Thirty years prior to the film’s main time setting, an orphaned baby is put to bed in his crib. The infant sees Santa come down the chimney. The baby crawls into the sack while Santa is not looking.
Santa returns to his workshop, only to discover the infant coming out of his sack. An elf reads his diaper and sees the name, Buddy. An elder elf, known as Papa Elf, adopts the child and his name becomes Buddy.
Through the years, Buddy notices that he is different from the other elves. He grows much bigger than them. He learns that he is a human and not an elf.
After realizing his different, Papa Elf reveals to Buddy about his biological father, Walter Hobbs. He is on the naughty list due to his constant selfishness.
But Santa sends Buddy to New York City, where he can redeem his dad’s behavior. He suggests that Buddy provides some Christmas spirit. That way, he can increase his chances of his father making it to the nice list.
Buddy leaves the north pole to seek his father in New York City.
After acting silly in NYC, such as jumping across each white line on the pedestrian paths and screaming as he enjoys running through revolving doors, Buddy eventually meets his dad. Sadly, his father kicks him out of the empire state building, where he works, since he assumes he is a Christmas-gram messenger.
Buddy goes to a mall, where there is a department store. He meets a woman named Jovie, who has no interest in him.
But then he learns that Santa will be coming to the store – only for it to be a fake Santa since Buddy knows what the real Santa smells like, and this guy smells completely different. The two fight each other, which lands Buddy into the police station.
Buddy’s dad eventually let’s him stay with his wife, Emily, and son, Michael. But the father’s book-publishing business is suffering. Will things improve for Buddy and his father?
This film was absolutely funny. Buddy had such a great sense of humor by acting uncivilized in New York City as he has never been around humans, besides Santa Claus.
He runs into a coffee place that says in its sign that it’s the world’s best coffee, and congratulates them loudly. He also tries to hug a racoon, drinks an entire bottle of Coke and burps for a long time, and sings loudly in the department store.
But in an amateurish way, such as, “I’m singing! I’m in a store…” LOL!
The funniest moment of all is when Buddy sees “Santa” at the mall and gets excited. Then he discovers that he was just an ordinary guy dressed as Santa. He rips off the beard, the kids scream, and he wrestles the man. So hilarious!
The scene where Jovie sings “Baby, it’s cold outside” while in the shower, and Buddy sings the male’s verses, also intrigued me. Eventually, Jovie freaked out when Buddy was in the women’s locker room.
Other moments that stood out to me was when Buddy didn’t know what “naked” meant and when a woman working with Walter, Buddy’s dad, pointed out that the children loves their books. Walter pointed out that they only look at the pictures, which shouldn’t have been a surprise to him, or anyone in the general public.
There was also a scene that displeased me. That is when Michael asked his mom if he could eat in his room, but she refused to let him. He pointed out that his dad did that, but his mom stated that he’d eat at the kitchen table. I wish she’d given him a reason, such as worrying that he’d make a mess or something.
Except for that scene, Elf was fantastic and super-funny. I would gladly recommend it as a great holiday classic and comedy. It is a definite 5 out of 5 star-rated film.