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The 2003 movie Elf stars Will Ferrell as an unwaveringly positive candy-loving human raised by elves who journeys to New York City to meet his dad. While Will Ferrell does sing several times during the movie, his duet on "Baby It's Cold Outside" with co-star Zooey Deshanel is not included here. Instead Deshanel duets with Leon Redbone (who also provides the voice of Leon the Snowman in the movie). I still like their version and really enjoy the tone of Deshanel's voice. Redbone also sings "Christmas Island" and "Winter Wonderland." The holiday songs on the soundtrack are complemented by a couple non-holiday cuts, Louis Prima's "Pennies From Heaven" and Billy Preston's "Nothing From Nothing."
The film's soundtrack has a nice selection of retro Christmas music, including Ella Fitzgerald's "Sleigh Ride," Lena Horne's "Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow," and Eartha Kitt's classic "Santa Baby." Other songs, like the medley of "Sleigh Ride / Santa Claus Party" performed by Ferrante and Teicher and Les Baxter, Jingle Bells performed by Jim Reeves, and Eddy Arnold's "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," make you feel like you're in one of the stop-motion holiday specials from the '60s like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Or maybe that's just me. In any case, these are versions of classic songs that radio stations seem to refrain from playing for the most part (with the exception of "Santa Baby"), so I enjoyed finding a Christmas album that felt new and fresh.
