Elf: Buddys musikalisches Weihnachtsfest

Calm down, people. It's okay if you don't like this special. Don't worry, you have every right not to like this, you just gotta believe that there are a lot of Christmas specials out there that are WAY worse than this. I mean, sure; It's not the best Christmas special of all time, and it's not nearly as good as the 2003 film with Will Ferrell, but that doesn't REALLY mean it's the world's worst Christmas special. The reason why it's practically like this is that, in case you didn't know, Elf (2003) had a Broadway musical back in 2010. It was called "Elf: The Musical". I have not seen that musical, but it's actually good. I like this special, because it had great songs, nice animation, hilarious voice acting, an interesting story, and likable characters. Though, I'll admit, the scene where one elf was all like "ALL THE TAHHME!!!!!" is kind of creepy, but this special as a whole is not the Christmas special from hell. Wanna know what's the REAL worst Christmas special of all time? Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer is worse than this, Eight Crazy Nights is worse than this, The Christmas Tree (1991) is not only worse than Buddy's Musical Christmas, but THAT special is the second worst Christmas special of all time, where as Rapsitti Street Kids: Believe in Santa is the world's worst Christmas special of all time. Personally, I'd prefer to stick to this special than Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer. If you don't like this, that's okay, just believe that there are a lot worse Christmas specials out there than this.

I thought this adaption/ follow up of the hit movie 'Elf' was very, very sweet. It isn't very similar to 'Elf' but how could it be? It's an animation about a different story. The special effects and animation were beautiful and clever, I love little 3D people and all that sort of thing. I thought it was really sweet and my mother and I (both adults) happily sat and watched it the whole way through! No children in sight! Hats off to the people who made this movie. Utterly glorious. And very, very festive. I would definitely recommend this movie and I hope to see it on my TV screen once again this Christmas. I might even force my niece to watch it!

My 3 year watched it in one sitting

He'd never sit through the film

For kids this is great

I watched BUDDY'S MUSICAL Christmas (2014) independent of being a fan or follower of the original movie ELF (I've seen it- but it was never a favorite.), and I thought this to be very reminiscent of the many classic Rankin-Bass specials (RUDOLPH, SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN.) And found it to be very entertaining. Jim Parsons was great. As were Ed Asner (Santa in the original ELF!) and Gilbert Gottfried. The songs weren't as bad as expected. A few were catchy. The animation was interesting (Watch the characters MOUTHS!) I can't wait to see it again next year. Recommended! Perhaps the best, new Christmas special in DECADES!!!

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