Movie Trailers

• Directors: Dave Borthwick, Jean Duval, Frank Passingham
• Producers: Claude Gorsky, Laurent Rodon, Pascal Rodon
• Writers: Paul Bassett, Raolf Sanoussi, Stephane Sanoussi, Butch Hartman
• Genres: Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Family
• Actors: UK, Kylie Minogue, Joanna Lumley, Robbie Williams, Jim Broadbent, Bill Nighy, Ian McKellen, Tom Baker, Ray Winstone, Lee Evans, US, Kylie Minogue, Whoopi Goldberg, Daniel Tay, William H Macy, Jimmy Fallon, Ian McKellen, Jon Stewart, Bill Hader, Chevy Chase, Kevin Smith

The film begins with a shaggy, candy-loving dog named Dougal trying to get sweets from a candy cart. He goes so far as to place a tack in the road to pop its tire, thinking to be rewarded for watching the cart. After convincing the driver to leave, Dougal is trying to decide which candy he will request when he accidentally starts the cart up again and causes it to collide with the titular magic roundabout at the center of the village. A blue jack-in-the-box-like creature emerges from the top and flies away, snatching a decorative Foot Guard figurine from the roundabout before leaving. The roundabout freezes over, trapping repairman Mr. Rusty, Dougal’s young owner Florence, and two other children named Basil and Coral within an icy cell.

The villagers are horrified by this development, therefore call upon the resident wizard, Zebedee, also a jack-in-the-box-like creature, for help. He explains that the roundabout acted as a mystical prison for the evil ice wizard Zeebad. With it broken Zeebad is free to work his magic on the world again (it is implied he started the first ice age). The only way to return Zeebad to his prison is to place three magic diamonds in the roundabout, or watch the world slowly freeze over again. Zebedee sends Dougal, Brian the cynical snail, Ermintrude the opera-singing cow, Dylan the hippie rabbit, and the magic Train to accomplish this mission. Zeebad animates the Foot Guard figurine, Sergeant Sam, and enlists him to find the enchanted diamonds first, for with them Zeebad can freeze the sun itself. Meanwhile, Zebedee’s fellowship makes camp in the icy mountains near Zeebad’s old lair. Dougal wanders off during the night and is captured by Zeebad. Ermintrude breaks him out of his prison; after a short chase, Zebedee shows up to battle his evil counterpart. Zeebad gains the upper hand and overpowers Zebedee, freezing him and collapsing the cliff on which he stands.

Mourning their dispatcher as dead, Dougal and his friends embark to recover the diamonds. This task takes them to a lava-bordered volcano, an ancient temple filled with booby-traps and evil skeleton guards (at which point Dylan reveals an exceptional knowledge of several types of martial arts), and a final showdown with Zeebad, where it is revealed that Sergeant Sam had contained the third diamond in his chest. Zeebad obtains all three diamonds during the course of the film, and attempts to freeze the Sun. Ermintrude, Brian, Dylan, and finally Dougal intervene to stop him; when they have done so, Zeebad is imprisoned in the carousel again and Zebedee is restored to his friends. The ice surrounding the carousel melts, freeing the people trapped therein; of them, Florence is comatose and must be revived by a desperate Dougal. A moose, whose color had been changed from brown to blue by Zeebad in the earlier scenes of the film, is restored to his true color by Zebedee. Dougal, who vowed to give up sugar when it seemed all was lost, forgets his former pledge completely, but now realizes the true value of his friends and the good qualities of selflessness, courage, and humility.

• Directors: Jon Favreau
• Producers: Jon Berg, Todd Komarnicki, Shauna Robertson
• Writers: Buddy Hobbs, David Berenbaum
• Genres: Comedy, Family, Fantasy
• Actors: Will Ferrell, Artie Lange, James Caan, Zooey Deschanel, Mary Steenburgen, Daniel Tay, with Edward Asner, and Bob Newhart

Elf begins with narration by Papa Elf (Bob Newhart), explaining the only three jobs available to an elf: making shoes for a cobbler; baking cookies inside of trees; and working in Santa’s workshop. He also explains Buddy’s presence at the North Pole — as an infant in an orphanage, he crawled into Santa Claus’s sack of toys one Christmas Eve and was accidentally taken to the North Pole. Santa (Edward Asner) decides to allow the child, called “Buddy” after a label on his diaper, to be raised by Papa Elf, who has no children of his own.

As Buddy (Will Ferrell) grows, his height and poor toymaking skills raise awkward questions that his adoptive father continually waves away. Papa Elf also shows Buddy the jet engine he created in the 1960s to assist Santa’s sleigh, which had run on the power of the Christmas spirit, until people began to doubt Santa’s existence. After a string of accidents in which Buddy’s non-elfness becomes obvious, Papa Elf finally breaks the news that he was adopted: his birth parents fell in love with each other when they were high school students in the 1970s, and nine months later, Buddy was born, in 1973. His late mother, Susan Wells, placed him for adoption at the orphanage. Buddy’s now 46-year-old father, Walter Hobbs (James Caan), was never aware of Buddy’s existence, and has since become a children’s book publishing executive with offices in the Empire State Building; Walter is presently married to Emily (Mary Steenburgen), and has a 10-year-old son, Michael (Daniel Tay). However Santa informs Buddy that Hobbs is unfortunately on the Naughty List for being a heartless grouch, but has confidence that Buddy will be able to change his Scrooge-like father into a kind and caring human being.

…

After Christmas, Walter starts a new publishing company, with their first book, “Elf”, written by Buddy Hobbs, becoming an award winning children’s novel. Buddy and Jovie get married and have a daughter named Susie (which is seen, stitched on her hat).