Elf — news, coverage & facts — IJR

Plot

One Christmas Eve, a baby from an orphanage crawls into Santa Claus's sack and is unwittingly taken back to the North Pole. When the infant is discovered at Santa's workshop, the elves name him Buddy, after his diaper's brand label, and Papa Elf adopts him. Growing up, Buddy believes that he is an elf, but discovers at 30-years-old that he is actually a human. Papa Elf tells Buddy that his birth parents are Walter Hobbs and Susan Wells, the latter having put him up for adoption before her death. Walter now works as a children's book publisher at the Empire State Building in New York City, unaware of Buddy's existence.

Buddy travels to New York and finds Walter at his workplace, but Walter mistakes him for a Christmas-gram messenger and has him ejected. Buddy then visits a Gimbels department store and becomes infatuated with an unenthusiastic employee named Jovie. Hearing that Santa will visit the store the following day, Buddy redecorates the store overnight. However, when he realizes that the store's Santa is a man in a costume, he causes a brawl and gets arrested.

Walter reluctantly bails Buddy out of jail and takes him for a DNA test, which confirms that he is his son. The doctor speculates that Buddy is trapped in a childlike state of dependency and suggests that Walter take him home to meet his stepmother Emily and half-brother Michael. Walter and Michael are unnerved by Buddy's behavior, but Emily insists that they take care of him until he "recovers" from his current mindset. After Buddy beats a gang of bullies in a snowball fight, Michael forms a bond with him and helps him to ask Jovie out on a date.

Meanwhile, Walter's publishing company is struggling after the failure of its latest book. Walter's boss, Fulton Greenway, expects him to have a new book ready by Christmas Eve. Walter and his associates arrange a meeting with ghostwriter Miles Finch, but Buddy disrupts the meeting and inadvertently offends Finch by mistaking him for an elf due to his dwarfism. Finch reacts violently and exits the meeting, causing Walter to angrily disown Buddy. Heartbroken, Buddy writes a letter of apology on an Etch A Sketch and leaves the Hobbs' residence.

When Michael informs Walter of Buddy's departure, Walter quits his job to find Buddy. Meanwhile, Buddy meets Santa in Central Park after Santa's sleigh loses its engine and crashes due to waning Christmas spirit. Buddy finds the engine and reunites with Walter and Michael; Walter apologizes for his outburst and accepts him as his son, while Michael reveals the existence of Santa on live television. As Buddy and Santa are chased by Central Park Rangers, Jovie, recalling Buddy's statement that singing can spread Christmas cheer, leads a crowd of people in singing "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town", generating enough Christmas spirit to power the sleigh without the engine.

By the next Christmas, Walter starts his own independent publishing company, with the first bestseller being a children's book based on Buddy's exploits. Buddy also marries Jovie and has a daughter with her and during the film's closure, they visit Papa Elf at the North Pole.

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, Elf holds an approval rating of 86%, based on 203 reviews, and an average rating of 7.1/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "A movie full of Yuletide cheer, Elf is a spirited, good-natured family comedy, and it benefits greatly from Will Ferrell's funny and charming performance as one of Santa's biggest helpers." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 66 out of 100, based on 39 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on a scale of A+ to F.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it three stars out of four, calling it "one of those rare Christmas comedies that has a heart, a brain, and a wicked sense of humor, and it charms the socks right off the mantelpiece".

Writing for Rolling Stone, Peter Travers gave the film two stars out of four, saying, "Ferrell makes the damn thing work. Even though he can't get naked or use naughty words, there's a devil of comedy in Ferrell, and he lets it out to play. Director Jon Favreau has the good sense to just stand out of his way."

Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a positive review, saying, "While the words 'instant holiday classic' might be pushing it, Elf is at the very least a breezily entertaining, perfectly cast family treat."

A. O. Scott of The New York Times also gave the film a positive review, saying, "Elf is a charming, silly family Christmas movie more likely to spread real joy than migraine, indigestion and sugar shock. The movie succeeds because it at once restrains its sticky, gooey good cheer and wildly overdoes it."

Anna Smith of Empire magazine gave the film a three stars out of five, and said, "Ferrell's man-child invites sympathy and sniggers, making this amusing despite some flimsy plotting. Sight gags and a Santa-centered story should keep the kids happy too."

Plugged In gave the film a positive review, writing, "The elf-reared Buddy has a heart as big as the arctic north. Does his movie match it?"

Elf

Comments

Elf

Trailer

Where to watch

Family guide

Cast & crew

Comments

Where does Elf rank?

Elf across IJR

Article

Family guide

Cast & crew

Article

Plot

Cast

Production

Development

Filming

Post-production

Music

Release

Home media

Reception

Box office

Critical response

Critics' rankings

Other media

Musical

Animated special

Video game

Cancelled sequel

Trailer

Where to watch

Elf across IJR

Where does Elf rank?