Remember 2003’s Elf directed by Jon Favreau and starring the likes of Will Ferrel, Bob Newhart, Mary Steenburg, Peter Dinklage, and a slew of other famous names? The one that we all guiltily adore and watch at least a million times on the Freeform channel around the holidays? Yeah, the one where Will Ferrel dresses in tights and an elf hat and makes a fool out of himself in New York. Well, if you enjoy that movie like everyone else in the U.S., General Mills has officially dropped a new cereal that caters directly to you. 

Making its debut this year, Elf Cereal by General Mills is a movie-inspired cash grab, limited edition holiday release.  

The cereal box is beautiful and is honestly the main reason why I wanted to try this cereal. That, and the fact that I’m a huge fan of the movie. It’s a bright, vibrant green with hints to the movie inspiration all over the box. The movie title logo with a dark green silhouette of Buddy the Elf is front and center, as well as a bowl of the cereal itself, and the claim of “sweetened corn puffs with holiday tree marshmallows” in a banner in between.  

Adorable cartoon depictions of famous side characters like Arctic Puffin, Mr. Narwhal, Santa Claus, and the raccoon that attacks Buddy during his journey to New York City can also be found scattered around. This design screams festivity and oozes references to the movie, and it’s amazing.  

We all know that Buddy the Elf loves sugar, and since this cereal contains 12 grams per cup and 140 calories, he would love this one. The first ingredient is whole grain corn, however, sugar is the second ingredient listed, which is no surprise. 

Going into this cereal, my expectations weren’t super high. I fully expected this to be a re-release Kix, another General Mills cereal, but with maybe a slightly different flavor and the addition of marshmallows. And, as expected, that’s exactly what you get.  

The corn puff pieces look and taste pretty much exactly like Kix, which isn’t a bad thing considering I enjoy that cereal as well. As a big fan of Kellogg’s Eggo Waffle Cereal, I was hoping this one would have a maple scent and flavor like that one but was let down. There’s not much maple sweetness as advertised, but there are slight notes of maple flavor. 

There isn’t any sort of maple scent, which was a great part of the Kellogg’s Eggo Cereal. The marshmallows are the same texture and size of Lucky Charms marshmallows, which is expected considering General Mills produces that cereal as well. Most of the maple sweetness seems to come from those marshmallows, but other than that, there isn’t much that’s overly unique. 

The corn puffs are nice and crunchy, and the dried marshmallows are festive tree shaped, and have a crisp texture until softened by the milk. There’s no flavor gained in the milk at the end of the bowl either, like you get with Eggo Cereal, which is unfortunate, but not a big deal. 

As I said before, this cereal is a cash grab, but it’s fun and festive and I enjoy that. It’s a limited edition so it won’t be around forever, and we don’t know if it’ll be released again in the future, so if you enjoy the movie it’s based on or want to try this cereal, you better get out and grab yourself a box. It’s not overly special in anyway, but it’s unique in its content and refreshing to see a new cereal on the shelves!