In theaters

ELF, directed by Jon Favreau, written by David Berenbaum, 95 minutes, rated PG.

The first few minutes of the funny new comedy “Elf” features a scene in which a dozen of the little darlings dart screaming from a burning tree house reminiscent of the one famously inhabited by the Keebler elves.

In what’s apparently a cookie-baking mishap, the elves’ ovens burst into flames, leaving the tree engulfed in fire and the terrified tiny ones running for their lives. If you listen carefully, you can hear one especially frazzled elf commenting that if only he had been a cobbler, none of this would have happened to him.

In the real world, nothing is funny about a fire. Still, the way it’s handled here is unexpected and uproarious. At my screening, it brought the crowd to life, which was a nice change after seeing so many glum faces at “The Matrix Revolutions.”

The Keebler scene has nothing to do with the film’s plot, but it does help to establish the dark, absurdist tone director Jon Favreau favors early on. By its midpoint, “Elf” gives way to a sugary-sweet undercurrent that wants to warm your heart with holiday cheer, but Favreau, working from a script by David Berenbaum, walks the line well. He doesn’t overdose on the sugar and, as such, his film becomes a bright spot in the budding holiday movie season.

In the film, “Saturday Night Live” alum Will Ferrell finds his best role to date as Buddy, a bumbling, 30-year-old man-child who, as an orphaned infant, crawled into Santa’s (Ed Asner) sack one Christmas Eve and was swept away to the North Pole.

There, in spite of his lumbering, decidedly nonelfin size, he was raised as an elf by Papa Elf (a perfectly cast Bob Newhart), who eventually encourages Buddy to return to New York City to reconnect with his real-life father, Walter (James Caan), a difficult man who has long been a mainstay on Santa’s naughty list.

Upon arriving in Manhattan, Buddy takes a day job as a department store elf and the movie gets a lift, flirting with the sort of comedy David Sedaris captured in his biting, hilarious series of essays for National Public Radio, “The Santaland Diaries.” Ultimately, Favreau sidesteps Sedaris’ caustic brand of cynicism, but not before getting in a few clever jabs at the gross commercialization of the Christmas season. It’s only then that he adopts a more family-friendly tone and bolsters what the holiday season is supposed to mean.

Mary Steenburgen, Daniel Tay and Zooey Deschanel offer support as Buddy’s loving step mom, lonely half-brother, and love interest, respectively, but they have nothing on Ferrell, who finds himself, at long last, in a movie that realizes his gifts as a comedian. This is that rare fit between director, writer and star, with the sweet, wide-eyed, anything-goes Ferrell going a long way in securing the next few years of his movie career.

Grade: B

On video and DVD

LARA CROFT TOMB RAIDER: THE CRADLE OF LIFE, directed by Jan de Bont, written by Dean Georgaris, 116 minutes, rated PG-13.

In “Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life,” Angelina Jolie comes out swinging again as Lara Croft, star of video games and countless boys’ imaginations, the one person you want on your side should the world ever hang in the balance by the discovery of, oh, say, Pandora’s Box.

The film, which Jan de Bont directed from a script by Dean Georgaris, is a vast improvement over its impenetrable 2001 predecessor. It may not capture the spirit of the Indiana Jones movies it emulates, but it does have its clever moments, a tighter focus and a greatly improved sense of humor.

If the energy of a new director and writer strengthens the film, then so does Jolie. Breathing life into a gathering of pixels best known for their concentration around Croft’s breasts can’t be easy, so it’s to Jolie’s credit that she makes Croft so watchable in spite of a franchise that’s only just now beginning to make her interesting.

In the film, Croft is busy crisscrossing the globe in spandex again, this time in an effort to stop an evil scientist named Reiss (Ciaran Hinds) from getting his hands on Pandora’s Box – the origin of all life, we’re frequently told -which is tucked deep within the mountains of Africa and protected by scores of warriors and tree-dwelling monsters.

To help her stop him, Croft reluctantly enlists the help of a former lover – the rakish Terry Sheridan (Gerard Butler) – an untrustworthy chap whose passion for Lara is so great, it becomes a subplot, with Lara questioning whether she can trust him – and fall in love with him – amid all the unfolding chaos and growing sexual tension.

From the Greek isle of Santorini to the Great Wall of China, the skyscrapers of Hong Kong to the mountains of Kenya and various stops in between, “The Cradle of Life” is a restless movie that travels for the sake of travel. It hangs its plot over the shoulders of several continents not because it makes sense to do so but because the views are great.

Nicely shot and reasonably brisk, with a handful of stunts that surpass anything in the first film, “The Cradle of Life” is a postfeminist punch to the heart of video stores, and it’s far better than most will expect.

Grade: B

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays and Fridays in Style, Thursdays at 5:30 p.m. on WLBZ 2 and WCSH 6, and are archived on RottenTomatoes.com. He can be reached at BDNFilm1@aol.com.

The Video-DVD Corner

Renting a video or a DVD? NEWS film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases in video stores. Those in bold print are new to video stores this week.

Adam Sandler’s Eight Crazy Nights ? D

A Mighty Wind ? B+

Anger Management ? C-

Bend it Like Beckham ? A-

Bringing Down the House ? B

Charlie’s Angels 2 ? D+

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind ? C

Confidence ? B-

The Core ? B

Daddy Day Care ? D

Down with Love ? C+

Dreamcatcher ? C-

Dumb And Dumberer ? D-

Finding Nemo ? B+

Holes ? B+

Hulk ? C-

Identity ? B+

The In-Laws ? C

The Italian Job ? A-

It Runs in the Family ? C+

Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde ? C+

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers ? A-

The Matrix Reloaded ? A-

Nowhere in Africa ? A

Owning Mahowny ? B-

Phone Booth ? B

The Quiet American ? A

Real Women Have Curves ? A-

The Recruit ? B

Shanghai Knights ? B

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines ? B