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That’s why it’s all the more surprising that whatever heavenly master of the universe is responsible for deciding who becomes a movie star has tapped Will Ferrell for the honor. I say this because Will Ferrell is not handsome. Nor did Will Ferrell start his career as a reality show contestant. Nor is Will Ferrell a particularly great actor. However, Will Ferrell has a unique and welcome talent with a long movie career ahead of him, cosmic reward for seven years of toiling on Saturday Night Live. Ferrell’s niche is that he’s completely shameless, with an ability to embody not only the adorable, clueless puppy, but the wide-eyed 5-year old who loves the adorable, clueless puppy. In an age when everyone has the angle, the plan, the way-in, Ferrell revels in his character’s innocence.

In the last 18 months, Ferrell has found two different, yet hilarious ways to indulge his inner oblivious idiot. 2004’s Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy should have been half as silly and twice as clever, but it was still great and juvenile fun. It was sort of the community college version of Broadcast News, a film to ensure that future Americans believe that San Diego is German for "whale’s vagina."

In 2003, Ferrell hit comedy pay dirt in Elf, a film that wouldn’t have worked without his innocent, naïve charm. In fact, by all rights, Elf should have been right up there with Christmas with the Cranks, Surviving Christmas, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and other recent holiday offerings that try too hard to become holiday classics. But Elf’s not-so-secret weapon is Ferrell, who plays Buddy, an orphaned baby who stumbles into Santa’s toybag and is taken to the North Pole. He is raised by Papa Elf (Bob Newhart) and taught the toy-making ways of his elf brethren, who work all year round making Etch-a-Sketches and other goodies for Santa (Ed Asner) to distribute on Christmas Eve.

Although now in his 30s and appreciably taller than the others, Buddy still thinks he’s an elf. But being human, Buddy just doesn’t have the elf-like ability to crank out toys at superhuman speed (he can only build 85 Etch-a- Sketches per day, 915 under quota). When Buddy overhears two elves lamenting his human roots, he is determined to discover the truth about his real parents. So it’s off to New York, where Buddy tracks down Walter (James Caan), his children’s book publisher father, whose place on the Naughty List is probably written in permanent ink. Walter, the gruff and loveless man that he is, can’t fathom having a long-lost son, let alone one who dresses in yellow tights and thinks he’s an elf.

Buddy tries to form a relationship with dear old dad, while working the Santa display at Gimbel’s (the dearly departed Manhattan department store legend). At Gimbel’s, he meets Jovie (Zooey Deschanel) and develops a crush on her, which is to say, he’s taught that he’s supposed to have a crush on her by his younger brother Michael (Daniel Tay). The Gimbel’s scenes are a highlight, including Buddy’s realization that the department store Rent-A- Santa is not the real thing and in fact, sits "on a throne of lies!" By film’s end, Buddy, Walter, Michael and Jovie must help Santa power his sleigh, which runs on Christmas cheer, a rare commodity in Manhattan.

That Elf works is as mysterious a phenomenon as a reindeer-powered sleigh. It’s directed with purposeful simplicity by Jon Favreau and the script hardly contains a boatload of great lines. But it gets a lot of little things right and sometimes the stars align in just such a way that it all comes together. Casting here is on-the-money. James Caan and Zooey Dechanel give the movie a cool, almost indie sheen. Peripheral characters are also well embodied via Andy Richter, Artie Lange and, best of all, Peter Dinklage as the Michael Jordan of children’s book authors.

But of course, it all comes down to Ferrell. Whether he’s running down the street naked in Old School or eating a breakfast of spaghetti and chocolate syrup in Elf, Ferrell is a joy to watch. Here’s hoping to never takes himself too seriously or goes overtly legit. God knows we can’t be kids again, but the next best thing is watching Will Ferrell act like one.

VIDEO: HOW DOES THE DVD LOOK?

