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Buddy Wells Hobbs (born 1973) is the main protagonist of Elf and Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas.


Born December 18th, Buddy was adopted by elves and Santa Claus as a baby, so he never got to discover how exactly to be human. He developed certain skills like quickly decorating a large space, creating toys in short amounts of time and generally being a good person. Despite his well-meaning intentions, he often causes trouble when trying to understand the human world after growing up with Santa and his elves.

He is portrayed by Will Ferrell in the original film and voiced by Jim Parsons in the special.

Biography[]

One Christmas Eve, during a stop at an orphanage, a baby, captivated by the sight of a teddy bear, crawls into Santa Claus's (Ed Asner) sack of toys. Santa unknowingly takes the baby back to the North Pole, and when discovered, is named Buddy because of his "Little Buddy" branded diaper. Papa Elf (Bob Newhart) volunteers to raise the baby.

Despite Buddy being accepted by the other elves, he is uncomfortably larger than them and is unable to use the items utilized by them. His toy-making skills are comparatively inferior and he is unable to keep up with the elves' high quotas, and despite the elves' assurances that he's just "special", he is demoted to a demeaning job testing toys. While working, he overhears a conversation in which one of the elves mentions that Buddy is, in fact, a human. Papa Elf reveals that Buddy was born to Walter Hobbs (James Caan) and Susan Wells and given up for adoption and that Walter never knew of his existence. He explains how Susan later died and that Walter now works at a children's book company in New York City. Buddy is convinced by Leon the Snowman (Leon Redbone) to go to New York to find his father. Prior to leaving, Santa informs him that his father, Walter, is on the naughty list due to his greed and selfishness. This is a huge shock, and devastating to Buddy.

Upon arriving in New York City, Buddy fails to comprehend several aspects of the human world, crossing the street at the wrong time, chewing discarded gum from a subway banister (despite Santa's warning), accepting fliers being handed out, and taking a coffee shop's claim to have the "world's best cup of coffee" literally and running inside to congratulate them. Eventually, he finds his father in his office in the Empire State Building. Walter initially lets him in, thinking Buddy is sending him a Christmas gram but when Buddy tells him about Susan Wells, an incredulous Walter has him removed by security. Taking the guards' sarcastic advice, Buddy goes to Gimbel's, where Wanda (Faizon Love), mistakes him for a store employee. In the store's Santa Land, Buddy meets Jovie (Zooey Deschanel), a Gimbel's employee to whom he is instantly attracted to. Upon learning that Santa will be arriving the next day, Buddy sneaks into the store after hours and spends the night giving “The North Pole” a makeover, complete with Lego models, pillow stuffing as snow, fancy decorations and a giant LED sign.

When the store Santa (Artie Lange) arrives, Buddy is shocked to discover that he is not the real Santa Claus, and the two have a destructive brawl after Buddy rips off the man's fake beard to expose him as an impostor. As a result, Buddy is arrested and his sent to the authorities. Walter gets a call from the police and, after reluctantly bailing Buddy out, takes him to a pediatrician (Jon Favreau) for a DNA test, which confirms that Buddy is Walter's biological son. Although Walter is still incredulous seeing Buddy as insane, he‘s pressured by the doctor into taking him home to meet his stepmother, Emily (Mary Steenburgen) and 12-year-old half-brother Michael (Daniel Tay). Walter and Michael are put off by Buddy's immature behavior (such as slathering his spaghetti in maple syrup and M&Ms and not to understand that neither of them are interested in playing with him), but Emily insists that they take care of him until he "recovers".

