DAWID I ELFY (DAVID AND THE ELVES) (2021)

DAWID I ELFY (DAVID AND THE ELVES) isn't completely devoid of creativity, but it does borrow a lot from ELF and the SANTA CLAUSE movies. In fact, during the end credits, I read that José Luis Orozco plays Santa Claus in the Latin American version. If someone can only watch the dub, then they're going to hear the same voice from the aforementioned trilogy. How can they not make comparisons? Usually, dwarves are cast to play elves, but sometimes, they cast children, and other times, they cast slightly short people. Here, it's a mixture of everything. Ummm... OK? Speaking of elves, one of them (Albert) turns a truck into a toy. The driver demands an explanation until Albert starts talking about it like a gift and even offers the driver a hug. I laughed because I thought it was meant to be absurd humor, but in retrospective, I have doubts. You see, the driver starts chasing Albert a couple of minutes later. If he's still mad, why did he accept the hug? Why did he let Albert walk away? During this chase (at a park), Albert runs towards a bench and jumps on it, while the driver crashes into it. Why didn't he go around the bench? It's not like the two of them were so close that there was no time to dodge. And it's not like Albert jumped from the center of the bench; it was the right end. Don't worry. Albert isn't a dick throughout the whole movie. There are times where he does bad things, but because he doesn't understand modern society or because he takes things too literally. For example, when he's at a mall, he meets a man named Stefan who says he would rather spend Christmas fishing alone. Albert transports him to a boat on a lake. Stefan's wife calls him, but he speaks as vaguely as possible. Does Stefan not explain what happened because he's afraid she won't believe him? Considering all the things you can do with a smartphone, I find that hard to believe. And no, she won't think that Stefan travelled on his own, because all of this happens in a span of minutes (she's at the mall too). Anyway, Albert befriends a boy named Dawid and uses magic at his home. He tries to explain the mess to his parents (Hania and Piotr), but they don't believe it. Hania blames Piotr for encouraging Dawid's imagination with stories of this nature. However, halfway through the movie, she finds a present that she loves, she thinks it's from Piotr, and her personality does a 180 degree turn. All of the sudden, she's all about the wonders of imagination. She doesn't believe everything that Dawid says, but she's willing to listen. Piotr dismisses his explanations almost immediately and Hania has to convince him to be open-minded. I... I don't get it. Dawid has to wear a Wise Man costume for a Nativity play, but Albert uses magic to turn it into a bunny costume. Both parents try to make the costume look better, but only Piotr suggests that Dawid shouldn't go to avoid being made fun of. Not only does Hania act like it's no big deal, but she also says Piotr is no fun. Urgh! And yes, the other students mock him... but so do the parents in the audience. Surprisingly, that felt like the most unrealistic part of this Christmas story. I'm not saying people in real life would ignore it, but I feel the reaction would be slower (keep in mind that Dawid enters the stage without drawing attention to himself and he stays on the side) and it would be confusion more than anything. I mean, the issue is that what he's wearing doesn't fit the play, but there's nothing wrong with the costume itself. It doesn't look like it was hand-made. It doesn't make Dawid look girly. Seriously, what are these assholes laughing at?!

5/10
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