'ELF' LOOKS FOR ITS LEGS.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Writer

It might be a bit premature to call Jon Favreau's new Christmas movie, ``Elf,'' a perennial. It is, after all, just arriving in theaters today. But if moviegoers' reactions match the filmmaker's intentions (and the buzz has been great), ``Elf'' is going to be the kind of movie that shows up on television each year around this time.

``I wanted to create something that's timeless,'' Favreau says, ``a movie that kids today are going to be fed up with by the time they're 25. Why not? You only get one shot at a Christmas movie, so you might as well aim high.''

``Elf'' stars Will Ferrell as Buddy, a man-child who leaves his adopted home in the North Pole to go find his real father (James Caan). The PG-rated movie has its share of big, broad laughs, but at its core, it's really a father-and-son story about an optimistic spirit (Ferrell) convincing a world-weary man (Caan) to embrace life again. (Parallels to ``It's a Wonderful Life'' are purely intentional; it's one of Favreau's favorites.)

Adding to the movie's warm, familiar feel are appearances by a couple of favorite television actors (Bob Newhart plays Buddy's elf dad; Ed Asner is Santa) and a decidedly old-fashioned production design that forgoes computer effects for clunky, Rankin Bass-style stop-motion animation and forced-perspective filmmaking. Even if Favreau had had the money (he didn't; ``Elf'' was a modestly budgeted movie standing in the shadow of the ``Lord of the Rings'' trilogy at New Line), Favreau wouldn't have done anything differently. Simplicity was important.

``The knee-jerk reaction is to go CGI and create big, spectacular worlds, but the Christmas movies and shows I grew up with were very small and inexpensive,'' says the 37-year-old Favreau, best-known for writing and starring in ``Swingers.''

``The way I see it, Christmas movies have become too noisy - and all the noise drowns out what's important, the message you want to communicate.''

Ferrell was still working on ``Saturday Night Live'' when he agreed to make ``Elf'' in 2000. New Line picked up the project, but finding the right director proved difficult. When Favreau was suggested, Ferrell thought, ``Good luck getting him. He's not going to want to make a Christmas movie.'' Favreau, however, was actually looking to make a Christmas movie and jumped at the opportunity to work with Ferrell, who he knew through mutual friend Vince Vaughn.

Says Ferrell: ``Yeah, not only did we get him, but he cared about the detail of the movie in such a way that ... well, it's not like I didn't care, but I was like, 'Gosh, Jon, you're really into Christmas.' ''

In that respect, Ferrell and Favreau turned out to be perfect collaborators. Ferrell is a fearless comedian willing to do anything - and if you saw him streaking through ``Old School'' earlier this year, you know we mean anything - for a laugh, while Favreau, who mists ups when remembering holidays spent with his Jewish-Italian family, cared intensely about giving ``Elf'' a beating heart. (The Hollywood Reporter review noted it had ``just the right combination of naughty and nice.'')

``I come from a place where it's like, 'Make sure it's funny - forget about the rest,' '' Ferrell says. ``Jon's saying, 'OK, it'll be funny. But we also need to make people feel something, too.' I remember we had one joke about Buddy, on his journey from the North Pole to New York, coming across a snowman. He starts talking to it, thinking it's going to talk back. He goes to give it a hug and gets in a compromising physical position with him. It was funny, but it didn't work in a PG movie.''

Reading Will

Appearances to the contrary, Ferrell can be over-the-top in ways that don't relate to playing a male cheerleader, impersonating ``Inside the Actors Studio's'' James Lipton or the late, great Chicago Cubs announcer Harry Caray. Ferrell, 36, is due to become a father for the first time in March, and his wife, Viveca, worries about him going to pieces in the delivery room. (``I'm such a sap,'' Ferrell says without a trace of embarrassment. ``It's almost a badge of honor, in fact.'') So playing a wide-eyed innocent like Buddy wasn't much of stretch.

``Will has a huge heart,'' Favreau says. ``Everybody knows him for his goofing around, but I think he's going to be a great actor, too. He's warm, accessible, and he hasn't lost certain aspects of his innocence. And those things were very important to the movie. If you want the story to be the center of the film, you can't have someone winking and smirking through the movie, thinking they're smarter than the material.''

Ferrell shares Favreau's love for ``It's a Wonderful Life'' (he ranks it as his favorite Christmas movie, just behind 'Days of Thunder'') and Rankin-Bass holiday specials like ``Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer'' and ``Frosty the Snowman.''

``I also love the one with the Heat Miser and Snow Miser, but I can never remember its name,'' Ferrell says, breaking into a song from ``The Year Without a Santa Claus.''

And, like Favreau, Ferrell is hoping that ``Elf'' turns up annually like the aforementioned movies and TV specials, although he's a little more hesitant than his director in discussing the subject.

``It's nice that people are raising the question,'' Ferrell says. ``I guess that means we haven't completely botched the job. But it's presumptuous for me to say, 'Yes, I guarantee this is going to play for the next 100 years.' The hope was to make something that at the very least would evoke that thought. Time will tell.''

Ferrell chews on the subject some more.

``Who knows? I'm surprised continually that for some people, a movie like 'A Night at the Roxbury' is their Holy Grail. 'Are you sure?' Then I get chastised. 'Stop bad-mouthing ``Roxbury,'' man! That is a classic movie!' I'm like, 'OK, sorry.' Then I edge slowly away.''

A short list of Christmas winners

Christmas-themed movies typically are either too gooey (``Jack Frost'') or too noisy (``Scrooged,'' ``Jingle All the Way'') to be tolerable. That's what makes Jon Favreau's funny and genuinely moving ``Elf'' such a delightful discovery. It's a holiday perennial. Here are five others:

It's a Wonderful Life (1946): Bash this movie and you'll be labeled un- American. (And we have enough of that going on these days as it is.) Frank Capra's classic lives up to the hype, though, with its knowing and loving look of a good man discovering that an ordinary life can be pretty extraordinary.

The Bishop's Wife (1947) above left: This ``Wonderful Life'' wannabe isn't a great movie, but it does have the great Cary Grant gliding his way through this story of an angel (Grant) who sorts out a bishop (David Niven) and, yes, his wife (Loretta Young). The story is pure schmaltz, but the first-rate cast makes it more than bearable.

Miracle on 34th Street (1947) above right: Edmund Gwenn won an Oscar for his portrayal of Santa Claus, and he has made believers of every kid who has seen this movie. Pure cheese, but beautiful anyway.

A Christmas Story (1983): Go figure that the guy who made the ``Porky's'' movies would also create the best-loved Christmas film of the last 50 years. It's not subtle, but the movie perfectly captures a kid's-eye-view of the holidays.

The Santa Clause (1994): Tim Allen and his ``Home Improvement'' director John Pasquin went on to make two horrible movies (``Jungle 2 Jungle,'' ``Joe Somebody''), but somehow they got it right in this charming father-and-son story that plays to Allen's engaging comic strengths.

- G.W.

CAPTION(S):

7 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) Something for yule

`Elf' - starring Will Ferrell - aims to become a holiday perennial

(2) no caption (Will Ferrell in `Elf')

(3) James Caan

(4) Ed Asner

(5) Bob Newhart

(6) The Bishop's Wife (1947) above left

(7) Miracle on 34th Street (1947) above right

Box:

A short list of Christmas winners (see text)