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.
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 mistake: 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. (00:32:30)
Continuity mistake: 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. (00:51:10)
Revealing mistake: When Buddy is chugging the bottle of Coke, there is a shot taken from behind Buddy. Look at his arm when this is happening. The dark line running down his arm is the tube used to carry some of the Coke away, so Will Ferrell didn't have to drink the entire 2 litres.
Revealing mistake: 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.
Continuity mistake: 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.
Continuity mistake: 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.
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.
Revealing mistake: When Buddy is in the mailroom dancing on the table, you can see the sides of his pants flare out around the hips to see the outline of the harness used when he's low to the ground during some of the dance moves.
Revealing mistake: When Buddy confronts the Department Santa (Artie Lange), watch the kid sitting on his lap. He's mouthing the words both Buddy and Santa are saying.
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.
Revealing mistake: When Buddy is first seen walking toward Gimbels, the man in the costume is Will Ferrell's stand-in. His hair extends below the hat.
Revealing mistake: 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.
Continuity mistake: 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.
Continuity mistake: 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.
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.
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.
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.
Continuity mistake: 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 and the thread is now on his right arm.
Other mistake: How was Buddy able to buy the negligee for his father? He has no money.
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.
