Elf‘s opening scenes open the door for a tragic, unexplained mystery that the film swiftly moves beyond. Elf is potentially one of the only Christmas movies made after the 2000s that has earned a reputation as a Christmas classic. Everything about the film is outrageous fun, with Will Ferrell starring as a human raised by Elves, who decides to find his real family back in New York ahead of Christmas.
This 2003 film was directed by Jon Favreau, and written by David Berenbaum, and it’s gone on to have extraordinary success ever since the movie debuted. While the story is largely comical, there are emotional moments that elevate it to create a satisfying and fun family film that can be thoroughly enjoyed by all ages. However, there are also elements of the story that go unexplored, due to the film’s focus on the Christmas story over unraveling the plot in order to make sense of every detail.
The Orphanage Never Found Out What Happened To Buddy As A Baby
A Tragic Disappearance In A New York City Orphanage
This is perhaps best seen through the opening scene in the orphanage. As a child, Buddy was given up for adoption by his birth mother, Susan Wells. Susan had connected with Walter Hobbs romantically when she was still very young, but having lost contact with Walter, and being unable to raise a child as a single mother, she chose to give the child up for adoption. While Buddy was being taken care of in the orphanage, one Christmas night, the baby wandered into Santa’s sack of presents, without Santa realizing it. When he did eventually discover the child, he was already back home in the North Pole.
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This provides the basis for the story, but it leaves one side of the events completely unexplained. The orphanage would have reported a missing child, but without any evidence and nothing to go off, the case would have gone unsolved. For the rest of its operation, the orphanage may have struggled to rebuild its reputation, and its possible those working there could have suffered great trauma, shame, and guilt at having lost a child in such mysterious circumstances. Even when Buddy the elf returns to New York decades later, this mystery is never resolved.
Why Santa Claus Never Returned Buddy After Finding Him In Elf’s Opening Sequence
Santa Claus Gave Buddy The Elf A Family For Christmas
The only person who had any real power to get involved was Santa Claus himself. Being the magical man who brings gifts around the world every year, Santa had the ability to deliver Buddy back to the orphanage. However, no sooner did Buddy arrive in the North Pole, than Santa had a bright idea to allow some Elves who struggled with having kids themselves to adopt him. Papa Elf became a father to Buddy, and Buddy led a charmed, although unusual, life in the North Pole.
Buddy led a good life, and he eventually had the opportunity to reconnect with his biological father many years later.
He knew that he didn’t exactly fit in with the other Elves, either figuratively or literally, but he tried his best, and he was a high-spirited member of the North Pole family. Whether Santa used his magic powers to straighten out records at the orphanage, or if the poor community was rocked by such a shocking and mysterious crime as a missing child is unclear. However, whatever happened, Buddy led a good life, and he eventually had the opportunity to reconnect with his biological father many years later. Thus, the dark tragedy in Elf still had some kind of happy ending.