ELF (4 Stars)

Director: Jon Favreau
Stars: Will Ferrell, James Caan, Mary Steenburgen, Bob Newhart, Zooey Deschanel, Peter Dinklage
Description: This movie begins in the joyful setting of Santa's workshop, the day after Christmas. As happy and cheerful as usual, the elves waste no time in beginning their preperations for next year's Christmas, when they notice a small baby that had snuck into St. Nick's bag of gifts during his Christmas eve route. since their living in the snowy, desolate North Pole, and can't very well throw him back out into the cold, the elves do the only reasonable thing in this situation: They adopt him.
The years pass in Santa's workshop, and the adopted baby, who's name is Buddy, has turned into a grown man (Will Ferrell: Taladega Nights, Step Brothers) and has learned the lifestyle of the elves.
There is just one thing about Buddy that sticks out like a sore thumb around all of the elves: He's a human, and it has it's downsides. Buddy grows up ten times faster than his fellow elves, he's more than two times taller than them, and he's the slowest worker in Santa's shop.
One day, Buddy's adopted father, Papa Elf (Bob Newhart: The Librarian) decides to tell Buddy the truth about his childhood, and how he was born, put up for adoption, and most importantly, how his father never new of his birth, and sends Buddy out on a journey to find his father, who lives in a magical place, called New York City.
Eventually, Buddy finds his father (James Caan: Misery, The Godfather) . His name is Walter, and he works in the Empire State Building as a writer for children's storybooks. There's only a few problems: He thinks Buddy is a freak, and wants nothing to do with him... And he's on the naughty list.
Fortunately, after countless attempts from Buddy to get together with his father, and some discussions with his wife (Mary Streenburgen: Step Brothers, Noah's Ark), Walter decides to take Buddy in.
Now Buddy must get used to his life in the big city, learn how to act like a normal person, before his father goes crazy!
It's great to see Will Ferrell pull off this part in his only family Christmas comedy, and the film does very well without losing the interest of the older audiences.
(Also, the small scene with Peter Dinklage as Miles Finch really gives the film one of it's highpoints)