Having successfully demonstrated his big-screen comic chops with "Old School," Will Ferrell again proves there is indeed life after "SNL," playing an elf-reared naif who sets off from the North Pole for New York to seek out the biological dad he never met. While the words "instant holiday classic" might be pushing it, "Elf" is at the very least a breezily entertaining, perfectly cast family treat. Actor-director Jon Favreau, working from a colorful script by David Berenbaum, has delivered just the right combination of naughty and nice, or, as the MPAA calls it, "mild rude humor and language."

Subscribe to the Hollywood Reporter and see the entertainment industry from its best angle: the inside looking out. Complete access to real-time news and exclusive analysis that goes behind the scenes from film to television, home video to digital media.

   Subscribe now.