Blu-ray Movie Reviews

This hilarious Christmas film tells the tale of a young orphan child who mistakenly crawls into Santa's bag of gifts on Christmas Eve and is transported back to the North Pole and raised as an elf. Years later Buddy learns he is not really an elf and goes on a journey to New York City to find his true identity.

Will Ferrell rarely hits the mark with me but this one was surprisingly good. Elf reaches back to a lot of the Christmas programs I grew up with and manages to blend some great laughs with some real heart. The story is a bit on the silly side but Ferrell makes the most of the material where I think most actors would fall flat. While I wouldn’t call this a budding Christmas classic, it’s got some charm.

Elf isn’t a very striking HD presentation and I would probably say it has more of a film look than some would prefer. Film wear is visible through a lot of the film and at times seem a tad excessive. Fine detail is good in close ups but medium to long shots look a bit soft. Colors are great with solid reds and greens and contrast is decent overall. I’m surprised how soft this one looked overall considering its age but I don’t have any other version to compare to.

The soundtrack is presented in Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and I loved the throwbacks to classic Christmas jingles. The mix has a very open quality to it with good tonal balance and presence. Dialogue is balanced perfectly within the mix and timbre is very natural (with the exception of the elves of course!). Surrounds open up the soundstage a bit but don’t expect a lot of panning or exceptional dynamics.

Most of the extras revolve around the production of the film and are themed around the film. You get a look at how they made the North Pole and the critters you’ll find there along with some insights into Christmas in general. A feature commentary with the director and Will Ferrell is included along with some deleted scenes as well. There is a karaoke feature and the theatrical trailer is included.

Elf ended up being more enjoyable than I was expecting and is a nice catalog title for the holidays. The video presentation could have been a bit better but I was happy to see Warner step up in the audio department. A great holiday rental for sure.