Buddy eventually befriends Michael after single-handedly helping him defeat a gang of bullies in a snowball fight with deadly accuracy, and Michael encourages Buddy to ask Jovie out. Meanwhile, Walter learns from his boss Mr. Greenway (Michael Lerner) that his company is failing after publishing the flop "The Puppy and the Pigeon", after Walter had refused to reprint the book citing the high cost of doing so. His boss said that the next big pitch for a next book idea will be taking place on Christmas Eve and expects Walter to be there or he will be fired. Although not wanting to, he accepts. The next day, after some pressure from Emily, Walter reluctantly takes Buddy to work with him and sends him down to the mailroom so he can work in peace. However, he accidentally becomes drunk after mistaking a co-worker's whiskey for syrup and throws an outrageous party, which causes the mailroom supervisor to interrupt a phone conversation between Walter and best-selling children's author Miles Finch (Peter Dinklage), whom Walter wants to hire in order to save his company. Buddy goes out on a date with Jovie and manages to win her over with his childlike personality. Meanwhile, Miles Finch arrives at Walter's company and begins to share some of his suggestions for books, but Buddy interrupts the meeting to tell his dad that he’s in love with Jovie. Buddy mistakes Finch for an elf because he is a dwarf. Finch brushes it off at first, but becomes increasingly annoyed with Buddy's attempts to find out how he had managed to leave Santa's Workshop, to which Buddy remarks that Finch is an "angry elf". Finch loses his temper and attacks Buddy before storming out of the conference room, despite Walter's attempt to explain Buddy's misunderstanding. Livid that the one chance of saving his company has been ruined, Walter furiously snaps at Buddy, saying even though he is his son, harshly disowns him, and wants him out of his life. Devastated, Buddy returns to the apartment, where he writes a message to his family on an etch-a-sketch apologizing for his behavior before running off alone.

Meanwhile, Walter's associates find a notebook Finch left behind in the conference room. Discovering that it‘s filled with excellent ideas for children's books, Walter excitedly tells them to get a storyboard ready. Meanwhile, Michael finds Buddy's note, and interrupts Walter's meeting with Greenway to tell him that Buddy is gone. After Michael points out that Walter seems to care more about himself than his family, Walter realizes his mistake and asks Greenway to reschedule, but when he callously refuses, Walter decides to quit, and walks off with Michael to find Buddy. Buddy, while lamenting his situation, sees Santa's sleigh crash in Central Park, which attracts the attention of various news stations, the NYPD and fellow New Yorkers. When Buddy finds Santa, he explains that the sleigh's engine had broken off, and that the last bit of Christmas spirit which powers the sleigh has faded as well. Walter apologizes to Buddy and accepts him as his son and the two embrace. Buddy then takes them to meet Santa, who reveals to them that believing in him can make his sleigh. Getting an idea, Michael opens Santa's list and reads it in front of the TV cameras set up outside the park so that people all over New York City can believe in him, while the Central Park Rangers, who never forgave Santa for putting them on the naughty list, chase his sleigh as Buddy tries to reattach the engine.

Jovie, who was in the crowd after seeing the events on TV, manages to overcome her shyness and gets the sleigh back in the air by the power of Christmas spirit when she leads the crowd of people in singing "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" on live TV, recalling Buddy's statement; "The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear." However, Santa is still unable to fully power the sleigh. Walter, who was mouthing the words, is convinced by Michael to overcome his lack of Christmas spirit and starts singing for real. This allows the sleigh to fly higher without the engine, as the Christmas Spirit has been restored. The TV cameras are unable to capture Santa's sleigh as the news lady is in shock, so the world's collective Christmas Spirit is safe.

By the next Christmas, Walter has started his own publishing company with the first best-selling book released titled Elf, an account of Buddy's adventures written and illustrated by Buddy himself. Sometime later, Buddy and Jovie are now married and have a daughter named Susie, named after Buddy's deceased mother. During the film's closure, the family visits Papa Elf at the North Pole.

Will Ferrell as Buddy - Movies, Videos and TV Shows Appearances[]

  • Elf
  • Elf: Buddy's Musical Celebration
  • Character Street Stays Up Late
  • Character Street Buddy's Beautiful Birthday Bash
  • Character Street - Mikepalooza!
  • Character Street 25 Years and Counting
  • Character Street 35th Years A Stars and Street Forever
  • Elf 2: City of Sugar Land (Upcoming Film)
  • Character Street - 123 Count With Me (ending cameo in 1 second)
  • Character Street's 25th Wonderful Years A Musical Celebration! (Later Host)
  • Elf: Buddy's Sings
  • Saturday Morning Live
  • Radio City Music Hall (In the Audience)
  • Sprout House

Official Account[]

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