid holiday film that should be watched at least once by everyone, whether you like Will Ferrell or not. However, this Ultimate Collector’s Edition is just a repackaging of the 2008 Blu-ray feature with same audio and visuals and extras. The only thing new is a metal tin filled with some holiday and movie-related trinkets.


New Line Home Entertainment presents Elf. Directed by Jon Favreau. Written by David Berenbaum. Starring Will Ferrell, James Caan, Bob Newhart, Edward Asner, Mary Steenburgen, Zooey Deschanel, Daniel Tay, Peter Dinklage, and Amy Sedaris. Running time: 95 minutes. Rated PG. Released on Blu-ray: October 26, 2010.

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