Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas

Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas is a 2014 American stop-motion animated Christmas musical television special produced by Warner Bros. Animation, directed by Mark Caballero and Seamus Walsh and written by Aaron Horvath, Michael Jelenic, Bob Martin and Thomas Meehan. It is based on the 2003 film Elf and the Broadway theatre musical Elf: The Musical. While Ed Asner reprises his role of Santa Claus from the film, the rest of the cast consists of Jim Parsons, Mark Hamill, Kate Micucci, Max Charles, and Rachael MacFarlane. The special premiered on December 16, 2014, on NBC.

Plot
Santa Claus narrates the story of Buddy's travels to New York City to meet his father Walter Hobbs. Along the way, his unrelenting cheer transforms the lives of everyone he meets and opens his father's eyes to the magic of the holiday.

Cast

 * Jim Parsons as Buddy Hobbs Parsons replaces Will Ferrell from the first film
 * Mark Hamill as Walter Hobbs Hamill replaces James Caan from the first film
 * Kate Micucci as Jovie Micucci replaces Zooey Deschanel from the first film
 * Ed Asner as Santa Claus
 * Max Charles as Michael Hobbs Charles replaces Daniel Tay from the first film
 * Rachael MacFarlane as Emily Hobbs, Fake Santa Claus #3 Emily was previously played by Mary Steenburgen in the first film
 * Fred Armisen as Matthews
 * Gilbert Gottfried as Mr. Greenway Gottfried replaces Michael Lerner from the first film
 * Jay Leno as Fake Santa Claus #1
 * Steve Higgins as Chadwick
 * Matt Lauer as Mr. Sea Serpent
 * Kevin Michael Richardson as Fake Santa Claus #2, Jerry Hobbs
 * Kevin Shinick as Fake Santa Claus #4

Additional voices by Rachel Bloom, Larry Dorf, Rachel Ramras, and Kevin Shinick.

Reception
The special was viewed by 4.82 million viewers. Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas received positive reviews from critics. The review-aggregation website Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, calculated a score of 74 out of 100 based on 8 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Ray Rahman of Entertainment Weekly gave the special a B+, saying "Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas probably won't become a classic, but it's a fun break from the usual standards." Brian Lowry of Variety gave the special a positive review, saying "Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas suits the genre well, and suggests there is an alternative to simply running the sprockets off old holiday perennials. And in albeit in a minor way, that's good reason to be happy — if not all the time, at least for an hour or so." Erik Adams of The A.V. Club gave the special a B, saying "Narratively and emotionally rushed, at least Buddy's Musical Christmas smartly emphasizes its animated nature, through visual inventiveness and top-flight voice talent."

Home media
Warner Home Video released Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas on DVD and Blu-ray on November 3, 2015.

Accolades
The film was nominated for seven Annie Awards and won one for Character Design in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production.