Elf: Critic Reviews

For those of you with a belly laugh on your wish list, Christmas has come early this year.

The disarming comedic tone -- silly and novel in its lack of cynicism -- is driven by the fearless, cheerful unself-consciousness of Will Ferrell.

A charming, silly family Christmas movie more likely to spread real joy than migraine, indigestion and sugar shock.

The result is a turkey.

With a little tweaking, this could be a horror film.

Its message is unobjectionable, and there are a few laughs to be had, but too much of Elf is like Buddy's favorite meals: syrupy sweet.

Ferrell provides just enough humor to get us through the familiar fare and enjoy the ride.

It's a clumsy, tedious ride that wears out its welcome as it wears out the seat of your pants and the circulation in your lower limbs.

The movie sets Ferrell's assaultive and juvenile physical comedy in a less-combative playground, and the result might leave the Ferrell-intolerant exiting the theater on a high.

Wan Christmas concoction.

It wiped away the Scrooge in me for 90 enchanting minutes.

As an original family film for the holidays, it's fresh, timely and quite funny.

The first charming present of the holiday movie season.

Leaves a sour taste in the mouth and a Grinch-like resolve to sue the manufacturer.

I love watching Ferrell do his gangly, clueless shtick, and even here, there's something inherently funny about just seeing him in a big, green elf suit. There's something inherently funny about Ferrell -- period.

This is one of those rare Christmas comedies that has a heart, a brain and a wicked sense of humor, and it charms the socks right off the mantelpiece.

Formulaic but lovable.

The film soon bogs down in fake hugs and a fakier climax involving Santa (Ed Asner) and his downed sled.

An enjoyably goofy yuletide tale of a towering innocent with a serious sugar addiction.

Ferrell has found the ideal starring vehicle -- and it turns out to be Santa's sleigh.

You'll laugh hard, you'll laugh often, and you'll leave wishing you still believed in Santa.

A Saturday Night Live skit that goes on too long, a one-joke movie that's funny for a while but wears out its welcome.

The sweet-natured outsider fantasy neither skimps on nor overplays its sentimentality.

A pleasantly old-fashioned, gee-whillikers Yuletide confection rescued from Schmaltz-ville by the subversive comic talents of Will Ferrell.

It's Ferrell's untethered turn as Buddy that makes Elf sparkle.