With most of the buzz still floating around “Kill Bill” and the majority of derision being shouldered by whatever the latest Angelina Jolie introspective blood love flick is, it’s good to see something like “Elf” hit theaters, and not in a mad rush on Christmas Eve.

Normally, holiday movies are released with the full intent of scamming parents out of their money at the expense of both the audience’s intelligence and the attention deficits of the children watching. “Elf” is no different, offering a standard holiday formula. In a way, it’s a Christmas-themed version of Tom Hanks’ transformation in “Big,” but unlike that movie, the highlight in “Elf” isn’t watching two grown men do a Lazy Susan on a giant piano.

Will Ferrell plays Buddy, a human who, as a baby in an orphanage 30 years go, snuck into Santa’s sack of toys and has been raised by the North Pole elves as one of their own. As he grows, his disproportionate size becomes a nuisance to the real elves, whose eternally hectic schedule of preparing for the next Christmas season doesn’t allow for his awkwardness. When he cannot meet the vast quotas the elves have for toy production, his adoptive father, Papa Elf (Bob Newhart, still the king of deadpan stammering) decides to reveal Buddy’s true origins to him. With the truth and a snow globe in hand, he sets off to meet his real father in New York City.

Buddy discovers his father (James Caan) is a bigwig in a children’s book publishing company, falls in love with a department store wage slave (Zooey Deschanel) and befriends the neglected other son. James Caan in the father role is pretty much like James Caan as Sonny Corleone or the corrupt marshal in “Eraser” or his character in the new NBC show “Las Vegas.” He’s always snarling and ready to smash someone through a plate glass window; yet in “Elf,” heís destined ‘o discover that work is a secondary concern when faced with either being there for his family or impressing the snarling corporate fat-cat. Of course, his redemption comes just in time to prevent Santa Claus from becoming nothing more than a fanciful notion in the minds of men.

While most of the humor in the movie comes from Buddy’s alien responses to everyday things, some of the bigger laughs involve his constant desire to hug and eat sugarplums with his dad; a multi-cultural dance routine to “Whomp! There It Is” in a mail room; Buddy’s messy breakfast of spaghetti and every kind of candy topping imaginable; and a memorable scene involving the top children’s book author, a dwarf burdened with a huge, success-fueled ego, who beats up Buddy after he believes him to be an escaped elf. One of the surprises is Zooey Deschanel’s singing; as it turns out, it is a key factor in the resolution of the movie, and her voice is almost indistinguishable from Ella Fitzgerald’s. She does an incredible duet with Leon Redbone in the film’s credits, worth sticking around for.

The outsider-turned-redeemer device is Methuselan by now, but it’s Ferrell’s performance that makes this movie truly enjoyable. He is expert at infusing his character with a child’s optimism, and a genuine sense of amazement at experiencing the world outside the fantastic confines of the North Pole. You believe it when he explains his love for Christmas, and even the most canned of expressions seem fresh when he’s doing them. Luckily, the more child-friendly theme of the movie prevents it from dredging the easy material...with a rating of PG-13, I’m sure some writer would’ve thought an oblivious elf stumbling into a hooker’s bed would make for comedy gold. Instead, the focus is on Buddy’s infectious Christmas spirit, which although mundane in relation to the other elves, is something altogether foreign in the regular world.

So even though both the outcome, theme and message of “Elf” is apparent after only a few minutes, it proves something much greater—that Will Ferrell can pull off the leading role, albeit one suited for his abilities to establish a credible sense of bewilderment with his surroundings. He’s not destined for dreck like his “A Night at the Roxbury” counterpart, nor is he relying on a frenetic Carrey whirlwind to suck everyone in. He plays it wide-eyed and straight and, as his screen elf dad has always done, pulls it off masterfully. As long as Ferrell doesn’t start calling up Milos Foreman for dramatic roles, he’ll continue to find he’s far better suited for success on the big screen like fellow SNL alums Mike Myers and Adam Sandler. Let’s just hope no one tries to piggyback his success with a “Spartan cheerleader” movie.

This is Burke Hamblin’s first review for Cinema Eye, but you can read his rantings on a regular basis in the Cinema Eye forums.