In Short:	Elf in the city.
Recommended:	Yes!

BUDDY:

We elves try to stick to the four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup.

Jon Favreau's (Iron Man) quirky fish out of water comedy is exactly what the doctor ordered to see you through the Winter blues. Light the fire, put your feet up with a nice cuppa tea, and delight in this extremely playful, very funny festive film that showcases Will Farrell's most endearing performance as the affable man-elf, Buddy.

After sneaking into Santa's bag of toys as a wee toddler during one of Santa's visits to an orphanage, Buddy is adopted by Papa Elf (Bob Newhart) and accepted into the Elven community as one of their own at the North Pole. As the years pass by, however, Buddy grows into a fully formed man, making it rather difficult to fit in, forcing Papa Elf to send Buddy out into the real world to seek out his biological father.

I'm not the biggest fan of Will Farrell, although I tend to like him best when he's playing an obnoxious, overgrown man-child (see Anchorman and Step Brothers). He reigns in his performance and trades up obnoxious for a rather believable portrayal of a man who grew up without a care in the world. That's not to say there's hardly any of his trademark ridiculous behavior on offer -- this entire film is ridiculous -- it's just a more charming role than I'm used to seeing Will play, and it works.

Throw in the likes of indie poster child, Zooey Deschanel, and you have a sure hit. Deschanel has what I like to call the ''Felicia Day Effect'' on me. It doesn't seem to matter what she does, or who else is in the film, she's usually one of my personal highlights. This movie is no exception; I would have liked it regardless, if only for the very good, very funny duet of ''Baby, it's Cold Outside''. It's classic. Luckily, there's plenty of other great moments to lap up: Buddy tackling an impostor Santa; Buddy's real father, Walter (James Caan) thinking that Buddy is a song-o-gram, and the hilariously awkward moment that follows; not to mention the awesome snowball fight sequence.

Elf isn't perfect, though. In fact, it kind of loses the run of things towards the end of the film. For the majority of the running time, Favreau offers up just as much entertainment for kids as he does for the inner man-child in all of us, but this is a film primarily aimed at the little 'uns, and so a predictably mawkish denouement was inevitable, which is a shame, as Elf does its best to avoid these familiar trappings for the most part.

With so many revered Christmas films out there, it's easy to forget the likes of Elf. It's silly and playful, juggling slapstick with sentiment in equal measure, and does its best to separate itself from the bunch. Definitely worth a look!