Sometimes I get the feeling that film makers are just plain running out of ideas and when I first heard that there was to be a movie of ELF BOWLING: THE MOVIE I have to be honest – I was speechless. I suppose however now that movies like THE SIMS and MONOPOLY have been given the go ahead we’re gonna hear of some even more bizarre movies. I remember almost 10 years ago sitting at my desk in my first job and receiving and email with the game ‘Elf Bowling’ but never could I have imagined in a million years that I’d ever see a movie of it!
The premise of the movie is simple. Santa starts of as a pirate who along with his brother Dingle steals children’s toys. Santa however has a soft spot and gives away some of the toys he steals to orphanages. Santa and his brother’s biggest love however is playing bowling. One day when they’re playing, it leads to a fight. Their crew, who have finally enough, throw them overboard where they drift northwards as ice blocks until they are rescued by an Elf called Lex who sees Santa as the legendary ‘Whitebeard’ who will one-day lead the elves. Santa plays along but after sometime decides he enjoys it and wants to go legit. Dingle has other ideas and plots against his brother and poisons the elves against Santa. He plots to make the elves unionise, movie to Fiji and use them to further his own goals.
In truth this is probably one of the most difficult reviews I’ve ever written. I had to step outside my own comfort zone to watch the movie. No, it’s not that I don’t like animated movies. I’m a big kid and love movies like TOY STORY and SHREK. The problem for me was that the movie looked to be targeted at a different audience. Here in the UK it certificated as a 12 which I found odd with movies like SHREK being a PG yet having more adult orientated jokes. With the movies mentioned above there was humour that was aimed at adults as well as children. Watching ELF BOWLING: THE MOVIE was more like watching a kiddies cartoon on TV. Don’t get me wrong - I didn’t hate the movie. Infact I actually had a few chuckles at it. I just felt weird watching it.
On the plus side, as well as a few chuckles the animation was of a pretty good standard and the fact that they managed to invent a plot from what was some pretty weak source material was good. I don’t mean that as a negative to the game – It’s just that there was no story to it; the game was merely about pointing and clicking. Overall, I think ELF BOWLING THE MOVIE isn’t for everyone but for families with young children, this should be right up your street – Yes it’s a 12 but I honestly believe it’s for a younger audience as I’ve said. I didn’t think it was brilliant but when I consider the target audience do I believe it’s a good movie? Yeah, I think it is.
Date: 05/12/2008
Rating: 3/5
Copyright ©2008 Rough Cut Reviews.
Read this review and more on: http://www.roughcutreviews.com
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