Elf

Elf (2003)

18 mistakes since 9 Jan '17, 00:00

(40 votes)

Continuity mistake: When Buddy and Walter are on the landing of the stairwell at the police station, the view looking down on the duo shows Walter close to the wall and window, while the view of Walter's back shows both of them closer to the stairs and further from the window.

Scott215

Deliberate mistake: In the orphanage scene, Santa's bag drops dead center in the fireplace. The noise of the impact gets baby Buddy's attention in a quick shot, and the camera shifts back to the fireplace. Now, the bag has shifted to the viewer's left when Santa's boots are coming down. The shift of the bag is presumably to make room for the boots coming down the chimney.

Scott215

Continuity mistake: When Jovie kisses Buddy at the skating rink, her left hand is wrapped around Buddy's neck. The next shot of Jovie finishing her kiss has her hand in a different position.

Scott215

Continuity mistake: When Walter is apologizing to Buddy in Central Park, the view over Walter's right shoulder shows he and Buddy looking at each other almost at eye-level. However, the scenes over Buddy's left shoulder shows him towering over Walter and Walter is also looking up at Buddy.

Scott215

Continuity mistake: In the meeting scene with Miles Finch, Walter is speaking to Buddy. Behind Walter, Finch's right hand is resting on the edge of the table. The next shot shows Finch's same hand resting on his notebook.

Scott215

Visible crew/equipment: Widescreen only. When Buddy is chasing down Michael after school, just before the camera cuts if you look at the far left of the screen you can just see a boom mic entering the shot.

Continuity mistake: After baby Buddy crawls out of Santa's bag at the North Pole workshop, he is partially sitting on the edge of the bag, grasping the leg of a teddy bear. The next shot and the baby is over a foot from the bag, and not holding on to the bear's leg, which is still in the bag.

Scott215

Continuity mistake: Buddy's left arm moves to support Baby Susie under her feet, but the next shot shows his left hand between Susie and his chest.

Scott215

Visible crew/equipment: When Buddy fudges with the fake Santa and the mall is destroyed you get a glimpse of the lighting set up and a crew member in the top left of the screen.

Plot hole: Throughout the film we see several characters talk about how there's no Christmas spirit and how nobody believes in Santa anymore. If, in this universe at least, Santa does exist, it's almost impossible for people to think this. If the parents deliver the presents then how do they explain the excess gifts that Santa brings? We know that Michael is on the nice list because Santa shows him towards the end, so Michael must get presents from Santa. There is no way that Walter can't believe in Santa then because Michael gets gifts from him every year.

deadexcel

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: Emily and Walter probably just thought each present Michael got from Santa was from the other parent. I'm not sure if Walter got him presents or not but you can see that Emily did as she's seen walking home with presents when she's on the phone with Walter.

That is highly unlikely. When my daughter was "believing in Santa" age, my wife and I always talked about what we were getting her, so we didn't duplicate. Plus that theory wouldn't work for single parents.

wizard_of_gore

It is very likely because it's obvious Walter is not in the Christmas spirit like his wife and Michael are. Plus it's obvious Walter is not focused on his family at the beginning of the movie so it's safe to assume the original submission is correct.

lartaker1975

Continuity mistake: In the snowball fight scene we see some snowballs hit the rock behind them. The snow on the rocks keeps disappearing and reappearing between shots.

Ssiscool

Other mistake: When Buddy confronts the department store Santa (Artie Lange), watch the kid sitting on his lap. He's mouthing the words of both Buddy and Santa as they're saying them.

Other mistake: When Buddy's brother gets a skateboard from Santa Claus in Central Park the skateboard trucks are mounted incorrectly. Both are mounted the same direction. The kingpin always faces the inside of the board, but here one is mounted facing outside.

[Buddy sees the mail room for the first time.]
Buddy: It's just like Santa's workshop! Except it smells like mushrooms, and everyone looks like they want to hurt me.

More quotes from Elf

Trivia: Will Ferrell actually walked down Lincoln Tunnel in full costume, causing several minor accidents.

More trivia for Elf

Question: Has anyone noticed what looks exactly like a Buddy Elf doll standing on the kitchen counter during the breakfast scene where Buddy is pouring syrup for the mom? If you pause when the camera pulls back to show Buddy pouring syrup and the back of the moms head, you'll see the elf doll on the right side of the scene (our right, Buddy's left) facing away from the camera. It's on the counter directly below the cabinet knobs; behind the back of a chair and in front of what looks like a radio that sits against the counter wall. Ideas? Looks just like a Buddy doll to me.

Answer: It might just be a regular elf doll that, coincidentally, is dressed in real elf clothes.

Answer: This was probably deliberately added to the scene. Movies often add in-jokes like this. I believe it was "HP and the Chamber of Secrets" that while Harry, Ron, and Hermione are in Diagon Alley, the entire Harry Potter book series can be seen on a shelf in the background. In "Raiders of The Lost Ark," there are a little C-3PO and R2D2 carved into the stone hieroglyphs in the Well of Souls. "Jurassic Park" openly displayed JP merchandise, the same merchandise that was sold in stores. Filmmakers love to add little "Easter eggs" like that for audiences to find.

raywest

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