Elf’s vintage charm and gentle Christmas spirit have endured, although it oddly looks more appealing now for these more subdued aspects rather than the straightforward SNL-style humor starring Will Ferrell that it appeared to offer back in 2003.
At that time, Ferrell’s presence made us all anticipate—and frequently receive—something more sour and humorous, a la Billy Bob Thornton in Bad Santa.
What role does Will play in the movie Elf?
Ferrell portrays Buddy, the grotesquely large elf, in his green cloak and pointed cap. Buddy is larger than all the other elves because, in reality, he is human; as a heartbreakingly unloved orphan baby, he stowed away in Santa’s gift sack and was unintentionally transported back to the North Pole.
He is unfit for the role of one of Santa’s small helpers, which Santa (played by Ed Asner) was forced to hire him for; Bob Newhart is hilarious as the seasoned elf who offers to care for a very “special” elf child.
As an adult, Buddy has to travel his entire life to see his father, who abandoned him, and now lives with a new family that includes the irritable, scrooge-like publisher Walter Hobbs (played by James Caan), his wife Emily (Mary Steenburgen), and their teenage son Michael (Daniel Tay).
Buddy works as a Christmas elf at a department store, where he meets Zooey Deschanel, who plays Jovie and also needs to dress like an elf. It’s then that he falls in love with the manic pixie dream template.
Ferrell portrays Buddy as innocent, downplaying the implicit jokes about his “developmental challenge,” but he goes for huge laughs when he acts hysterically delighted about Santa coming in the store and screams, then furious upon learning that this “Santa” is a fraud. And it’s amusing when the naive Buddy is excited to meet the character played by Peter Dinklage, whom he enrages by referring to as an elf.
View this post on InstagramOther peculiarities include the bizarre “Central Park Rangers,” who resemble the four horsemen of the apocalyptic apocalypse and who pursue Santa and Buddy in the park’s last scene after being placed on the bad list. Always a post-lunch treat for Christmas.
Is there a sequel on the horizon?
According to a September 18, 2013, Mental Floss article, Favreau expressed interest in directing Elf 2: Buddy Saves Christmas, the film’s sequel.
Ferrell declared later in December that he had no desire to create a follow-up. Favreau said in January 2016 that a sequel might yet take place.
The following month, Ferrell restated his doubts about a sequel and said he wasn’t usually one to make them unless there was a compelling narrative.
On September 18, 2020, Caan said that a sequel was doubtful, citing a lack of rapport between Ferrell and Favreau.
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