Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas (2014) Reviews

• Ho, The horror!

  steveofthejungle2014-12-16

  Whyyyyy? Terrible Rehash of the original. They took funny gags and lines and beat them to death. Nothing at all fresh.And the songs sounded like someone beating a cat against a mailbox. So many things could have been done to make it as fun as the first. I was excited when I read Ed Asner was involved but now I am sorry he was. How about Walter,Emily and Michael go visit Elf and Movies new baby for Christmas. Miles finch and Morris and Eugene and they see who can write a better Christmas book. Mailroom dude works in the toy factory. Anything other than this. I guarantee this will not become a classic. I'm trying to come up with any positives but it's not happening.

• Elf hazard

  Prismark102015-12-25

  This cynical cash in animation short basically retells the story of Elf, the Will Ferrell film without any of the charm and many of the cast from the original film. Ed Asner does reprise his role to voice Santa who tells the grown up Buddy who thinks he is an Elf in the North Pole that he is actually human who stowed away in Santa's bag as a baby. His real dad is Walter Hobbs living in New York who has been on the naughty list for years. Buddy travels to see his father who works at a publishing company with a horrid boss. Walter is taken aback at first to see this grown up infant but Buddy's relentless cheer transforms him and when Santa comes to deliver presents the curmudgeonly Walter gets the festive fever. Because this is labelled as a musical we have to put up with some mind numbingly dull songs. Even the animation is not much to shout home about. It would be just be better to put the Ferrell film on.

• one funny song in an OK Christmas special

  SnoopyStyle2014-12-16

  Christmastown in the North Pole is a really happy place. Buddy is the happiest one of them all and really really accident prone. Santa tells him that he is actually human who stowaway in Santa's bag as an orphan baby. His father is Walter Hobbs living in NYC who's been on the naughty list for over 50 years. He travels to see his father who works at Greenway Publishing. He's thrown out of his father's office. Then he meets and falls for Jovie who's ringing the donation bell on the street. The first song is funny. I hoped that the special would continue like that but it never gets back to that level. Jim Parsons is a great cartoon voice but completely different than Will Ferrell. He sounds a bit like Jack McBrayer. Buddy keeps the show rolling. However the other songs aren't that much fun or catchy. They sound like the usual Broadway fare. The animation looks charming. They do change a few things from the movie. I wish the changes could have made the second half better.

• Awful

  DarrenJCampbellUK2015-12-26

  Cynical garbage, completely lacking in Christmas spirit. This is an affront to Jon Favreau's wonderful film. I'm ashamed to be sitting here watching it with my daughter, but now I've started, I don't want to draw any more attention to it by turning it off and causing a scene. The two stars I have given it are for the animation and the actors, who can't be held responsible for the tone of the film. Being a short animation, it should be even more suitable for small children than the film, but with its emphasis on fake Santas and not believing, it should carry a warning that it's not suitable for small children. I can only hope I remember not to make the mistake of watching this a second time.

• Truly Horrible

  gahrjack2014-12-16

  I had very low expectations for this... thing. It still couldn't meet them. The first song went completely against the moral of the original Elf (2003). Santa sings about how he wishes the elves would stop singing. That's completely against the whole meaning of Elf! There truly was nothing good about this movie. The actors did okay with the bottom of the barrel writing they were given, except for Mark Hamill, who sounded like a robot, reading his lines with no life, no personality. The only reason I didn't give it a 1 is because Edward Asner actually did a very good job as Santa, who was the narrator. Once again, this good performance was ruined by awful writing. The worst part about this sorry excuse for a TV movie though, is that it ruined the story that formed a Christmas classic, Elf. The final scene might have earned itself a third star, if it weren't for Buddy being very annoying. He actually managed to be even more annoying than he had been all movie long. But to sum it all up, this thing had the cheesiest lines and songs that I've ever heard in a movie. Do yourself a favor and, if you taped it, or it's on again, don't watch this. Sit down on the couch, and watch the original Elf. That can actually be considered a movie. This remake is pure junk.