Elf (2003) - 28 mistakes

Continuity: The scene in James Caan's publishing conference room when Buddy and Myles Filch are wrestling results in Buddy's foot hitting the far left picture of three pictures on the wall. The picture comes crashing down and you hear breaking glass. The next shot reveals the fallen picture back up on the wall unbroken. It is followed by the next shot showing the picture gone off the wall again.

Revealing: In the scene where Jovie is taking a shower, for an instant, you can see her bathing suit top at the bottom of the screen.

Continuity: In the very beginning, when the nun puts the baby in the crib, she puts a blanket on him he pushes it down to his feet, then the camera goes to the nun walking out of the room, and when we see the baby again the blanket is covering him again.

Continuity: In the scene where Buddy has made breakfast for the family, his "step-mom" eats the spaghetti taking from the side of the plate and does not touch the top. When the camera goes back to the plate the spaghetti has been all stirred up with the sauce now mixed in, instead of just piled on top.

Revealing: In the beginning of the movie, there is a scene where Buddy hits his head on the roof of the house as he's running out. You can obviously see a machine pushed the snow forward to land on his head.

Continuity: Right before Buddy drinks the bottle of soda pop, the bottle is across the table, next to Michael. The next shot shows Buddy drinking (quick grab). In the next few shots, the empty bottle appears and disappears next to Buddy while he's belching.

Continuity: In the scene when Jovie is asking Buddy why he was in the girls locker room, the amount of people in the background changes each time it cuts back from Buddy to Jovie. It goes from originally five people to three, back to five and so on. This is obviously a mistake because the characters in the background are the same when it's five and the same when it's three.

Audio problem: When Buddy asks Jovie out for food, as Buddy and Michael leave you can hear a male voice say "It's okay" but it there's no male close enough to whisper. (Nor a reason for anyone to).

Continuity: When Buddy eats dinner with his dad and "family", there is a piece of bread in front of the dad that has a bite taken out of it. Throughout the scene the bread changes positions.

Continuity: When Buddy chugs the soda, the bottle rotates in his hand depending on the shot. In views from two different angles, the Coke logo is always visible.

Visible crew/equipment: In the scene where Buddy and Michael are leaving the school, a crew member is visible in the bottom left of the shot. At first, he is just standing there, but he then tries to hide inside a doorway.

Continuity: In the scene where Buddy's Dad is talking to his manager about the missing pages in the book, and how the manager thinks that the company will post a minus eight for the quarter and storms out of the room, Buddy's Dad's arm is resting on a piece of paper that is almost directly in the center of the table, and after it cuts to the manager and back to Buddy's Dad, the piece of paper is close to falling off the table.

Continuity: When Buddy first meets Jovie, she is wearing much more make-up by the end of the scene. The amount of lipstick increases quite a bit, for example.

Continuity: During the scene where the stepmom is eating spaghetti, you can see she is only using a fork and there is a knife next to the plate. In the next shot the knife is now on the plate despite the fact she only uses the fork to eat throughout the scene (also there is no sauce on the knife so very doubtful she used it to help her eat the spaghetti). In the following shot of her the knife is back by the side of her plate again.

Continuity: In the scene where Buddy is singing along with Jovie (who is in the shower), it shows Jovie singing and her hair is obviously wet. However, when she stops singing because she hears Buddy, the shot cuts to Buddy on the counter, then back to her. Her hair is dry and stringy on the bottom. It is more obvious when she sticks her head out of the shower.

Continuity: The piece of silverware in the middle of the mobile during the spaghetti dinner hangs at different angles in different shots.

Other: When Buddy's brother is reading Santa's list he reads the newscaster's wish he looks and mutters something about letters meaning they were in alphabetical order. However when he is saying random names he does not turn the page and the names are NOT in alphabetical order.

Continuity: During the scene where Myles Filch is talking to James Caan and the others, his black book alternates between the left and right side of the table between shots.

Revealing: Towards the beginning, in one of the scenes where Buddy is sitting on Papa-Elf's lap, you can see Bob Newhart is not quite lined up with Buddy, or his legs in the foreground (Which are actually the legs of a little kid), as he is really a short distance away, to make it look as though he is shorter.

Visible crew/equipment: In the scene in Central Park when Santa's sleigh has crashed and Buddy is repairing the engine, the line that is holding the reindeer in place is visible on the lead reindeer. Not the harnesses that are around each reindeer but the line that is keeping the lead reindeer leashed to the ground is visible.

Continuity: When Buddy's dad opens the present from Buddy, he holds it directly above the box. In the next shot, a closer shot, he is holding it next to the box. The following shot shows him holding the present directly above the box again.

Continuity: When Buddy is lying in the roll-out bed in the living room of his father's house and asks to be tucked in, his father does so. His father comes back up and ends up having a red thread on his shirt. The shot switches to Buddy, then back to him with the thread no longer on his shirt.

Visible crew/equipment: When Michael comes in the house after Buddy leaves, and says "Hey Buddy", the reflection of the cameraman is visible in the snow glass on top of the Etch-A-Sketch.

Continuity: Watch the shoppers behind Buddy after the Gimbel's supervisor announces Santa's upcoming visit. Without enough time to have moved between shots, a guy with a yellow elf hat is standing where a lady with a black coat has been.

Revealing: The number of snowballs the bullies throw at Michael and Buddy is very unrealistic. There are about five kids, and yet at any given moment, there are dozens, if not a hundred snowballs in the air.

Visible crew/equipment: Before Buddy goes to New York he is talking to the snowman, and while he is walking with him you can see multiple shadows. One to his left, right, front, and back at least.

Continuity: When Papa is showing Buddy the sled at the beginning of the film we see the Clausometer (the middle odometer)and the indicator is pointing to the left at around 15 (9pm position). As Papa gets in the indicator is now pointing at around 35-40 (10pm position). Later in the scene when it show a closeup of the meter it is back to 15 and then the last shot of it its 35-40 on the meter. The changes are instantaneous between shots and there is not enough time for them to move that much.

Continuity: During the scene where everybody is caroling, there is a close up of the boy telling his dad that he is just moving his lips. In this closeup, the man in the background is just standing there smiling, but in the very next shot, we see him singing.