Although Elf is not a new release, I had not viewed it yet. However, since it was on television over the weekend, I decided to check it out. I figured any movie featuring 6ft. 3 in (or so) Will Farrell (Buddy) in an elf costume had to be fairly funny.

Elf is the movie version of a most atypical search and reunion. The movie is atypical for a search and reunion for many reasons. Buddy really had no need to search. He was given his birth father's name, photo and an address, so a search was unnecessary. Not too many adoptees just skip the usual steps and head off directly to the building where their birth parent works!

You are liable to view the movie through a different perspective if you have a direction connection to adoption, and as I watched, I pondered how the movie would play to an adoptive parent.

Adoption is first brought up as a topic when the Will Farrell character (Buddy) notices that he is different from the other elves. He is disturbed by this realization. Finally Papa Elf tells him the story of his adoption. Conveniently, Papa Elf knows where Buddy's birth father works and gives Buddy his blessing to head off to seek his “real” father.

Some adoptive parents wince when the birth parent is called the “real” parent. They used the "real" term in the movie. Not all adoptive parents would handle sending their child out into the world to locate their birth father as seamlessly as Papa Elf did either. The movie probably did not endear itself to adoptive parents either when Buddy moves in with his birth father and family. Mention was made that he travels to the North Pole to see Papa Elf, but still….I wondered about that situation.

Buddy confronts his “real” dad and repeatedly assures his birth father that he loves him. I wondered about that as well. How many adoptive parents want to hear that some adoptees love their birth parents without even knowing them? Hmmm, it was an interesting movie, funny, yet sad and touching.

Although I hate to think that adopted children who are raised away from their families do in fact sometimes feel different, I believe that it is a reality. I liked seeing the truth that a child does not always fit in well in the family that raises it. I wonder how this movie is perceived by someone with no ties to adoption. My emotions were mixed during this movie, but all in all at least it deviated from the normal adoption film - in many ways. That is a plus in my eyes!