Elf brings holidays early

For some people, the holidays seem to blend together once the fall foliage starts to turn colors. However, New Line Cinema is starting to mess with the natural order of things. Just as Halloween winds down and before people even start basting their turkeys, they release a Christmas movie. Regardless of strange timing, "Elf" is a great movie for anyone who wants to dive into the Christmas season a bit prematurely. "Elf" is the story of an orphan who crawls into Santa's sack one Christmas morning at the orphanage. The baby is discovered after Santa returns to the North Pole. They look at his Lil' Buddy Diapers and name him Buddy. Papa Elf (Bob Newhart) adopts him and raises him as his own. As he grows up, it becomes apparent that Buddy isn't an elf. This leads to a few hilarious scenes with the 6-foot-3-inch Will Ferrell and the elfin-sized North Pole. After overhearing other elves talking about him, Buddy realizes that he isn't an elf and decides to head to New York to meet his real dad. From there, the movie turns into a comic juxtaposition of Buddy's childlike innocence and the "screw you" mentality of New York. He meets his father, Walter (played superbly by James Caan), and moves in with the family. Eventually, Buddy has to save Christmas, because in every holiday movie, Christmas must be saved. After seeing "Elf," it's entirely plausible to believe that no other actor could have made this movie nearly as likable. Will Ferrell plays his part with the wide-eyed exuberance of an 8-year-old at a toy store. The honest delivery of his dialogue makes the lines all the funnier. After this movie, Ferrell may have a bright future in leading roles in other comedic movies. The rest of the cast also does an excellent job. Mary Steenburgen, Ed Asner and Zooey Deschanel all do great jobs in their supporting roles. Though fans of "Frank the Tank" can expect no nudity or foul language from Ferrell in this PG-rated movie, it carries itself on solid writing and excellent directing. Movie fans can finally go and see a comedy in which there are no bodily fluids ingested, as seems to be the current trend. "Made" director John Favreau subtly crafts a movie with sublime comic timing. The script by David Berenbaum is strong enough, though made better by the wonderful cast. All the positives of this warm and fuzzy Christmas movie will have fans of all ages flocking to see it. The only drawback is that while the viewer comes out feeling warm and Christmasey, they can still go to Wal-Mart and buy overstock Halloween candy. Ignoring the release date, "Elf" is a definite winner. Grade: A-