Continuity mistake: When Scott and Charlie are at Denny's, Scott picks up the eggnog placard from the table to ask the waitress about it. He then puts it back down in a different spot. However, in the shots of Charlie by himself (such as when he asks for chocolate milk), the placard is visible in the foreground, in the same place it was before Scott picked it up. (00:09:55)
Continuity mistake: When the sleigh makes the vertical take off, Santa asks Charlie if he's ready to go. We see both Bernard and Quentin look at each other and smiling as well as all the other elves behind them. In the next shot, not only are none of the elves smiling, but they also are all wearing welding goggles. (01:14:00 - 01:14:40)
Continuity mistake: After giving Scott his business card, Neal puts his wallet in his pocket twice.
Continuity mistake: Before and after Scott enters and exits the chimney pipe, the background shows the roof of the house with very little snow and the roof shingles exposed. The overhead shot showing Scott and Charlie leaving in the sleigh shows the same roof covered in snow.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Bernard the elf appears at the Miller's house near the end of the movie, there is a shot of him walking out of the kitchen with Neal's snack that the latter had been preparing earlier (a stuffed pita shell) and he's talking to Neal as though his mouth is full from having taken a bite. However, if you look at the pita, it is still whole - not a single bite taken.
Continuity mistake: While Bernard is explaining the "Santa Clause" to Scott Calvin, an elf dressed as a pirate behind Bernard exits the scene twice.
Continuity mistake: During mother's patronising talk to Scott and Charlie (fairly at the beginning of the movie) her gloves at one stage both end up briefly in the other hand.
Continuity mistake: Right after the part where Santa fell off the roof and Scott is yelling at Charlie to stop climbing up the ladder, you will notice their roof is slanted and has a significant amount of snow on it. However, from the top of the ladder Charlie exits off with complete ease (given the circumstances of the roof and ladder position, difficult for a skilled adult let alone 6-year-old Charlie) and walks onto the roof, and the roof portion is now obviously a flat surface.
Continuity mistake: After being told that he cannot see Charlie till the next year Tim Allen steps into Charlie's house. Before he enters it's snowing, when you see him inside with Charlie in his arms you can see outside the dining room window that there is no snow, and when Charlie's mum goes outside it's snowing again.
Continuity mistake: After Charlie gives the snow globe to Scott, the view of the back of Scott's head shows his hair and scarf, but the front view of Scott shows his winter cap all the way down to his scarf, which would cover his hair seen from the rear.
Continuity mistake: The articulating magnifying glass Bernard uses to read the "Santa Clause" off the card to Scott, the magnifying glass changes height between quick scene shots.
Continuity mistake: In the scene of Bernard telling Scott he is the new Santa by reading the card with the articulated magnifying glass, in one shot Scott and Bernard are in front of it, then suddenly it is between them.
Continuity mistake: When Charlie is hugging his Mom goodbye on Christmas Eve, his hands go from being wrapped around her back, clasped around her neck, then to her back again.
Continuity mistake: When Scott Calvin hears something on the roof and he goes outside, he sees Santa on the roof. He calls to Santa, "hey you", and Santa turns around and slips. As he's sliding down the roof, and falls you can see where Santa slid on the roof, because there is a line of no snow, in the next scene, like five seconds later, there is snow where Santa slid.
Continuity mistake: When Scott is talking to Charlie in the Zoo,we can see a polar bear swimming around in the background. One minute it is just behind Charlie and the next it is behind Scott - there's no time between shots for it to have swam across.
Continuity mistake: On Christmas Eve, Scott runs out of the house to check the roof after he and Charlie hear a ruckus. Right as Scott sees Santa and yells "Hey You!", take a good look at the roof and the snow patterns just to the left of where Santa is and where he slips. Water and "wet" snow melt patterns also indicate an icy and probably a slippery surface. A few minutes later in the movie when Charlie and Scott ascend the magic ladder to find Santa's reindeer, the roof setting and snow patterns that were to the left of where Santa was originally standing are now completely different (and a flat, non slippery surface, no wet patterns), indicating a safer stage set.
Continuity mistake: In the first house visited by Scott as Santa, the amount of snow on the top of the chimney changes from shot to shot.
Continuity mistake: After Santa falls in Scott's garden, before he vanishes he has some snow on the suit, but a few moments later the snow is gone.
Answer: The elf on top probably ignored him as he was in no position to answer him. The elves seem to have a stratified society [i.e. some make toys, Judy provides food/beverage, some do security etc.] so it was most likely his job just to punch in the code so the sleigh would descend. With Bernard being the head elf, and probably the most knowledgeable on all things Santa related, he would be in the best position to talk to Scott and answer all of his questions.
Invader_Gir