Lydia Lawson-Baird American Christmas comedy film directed by Jon Favreau and written by David Berenbaum. It stars Will Ferrell as Buddy the Elf, a human raised by Santa's elves, who learns about his origins and heads to New York City to meet his biological father. James Caan, Zooey Deschanel, Mary Steenburgen, Ed Asner and Bob Newhart appear in supporting roles.

Elf was released in the United States on November 7, 2003, by New Line Cinema. It became a major critical and commercial success, grossing $220 million worldwide against a $33 million budget. Ferrell's performance as Buddy, in particular, was praised by critics. The film inspired the 2010 Broadway musical Elf: The Musical and NBC's 2014 stop motion animated television special Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas. It has been hailed by many as a modern classic and is often listed as one of the best Christmas films of all time.

One Christmas Eve, a baby from an orphanage crawls into Santa Claus's sack when he sees a teddy bear and is unwittingly taken back to the North Pole. When the infant is discovered at Santa's workshop, the elves name him Buddy, after his diaper's brand label, and Papa Elf adopts him. Growing up, Buddy believes that he is an elf, but discovers in adulthood that he is a human. Papa Elf explains to Buddy that his birth parents are Walter Hobbs and Susan Wells, the latter putting him up for adoption before her death. Walter now works as a children's book publisher at the Empire State Building in New York City, unaware of Buddy's existence.

Buddy travels to New York and finds Walter at his workplace, but Walter mistakes him for a Christmas-gram messenger and has him ejected. Buddy visits a Gimbels department store and becomes infatuated with a disillusioned employee named Jovie. Hearing that Santa will visit the store the following day, Buddy redecorates the store overnight. However, after realizing that the store's Santa is simply a man in costume, Buddy exposes him and causes a brawl that the manager breaks up.

Walter reluctantly bails out Buddy from jail and takes him for a DNA test, which confirms that he is his son. The doctor suggests to Walter that he take Buddy home to meet his stepmother Emily and half-brother Michael. Walter and Michael are unnerved by Buddy's behavior, but Emily insists that they take care of him until he "recovers". Michael grows closer to Buddy after they defeat a gang of bullies in a snowball fight and helps Buddy to ask out Jovie on a date.

Meanwhile, Walter's publishing company is struggling after the failure of its latest book. Walter's boss, Fulton Greenway, expects him to have a new book ready by Christmas Eve. Walter and his associates secure a meeting with ghostwriter Miles Finch, but Buddy interrupts the meeting and unintentionally insults Finch, mistaking him for an elf because of his dwarfism. Finch attacks Buddy and leaves the meeting, causing Walter to furiously disown Buddy. Heartbroken, Buddy writes an apology on an Etch A Sketch and leaves the Hobbses' apartment.

After finding the note, Michael rushes to Walter with news of Buddy's departure. Realizing his mistake, Walter quits his job and leaves with Michael to find Buddy. Meanwhile, Buddy sees Santa's sleigh crash in Central Park, drawing a large crowd. Santa explains that the sleigh has lost its engine, which is essential for flight due to a shortage of Christmas spirit.

Buddy finds the engine and reunites with Walter and Michael. Walter apologizes to Buddy for his outburst and finally accepts him as his son. After Buddy takes them to meet Santa, Michael takes Santa's list and reads it in front of news cameras gathered outside the park. Buddy tries to reattach the engine as Central Park Rangers pursue the sleigh. Jovie leads a reluctant Walter, the crowd and those watching on television in a rendition of "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town", generating enough Christmas spirit to power the sleigh without the engine.

By next Christmas, Walter and Buddy have started their own independent publishing company, with their first bestseller being a children's book based on Buddy's adventures. Buddy has also married Jovie and brings their infant daughter Susie to visit Papa Elf.