| Elf | |
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Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Jon Favreau |
| Produced by | Jon Berg Todd Komarnicki Shauna Robertson |
| Written by | David Berenbaum |
| Starring | Will Ferrell Bob Newhart Ed Asner James Caan Zooey Deschanel Mary Steenburgen |
| Music by | John Debney |
| Cinematography | Greg Gardiner |
| Editing by | Dan Lebental |
| Studio | Mosaic Media Group Guy Walks Into a Bar Productions |
| Distributed by | New Line Cinema (US) Warner Bros. (International) |
| Release date(s) | November 7, 2003 |
| Running time | 97 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $33 million |
| Box office | $220,443,451 |
Elf (stylized as elf) is a 2003 American Christmas comedy film directed by Jon Favreau, written by David Berenbaum and starring Will Ferrell, James Caan and Zooey Deschanel. It was released in the United States on November 7, 2003 and grossed over $220,400,000 worldwide. The story is about one of Santa's elves who learns of his true identity as a human and goes to New York City to meet his biological father, spreading Christmas cheer in a world of cynics as he goes.
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A baby boy crawls into Santa Claus's (Ed Asner) sack of gifts while he is delivering toys to an orphanage one Christmas Eve. Santa Claus unwittingly takes the baby back to the North Pole, where Papa Elf (Bob Newhart) volunteers to raise him. The baby was christened William but through a humorous misunderstanding is renamed Buddy (Will Ferrell). He is raised unaware of his status as a human, until his enormous size and (relatively) poor toy-making abilities lead him to ultimately find out the truth. Papa Elf reveals that Buddy was born to Walter Hobbs (James Caan) and Susan Wells and given up for adoption, and that Walter never knew of his existence. He explains how Susan later died and that Walter now works at a children's book company in New York City. Buddy sets out for Manhattan to find his father.
Upon arriving in the Big Apple, Buddy displays his ignorance in several comical ways. He eventually tracks down his father in the Empire State Building, but an incredulous Walter Hobbs calls security on him. Their sarcastic advice was to "get back to Gimbel's", where he is mistaken for an employee and meets the lovely Jovie (Zooey Deschanel). Later, when the toy store Santa arrives, Buddy is shocked to discover that Gimbel's Santa is not the genuine article, and a fight ensues between them. He is arrested and sentenced to 24 hours in jail. Walter reluctantly bails him out and takes him to a pediatrician for a DNA test. Once it is proven that he is in fact Walter's son, he takes him home to meet his stepmother, Emily (Mary Steenburgen) and half-brother, Michael (Daniel Tay).
Buddy befriends Michael after defeating some bullies in a snowball fight, and shortly after that he goes on a date with Jovie. Walter, meanwhile, has been trying to save his floundering business by hiring the temperamental bestselling writer Miles Finch (Peter Dinklage). When the 4-foot-something Finch arrives, Buddy innocently but repeatedly refers to him as an elf. Miles attacks Buddy and storms out without signing a deal with Walter's company. Walter is so angry over this setback that he yells at Buddy to get out of his life. Hurt and afraid, Buddy writes a message to his father and runs away.
Michael reads Buddy's message and bursts in on Walter's board meeting to frantically inform him that Buddy is gone. He manages to convince Walter to put his family above his job for the first time. Buddy sees Santa's sleigh crash in Central Park. He finds Santa, who explains that he lost the sleigh's "Kringle 3000, 500 Reindeer-Power" jet engine and that the last bit of Christmas Spirit had faded as well. Walter and Michael then encounter Buddy in Central Park. He takes them to meet Santa, who reveals to Michael that believing in him can make his sleigh fly. Michael reads Santa's list in front of TV cameras gathered outside the park, so that people all across New York City believe in him. The Central Park Rangers begin to chase his sleigh while Buddy is still trying to reattach the engine.
Jovie manages to overcome her shyness and get the sleigh back in the air by the power of Christmas Spirit when she leads the crowd in singing "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town," with even Walter joining in. Later, he starts his own publishing company with the first best-selling book released being titled Elf, an account of Buddy's adventures. Buddy and Jovie marry and have a daughter, and in the closing scene they are shown visiting Papa Elf at the North Pole.
The film makes heavy use of forced perspective (rather than CGI) to make Buddy the Elf appear much larger than all the other elves. Zooey Deschanel sings in the movie. Buddy belches for twelve seconds, after drinking a 2 liter bottle of Coca-Cola. The belch was real, as dubbed by voice actor Maurice LaMarche.[1] A line of jack-in-the-box toys are heard emitting a "hyena laugh" sound effect that first appeared in Lady And The Tramp.[2]
The film was well-received by critics, and is aired annually on television during the Christmas season. It currently holds an 84% "Certified Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the consensus that "Ferrell's funny and charming performance makes Elf a delightful Christmas comedy."[3]
The film made over $220 million at the box office worldwide,[4] greatly exceeding its production budget of $33 million. In the US it topped the box office on its second week of release,[5] beating out Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. In the UK it ranked #2 behind Love Actually.
In the years following cinema release, Elf has been chosen as one of the of the best Christmas films by media outlets such as British film magazine Empire,[6] Film 4[7] and New York Daily News.[8] Elf has also been voted the 3rd best Christmas film by readers of about.com and Digital Spy.[9][10]
The film was nominated for 9 awards and won 2.[11]
A Broadway musical based upon the film ran on Broadway during the 2010 Christmas season. It was directed by Casey Nicholaw, with music by Chad Beguelin, lyrics by Matthew Sklar, and a book by Bob Martin and Thomas Meehan.
The musical officially opened at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre on November 10, 2010, after previews from November 2, 2010. The cast included Sebastian Arcelus as Buddy, Amy Spanger as Jovie, Beth Leavel as Emily, Mark Jacoby as Walter, Matthew Gumley as Michael, Valerie Wright as Deb, Michael McCormick as Mr. Greenway, Michael Mandell as Store Manager, and George Wendt as Santa.
The musical ran through to January 2, 2011.[12]
The soundtrack was released in November 2003 in the USA[13] and in October 2005 in the UK.[14]
The score to the film, composed by John Debney and performed by the Hollywood Studio Symphony, was also released.[15] The soundtrack was certified Gold by the RIAA on April 15, 2011.
Elf is available on DVD, VHS, and Blu-ray Disc, the latter of which was released on October 28, 2008. It is also available for the PlayStation Portable with Universal Media Disc.
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