Elf: Buddys musikalisches Weihnachtsfest

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.

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!

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.

I don't know why it was decided to make a short-form animated musical based on 2003's "Elf", which is a wonderful holiday movie. But whatever the case, if you've seen "Elf" and like it, there is nothing about "Buddy's Musical Christmas" that's noteworthy. The plot is basically the same, so there's no real fresh changes aside from a scene with some mall santas in a diner. Moreover, the characters aren't as charming here as their real-life actors made them. You come to appreciate how likable Will Ferrell made Buddy, 'cause here, he's annoying rather than endearing. The look style is whimsical, but it's a case of all style and no content.

You should just see "Elf" instead, and get way more for your time than this over-glorified and pointless TV special.

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