I was prepared to be disappointed when the animated title sequence showed some ever-so-slight flutter in the background. But while the 1.85:1 transfer recovered after that brief disappointment, the overall effort failed to live up to New Line’s fabulous standards. Still, the end result is pretty excellent, even if the tiniest bit of edge enhancement creeps in once or twice. Best here is the detail: there is a scene where an elf unfurls a scroll that contains toy names and quota numbers. Freeze that picture and you can read everything on the scroll. Colors are also a standout: Buddy’s yellow tights and Santa’s red suit never bleed or tear. The white snow is crystal clean and the blue skies are also quite beautiful. The exterior night scenes that close out the film are also well rendered. The night sky shows no pixilation. Fleshtone seem accurate. Ultimately, we’ve seen better from New Line, but this transfer is nothing to be ashamed of.

AUDIO: HOW DOES THE DVD SOUND?

The Dolby Digital 5.1 provided is appropriate to the film. Never overwhelming, like The Grinch Who Stole Christmas or Harry Potter, it understands the audience and the tone of the film. The front speakers do most of the work with only spotty appearances by the surrounds. For instance, the snowball fight has some nice whooshing sounds that tickle the surrounds playfully. Dialogue is very clean and the music and effects lay down a reasonable foundation, benefiting from some side speaker action. The musical score is the big winner here, sounding clean and full. Bass is average, which is about where it should be. The audio is more creative then most comedies, but it refuses to show off unnecessarily, which is a good thing.

Subtitles are available in English and Spanish.

SUPPLEMENTS: WHAT GOODIES ARE THERE?

Elf is another in New Line’s series of admirable, yet confusing, InfiniFilms. Pop in the disc and you’ll find 8,000 ways to access 10,000 featurettes hidden in 748 menu pages. Though it’s getting better, New Line still hasn’t managed to streamline this whole InfiniFilm thing. Plus, DVD producers seem to think viewers want to see 20 second moving menus EVERY TIME WE GO BACK A MENU. They would be sadly mistaken.

Choose to watch Elf in InfiniFilm and you’ll easily double the amount of time it takes to view the movie. But you’ll learn a lot. Periodically as the film progresses, you’ll see two options appear at the bottom of your screen. Each option will transport you to a short featurette having something to do with whatever scene you’re watching. It might be a deleted scene or an interview or some behind-the-scenes footage. When the featurette is over, you’ll be taken back to the film, in exactly the place you left off. All of these goodies are available separately on the DVD if you don’t want to skip through the film to find them.

There are two audio commentaries. The first, by director Jon Favreau, is quite conversational and fun. He talks a lot about North Pole scenes that were shot using forced perceptive and how the concept was featured in films like 1959’s Darby O’Gill and the Little People and Lord of the Rings. He felt such an old fashioned technique would give the movie a classic TV look. Favreau talks of casting and trying to surround Ferrell with real actors and not comics. This had the added advantage of Ferrell feeling he had to bring his A-Game to the set, since he was working with great actors. Favreau probably would have been more energetic with Ferrell sitting next to him but the Swingers star does a solid job here.

The second commentary is by Will Ferrell. Like most naturally crazy comics, Ferrell is subdued in civilian life and not in a joking mood. He talks a lot about Buddy’s motivation and will occasionally throw in bits of trivia (for instance, Ferrell’s brother plays one of the security guards who throws Buddy out of the Empire State Building lobby). It’s not a great commentary, especially since Ferrell spends much time just narrating the movie, but it’s worth a listen because one can never get enough of the Willster.

The menu heading All Access Pass contains the following:

Deleted and Alternate Scenes are a collection of eight outtakes. They can be played with or without commentary by director Jon Favreau. Scenes include Buddy playing rough during an elf hockey game and Papa Elf telling Buddy he’s a human ("I just thought I had a glandular problem," Buddy says). One scene is involves Leon, the stop motion snowman. A stand-in wears a foam snowman costume, giving the animators a sense of where the final snowman should stand and it gives Ferrell someone to play off. It’s an interesting section of an otherwise lackluster bunch of deleted scenes.

Behind the Scenes includes five featurettes: Tag Along with Will Ferrell is seven minutes of Will in his trailer, going into hair, makeup and wardrobe and then heading to the set to shoot a scene on Santa’s flying sleigh. Ferrell is unusually subdued, but it’s still an interesting piece. Video is full screen and digital-clean.

