Elf

* Country: United States

* Language: English

* Release Date: November 7, 2003

* Runtime 96 Minutes

* Rating PG

## Plot

On Christmas Eve, an orphaned baby crawls into Santa Claus's sack at the sight of a teddy bear, and is unknowingly taken back to the North Pole from an orphanage. After the infant is discovered at the workshop, the elves name him Buddy after his diaper's brand label.

Buddy is accepted by the elf community and grows up to adulthood believing he is an elf, despite being twice the size of every other elf and inept at toymaking, but one day overhears he is a human. Papa Elf explains to him that he was born to Walter Hobbs and Susan Wells. She died shortly after giving him away for adoption without ever having told Walter about the pregnancy. Walter is now the Executive Vice President at children's book publisher Greenway Press in the Empire State Building in New York City. Santa reveals that Walter is on the Naughty List due to his selfishness, but suggests Buddy could help redeem him with some Christmas spirit.

Buddy travels to New York and finds Walter at work, but Walter mistakes him for a Christmas-gram messenger and has him ejected. Walter’s security guards sarcastically tell Buddy to go to a local Gimbels department store, where he meets Jovie, an unenthusiastic employee with whom he is instantly smitten. Hearing that Santa will be at the store the following day, Buddy redecorates the store overnight. However, discovering that the Gimbels Santa is not the genuine article, Buddy unmasks him and causes a brawl in the store that the manager breaks up.

Walter reluctantly bails Buddy out of the police station and takes him for a DNA test, which confirms that Buddy is his biological son. Dr. Leonardo convinces Walter to take Buddy home to meet his stepmother Emily and half-brother Michael. Buddy's strange behavior unnerves Walter and Michael, but Emily insists that they take care of him until he "recovers." Michael warms up to Buddy after they defeat a gang of bullies in a snowball fight and encourages him to ask Jovie out on a date. During the date, the two fall in love.

Meanwhile, Walter's publishing company is failing after their latest book flops. Walter's boss, Fulton Greenway, expects Walter to have a new book ready by Christmas Eve. Walter and his team secure a meeting with best-selling children's author Miles Finch, but Buddy interrupts the meeting and mistakes Finch, who has dwarfism, for an elf. Buddy unintentionally insults Finch before the latter attacks him and angrily leaves the meeting, upon which Walter loses his temper and harshly disowns Buddy. Heartbroken, Buddy writes an apology note on an Etch A Sketch and leaves Walter’s apartment.

Upon finding Finch's notebook full of ideas, Walter and his team scramble to create a book to pitch. As Walter prepares to pitch the book to Greenway, Michael arrives and informs Walter of Buddy's departure. Realizing his mistake, Walter quits his job and walks out with Michael to find Buddy. Meanwhile, Buddy sees Santa's sleigh crash in Central Park, attracting a large crowd. Santa explains that the sleigh’s engine is lost and cannot fly without it due to a shortage of Christmas spirit.

Buddy finds the engine and reunites with Walter and Michael. Walter apologizes to Buddy for how he treated him and accepts him as his son. After Buddy takes them to meet Santa, Michael takes Santa's list and reads it in front of television news cameras gathered outside the park, proving that Santa is real. A group of Central Park Rangers who are angry at Santa for placing them on the Naughty List, chase the sleigh as Buddy tries to reattach the engine. Jovie leads the crowd and those watching on television in singing "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town," raising enough Christmas spirit to fully power the sleigh without the engine.

By the following Christmas, Buddy writes a book about his life, which becomes a bestseller and allows Walter to establish his own publishing company. Buddy also marries Jovie and brings their newborn daughter Susie to visit Papa Elf.

## Cast

* Will Ferrell as Buddy Hobbs, aka "Buddy the Elf", an eccentric human who was raised by Santa's elves.
* James Caan as Walter Hobbs, a children's book publishing executive and Buddy's biological father.
* Zooey Deschanel as Jovie, an unenthusiastic worker at Gimbels and Buddy's love interest.
* Mary Steenburgen as Emily Hobbs, Walter's wife, Michael's mother and Buddy's stepmother.
* Ed Asner as Santa Claus, a holiday figure who finds Buddy in his sack and gives him to Papa Elf to raise.
* Bob Newhart as Papa Elf, Buddy's adoptive father and the narrator.
* Daniel Tay as Michael Hobbs, Walter and Emily's son and Buddy's younger half-brother.
* Faizon Love as Wanda, the manager of Gimbels and Jovie's boss.
* Peter Dinklage as Miles Finch, a best-selling children's author and dwarf who attacks Buddy for (mistakenly) calling him an elf.
* Amy Sedaris as Deb, Walter Hobbs' secretary.
* Michael Lerner as Fulton Greenway, Walter Hobbs' controlling and uncaring boss and the CEO of Greenway Press.
* Andy Richter as Morris, a co-worker of Walter Hobbs.
* Kyle Gass as Eugene Dupree, a co-worker of Walter Hobbs.
* Artie Lange as the Fake Santa, a Mall Santa with whom Buddy gets into an altercation because he is not the real Santa Claus.
* Jon Favreau as Dr. Ben Leonardo, the Hobbs family's pediatrician.
* Matt Walsh as Eye Witness.
* Peter Billingsley]] as Ming Ming (uncredited), the head elf in Santa's workshop.
* Mark Acheson as a mailroom worker.
* Claire Lautier as Charlotte, the newscaster in Central Park
* David Paul Grove as Pom Pom, an elf on whom Buddy faints when he discovers he is a human.