Elf (2003)

Finding out where you really belong can take you on a journey far from the only home you've ever known. Jon Favreau's "Elf," written by David Berenbaum, is a genuinely good movie, not just a comedy with a few funny bits, but a smartly written, skillfully directed and deftly acted story. And because it's all so well crafted, it's genuinely funny too. Will Ferrell is hilariously sincere as Buddy, a human orphan who crawled into Santa's sack as a baby and was raised by elves at the North Pole by his adoptive father (Bob Newhart). Grown far too big for elf life, Buddy learns that his real father, Walter Hobbs (James Caan), is a cranky New York children's book publisher who's on Santa's naughty list, and sets off to find him. Caan plays the bewildered, grumpy dad perfectly, and Zooey Deschanel is charmingly deadpan as Jovie, a department store elf Buddy falls for. Favreau steers clear of most Christmas clichés and focuses on material that's sometimes subtle and consistently surprising, from Buddy's sugar-loaded breakfasts to a memorable run-in with a short-tempered children's author (Peter Dinklage). Mary Steenburgen plays Walter's kind wife, and Ed Asner is a jolly Santa Claus, whose sleigh ends up crash-landing in Central Park on Christmas Eve. It's become a modern holiday classic.