With the Christmas season kicking into gear, it’s also time for holiday movies to get released. Some aimed for kids and families and others not so much. The film being looked at here pits together a MTV star and a horror icon for a weird holiday romp. It’s as weird as it sounds.
Watch the Trailer Here
The Specs
Rating: Not Rated
Director: Ethan Wiley
Running Time: 87 minutes
Studio: Anchor Bay
Release Date: December 4th, 2012.
The Story
An Elf is left behind by Santa to help rescue the Harper family from a lousy Christmas. The Elf and the family get more than they bargained for, as the kids help the Elf discover his special powers and true identity as a budding superhero.
The Cast
Jason ‘Wee Man’ Acuña as Elf Man. Best known for being part of the JACKASS film and TV series, and used that fame to branch out into Holywood roles.
Jeffrey Combs as Mickey. Best known for his role as Dr Herbert West in THE RE-ANIMATOR series, as well as various characters in several STAR TREK series and a reoccurring role as Kevin Burkhoff on THE 4400. He’s also done voice over work, providing several voices for characters like The Scarecrow in the NEW BATMAN ADVENTURES animated series, The Question on JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED, and The Leader in THE AVENGERS: EARTH’S MIGHTIEST HEROES cartoon.
Mackenzie Astin as Eric. As a child, played Andy Moffett on THE FACTS OF LIFE TV series and he was main character Dodger in THE GARBAGE PAIL KIDS MOVIE. Since childhood, he’s done several appearances on shows like MY NAME IS EARL, HOUSE, GREY’S ANOTOMY, and the new 90210.
Mirelly Taylor as Amy. Aside from this, she’s appeared on TV shows like CSI: NY,NUMB3RS, CRASH, and LOST.
The Dissection
Well, this certainly is a new mash-up: A Christmas movie mixed with a superhero origin story.
Elf Man (Wee-Man) with Eric (Mackenzie Astin)
Now, the first thing that must jump out is the cast list. I mean, Wee Man as the hero, fighting Jeffrey Combs in the villain role? That is an odd pairing, to say the least. However, it ends up working, sort of. Wee Man is basically playing himself, though a more G rated version of himself, so it’s not Combs, meanwhile, is also a G rated version of himself, if he was like his character from THE FRIGHTENERS. It’s actually kind of funny and his scenes are a welcome diversion in the film.
So, with that out of the way, how is the movie itself? The acting, first off, is kind of all over. One scene would have perfectly fine acting, but another scene feels off. That seems like an issue with editing more than anything with the actors. The story itself is actually interesting, but how it’s played with during the course of the film sort of sinks it. The film is roughly 80 minutes long, sans credits, and about 15 minutes of the start involves setting up the characters. That doesn’t leave a lot of time to actually do things for the story. It’s nothing bad, but there’s nothing good, either. It a safe movie, doing nothing to really go anywhere beyond what it is.
Mickey (Jeffrey Combs) and his goons, Jean-Pierre (Dave Coyne) and Big Bucket (Larry Nichols).
The movie itself feels low, low budget. It’s sitcom style cameras, what little special effects there are in this are mediocre, and it just feels like something you would see on ABC Family, or a filler movie to show on STARZ, which owns Anchor Bay. It would be surprising if the movie broke a million dollars, budget wise. It’s not bad at all if a film has a small budget, but it is bad when it feels like a low budget film, and this movie certainly does. The credits especially look the part.
The main issue with this movie is that there is a big barrier of entry to this. Movies like this fall into the category of either family film or children’s film. While both family and children’s films are generally aimed at children, family films usually don’t prevent adults from enjoying it as well. With ELF MAN, this movie feels more like a children’s film, so it’s a film that kids would watch, but parents would probably prefer to do something else. So, it might not be something you get for yourself, but might be something if you have a little sibling or a relative coming over for the holidays.
The Extras
Other than trailers for other Anchor Bay movies and ELF MAN itself, nothing. Again, another hint this film was better off on TV.
The Verdict
The movie itself really isn’t bad, all things considered, but at the same time, it doesn’t feel like a film that deserves a DVD release. It feels more at home on network TV or on a family movie network, getting rerun during the middle of a Christmas movie run. The movie could have been a lot better, and it could have been a lot worse, and does itself no favors because of that. Best if you catch it on TV, or if it shows up on Netflix or Hulu, and rent only if you get a bunch of other movies for a Christmas movie marathon you’re making for your cousins or family coming over for the season.
Rent ELF MAN at Redbox:
http://www.redbox.com/movies/elf-man