IMDb RATING
5.4/10
1.2K
YOUR RATING
A musical, stop-motion adaptation of the well-known movie, Buddy, a human raised in the north pole, goes to New York to find his family.A musical, stop-motion adaptation of the well-known movie, Buddy, a human raised in the north pole, goes to New York to find his family.A musical, stop-motion adaptation of the well-known movie, Buddy, a human raised in the north pole, goes to New York to find his family.
- Nominated for 1 Primetime Emmy
- 1 win & 7 nominations total
Jim Parsons
- Buddy
- (voice)
Mark Hamill
- Walter
- (voice)
Rachael MacFarlane
- Emily Hobbs
- (voice)
- …
Max Charles
- Michael Hobbs
- (voice)
Kate Micucci
- Jovie
- (voice)
Jay Leno
- Fake Santa #1
- (voice)
Fred Armisen
- Matthews
- (voice)
Steve Higgins
- Chadwick
- (voice)
Halsey
- Mr. Sea Serpent
- (voice)
Matt Lauer
- Mr. Sea Serpent
- (voice)
Edward Asner
- Santa
- (voice)
- (as Ed Asner)
Larry Dorf
- Additional Voices
- (voice)
Kevin Shinick
- Fake Santa #4
- (voice)
- …
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe late Edward Asner voices Santa. He is the only actor from Elf (2003) to reprise his role.
- Quotes
Michael Hobbs: Why is that guy dressed up like a giant elf?
Walter: Christmas always brings out the weirdos.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Minty Comedic Arts: 10 Amazing Facts About Elf (2018)
- SoundtracksHappy All the Time
Music by Matthew Sklar
Lyrics by Chad Beguelin
Performed by Fred Armisen, Edward Asner, Rachel Bloom, Larry Dorf, Jim Parsons, Rachel Ramras, and Kevin Shinick
Featured review
A lacklustre musical Christmas
While it is not one of my favourite films, festive or not, 'Elf' is nonetheless an entertaining and charming film and one of Will Ferrell's better films. Being someone who also loves musicals and Christmas, part of me was looking forward somewhat to 'Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas'.
My thoughts on it are that it is not quite as bad as has been made out here, but it doesn't really live up to 'Elf' and promises more than it delivers. There are far worse Christmas specials, 'Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer', 'Star Wars Holiday Special' and particularly 'The Christmas Tree' are far worse and notoriously so. There are also far better, strong examples being the best of Rankin/Bass like 'Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer', 'Frosty the Snowman' and 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town'.
Starting with the positives, the animation is very well done, with lots of colour and detail and also liked the attention to expressions. Also thought the voice acting was very good, Ed Asner especially is spot on as Santa.
Jim Parsons likewise is a spirited Buddy and Gilbert Gottfried has fun with his character, though he doesn't quite overcome the tendency to go overboard.
The opening song number is catchy, starting 'Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas' on a promising note, while the music score is playful enough.
However, too many things work against 'Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas'. The rest of the songs are unmemorable, a few even downright irritating and add far less than they should do, actually they could have been excised and nobody would miss a thing. While the voice acting is fine generally Mark Hamill has definitely done far better work than here.
'Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas' doesn't fare very well in the story department. It lacks the warmth and heart of 'Elf', and lacks even more in charm. It treads far too much familiar ground and further suffers from being twice as long as it should have been, seeing as the story felt very stretched and padded out by the musical numbers. This affects the momentum of the second half where it runs out of steam.
Dialogue is corny rather than witty and veers on the saccharine, while the already tired gags go beyond breaking point and the message starts contradictory (missing the point of what 'Elf' was all about) and then is lost amidst everything else.
Overall, lacklustre but not without its merits. 4/10 Bethany Cox
My thoughts on it are that it is not quite as bad as has been made out here, but it doesn't really live up to 'Elf' and promises more than it delivers. There are far worse Christmas specials, 'Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer', 'Star Wars Holiday Special' and particularly 'The Christmas Tree' are far worse and notoriously so. There are also far better, strong examples being the best of Rankin/Bass like 'Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer', 'Frosty the Snowman' and 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town'.
Starting with the positives, the animation is very well done, with lots of colour and detail and also liked the attention to expressions. Also thought the voice acting was very good, Ed Asner especially is spot on as Santa.
Jim Parsons likewise is a spirited Buddy and Gilbert Gottfried has fun with his character, though he doesn't quite overcome the tendency to go overboard.
The opening song number is catchy, starting 'Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas' on a promising note, while the music score is playful enough.
However, too many things work against 'Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas'. The rest of the songs are unmemorable, a few even downright irritating and add far less than they should do, actually they could have been excised and nobody would miss a thing. While the voice acting is fine generally Mark Hamill has definitely done far better work than here.
'Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas' doesn't fare very well in the story department. It lacks the warmth and heart of 'Elf', and lacks even more in charm. It treads far too much familiar ground and further suffers from being twice as long as it should have been, seeing as the story felt very stretched and padded out by the musical numbers. This affects the momentum of the second half where it runs out of steam.
Dialogue is corny rather than witty and veers on the saccharine, while the already tired gags go beyond breaking point and the message starts contradictory (missing the point of what 'Elf' was all about) and then is lost amidst everything else.
Overall, lacklustre but not without its merits. 4/10 Bethany Cox
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- TheLittleSongbird
- Dec 25, 2017
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Top Gap
By what name was Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas (2014) officially released in Canada in English?
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