Film School for Kids is twenty minutes, and it follows director Jon Favreau around as he explains his job and how his team of craftsmen helps facilitate his vision. We also meet writer David Berenbaum and the two producers, who talk of the genesis of the project and the importance of character arcs and the three act structure. Before we’re done, we’ve met pretty much everyone in the camera, makeup and wardrobe department. The participants all speak in the same tone, as if they’re explaining something very complicated to a kid.

How They Made the North Pole is about the creation of the North Pole set. The production designer’s job is explained and we meet him and other important folks in the Scenic department. It’s 100% behind-the-scenes footage, with no movie clips to get in the way. Again, this is geared towards the kids, but adults will still take something from it. Video is letterboxed, for some reason, but it looks great.

Lights, Camera, Puffin! delves into how the adorable little Puffin creatures were born. We meet Puffin creators Charles and Stephen Chiodo, whose love of the original King Kong made them want to get into the monster business. Brief snippets of films that the Chiodo brothers did as children give the piece a sweet tone.

That’s a Wrap tackles post-production. The editing, sound, music and visual effects departments all have their moment. Jon Favreau introduces us to them all and ties it all together. Kids will like watching the Foley artists ply their trade. That’s a Wrap is a nice 12 minute piece, worth a look.

Finally, there is an 11 page Film Dictionary, which defines such movie terms as Blocking and Continuity Person.

Cramming more Elf information into your brain is the Fact Track. Choose this feature and a subtitle track plays along with the movie, similar to the Michael and Denise Okuda tracks on the Star Trek DVDs. The history of Santa Claus is briefly mentioned and Bob Newhart’s brilliant comedy career is given props. Otherwise, there’s not a lot going on.

Disc two contains the film in full screen, which is like getting a lump of coal in your Christmas stocking. The InfiniFilm extras available on the widescreen version are also available in the full screen version.

Under the menu heading Fun ’N’ Games, we get the following: Elf Karaoke allows the young at heart to sing along with the Christmas classics "We Wish You a Merry Christmas", "Deck the Halls" and "Jingle Bells." Pick one of the songs and you’re taken to a real karaoke presentation, with a box in the corner showing scenes from the film. No irony here, folks. Just good old karaoke.

Read Along is another irony-free extra in which the story of "your favorite Elf, Buddy" is told in storybook form. Called "Elf: A Story of a Tall Tale", it’s read by an unidentified female voice, and it’s illustrated by Aristides Ruiz and Ken Edwards Studio. It’s good for the kids. Adults will go through it thinking there’s a joke at the end. There’s not.

Buddy’s Adventure is a series of games the little ones may enjoy. DVD games have never been very good and this collection does little to improve its reputation. Mt. Icing has the player ski down a candy mountain in awkward and unfun fashion (I’ll take SSX3 on my Xbox, thank you very much). In Elf in the City, use your remote to take Buddy safely to Central Park. Fix Santa’s Sleigh is a quiz. Get all the questions right and Santa’s beloved gift-hauling chariot will be good as new. Snowball Fight requires use of the arrow keys to dodge snowballs and hit people with snowballs. Finally, there is the Secret Elevator O’ Fun. Get in, press 1225 (December 25) on the keypad, then walk into the elevator. Pick one of the 22 floors and you’ll be taken somewhere stupendous (or boring, depending on what floor you hit).

DVD ROM- WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU PUT THE DISC INTO YOUR COMPUTER?

Throw the DVD into your PC (God forbid Mac users should be able to enjoy DVD-ROM content) and you’ll find a bunch of surprisingly okay goodies. Script to Screen lets you read the script in the right half of the screen while the movie plays in the left half of the screen. Image Gallery is about fifty decent stills. Be an Elf is cute for the holidays: you can import a photo of any person’s face and put it on the body of an elf. Another solid kid-centric feature is Make Your Own Storybook, which allows kids to write their own fairytale. Printables features puzzles, Christmas cards and other items that can be printed out. There is also a weblink to exclusive Elf-related content.

PARTING THOUGHTS