It stars Will Ferrell as Buddy the Elf, a human raised by Santa's elves, who learns about his origins and heads to New York City to meet his biological father.

James Caan, Zooey Deschanel, Mary Steenburgen, Ed Asner and Bob Newhart appear in supporting roles.

[3][4][5] One Christmas Eve, a baby from an orphanage crawls into Santa Claus's sack when he sees a teddy bear and is unwittingly taken back to the North Pole.

When the infant is discovered at Santa's workshop, the elves name him Buddy, after his diaper's brand label, and Papa Elf adopts him.

Papa Elf explains to Buddy that his birth parents are Walter Hobbs and Susan Wells, the latter putting him up for adoption before her death.

Walter now works as a children's book publisher at the Empire State Building in New York City, unaware of Buddy's existence.

However, after realizing that the store's Santa is simply a man in costume, Buddy exposes him and causes a brawl that the manager breaks up.

Jovie leads a reluctant Walter, the crowd and those watching on television in a rendition of "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town", generating enough Christmas spirit to power the sleigh without the engine.

Lydia Lawson-Baird portrays Carolyn Reynolds, a little girl who Buddy meets in the waiting room who wants a "Suzy Talks-A-Lot" for Christmas.

Claire Lautier plays NY1 reporter Charlotte Denon covering the crash in Central Park, and Matt Walsh appears alongside her as himself.

[citation needed] David Berenbaum initially wrote the script in 1993, with Chris Farley and Jim Carrey being early candidates to play Buddy.

[8][9][10][11] Berenbaum's screenplay underwent uncredited rewrites by Scot Armstrong,[12][13] Chris Henchy[14] and the writing team of Adam McKay and Will Ferrell.

[30] Having sold 695,000 copies in the United States, it is the second-highest-selling soundtrack album for a Christmas-themed film since Nielsen SoundScan started tracking music sales in 1991, behind only The Polar Express.

[31] The score to the film, composed and conducted by John Debney and performed by the Hollywood Studio Symphony, was released by Varèse Sarabande.

[1] The film opened at number two at the box office in the United States with $31.1 million, finishing behind The Matrix Revolutions, also in its first week.

[34] It topped the box office in its second week of release, beating out Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World and earning $26.3 million.

The website's critical consensus reads: "A movie full of Yuletide cheer, Elf is a spirited, good-natured family comedy, and it benefits greatly from Will Ferrell's funny and charming performance as one of Santa's biggest helpers.

[42] Writing for Rolling Stone, Peter Travers gave the film two stars out of four, saying, "Ferrell makes the damn thing work.

"[43] The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a positive review, saying, "While the words 'instant holiday classic' might be pushing it, Elf is at the very least a breezily entertaining, perfectly cast family treat.

"[44] A. O. Scott of The New York Times also gave the film a positive review, saying, "Elf is a charming, silly family Christmas movie more likely to spread real joy than migraine, indigestion and sugar shock.

"[45] Anna Smith of Empire magazine gave the film a three stars out of five, and said, "Ferrell's man-child invites sympathy and sniggers, making this amusing despite some flimsy plotting.

"[46] Plugged In gave the film a positive review, writing, "The elf-reared Buddy has a heart as big as the arctic north.

It was directed by Casey Nicholaw, with music by Matthew Sklar, lyrics by Chad Beguelin, and a book by Bob Martin and Thomas Meehan.

On September 18, 2013, Mental Floss reported that Favreau was interested in making a sequel to the film, titled Elf 2: Buddy Saves Christmas.