The best way to spread Christmas Cheer is singing loud for all to hear.
You know how it goes. The story of Buddy The Elf’s trip to New York City
quickly became one of the most iconic Christmas stories of modern
times. It had everything… The North Pole, a New York City backdrop, snowball warfare… And with
the holidays here, we decided that there would be no better Christmas tale to tackle on our channel.
Make sure you leave out some cookies for Santa… because today
we’re taking a look at the Christmas classic Elf.
I’m Kyle with WickedBinge and this is Elf Characters: Naughty to Nice
Now, usually, we start with the good and work our way down to the evil…
but today, we’ll be starting with The Naughty… and working our Way
up to The Nicest on Santa’s List. So to begin, these characters are The Evil.
Without a doubt, our Gold Medal of Evil has to go to Fulton Greenway.
If there were a Scrooge character in Elf, it would definitely be Mr. Greenway. He’s
a nightmarish boss who is so unconcerned with his employees well-being that he has them come in on
Christmas Eve to work last-minute. Everything he says, he seems to do so with a scowl on his face…
And when Walter tells him that he needs to find his son, who could be in danger…
Mr. Greenway doesn’t care. Going as far as to scream at him and threaten to fire him.
Clearly a heartless man and someone who undoubtedly belongs on Santa’s Naughty List.
Our Silver Medal of Evil goes to Miles Finch.
Now, first off… we will cut this guy some slack… Buddy really went there in his scene;
and although he didn’t know any better, it makes sense that it would bring Mr. Finch to anger.
That said, even before this… he is shown to be very mean,
rude and hard to deal with. Making demands that are unnecessary on the phone
and even being brought to anger because he thinks he’s above being put on hold.
He’s also very narcissistic and talks down to everyone around him during the meeting.
But fortunately, that’s all the evil we have in the movie Elf. We now get to The Grey Area.
First up, we have The Gimble’s Manager. We aren’t going to say he’s a bad man. But
he doesn’t seem like the best boss to work for. Granted, we understand that working in
a retail setting during the holidays is enough to shorten anyone’s fuse.
And on that note, we also have The Gimble’s Santa. He may sit on a throne of lies,
but we have to cut this guy a little slack as well… How would you respond to Buddy’s line of
questioning when you’re just trying to do your Mall Santa job with some kids? Well, I guess
not getting into a physical altercation would have been best, but… we understand his anger.
With that said, our very short Grey Area comes to a close.
Everyone else in this movie deserves a spot on Santa’s Nice List.
Starting with the least good… we have Walter. Buddy’s Dad. He’s actually the character who
comes the furthest, morally speaking, so we had to place him in The Good Section.
Given the fact that he went from taking back donated books from children… to quitting his high
profile job when given the ultimatum of finding his son… He’s definitely made a lot of progress.
Still, it took him quite a bit of effort to get past his anger issues and negative traits.
How are you going to ship a bunch of children’s books knowing the last page hasn’t been printed?
He’s also neglectful to the needs of his family and an overall cold person throughout the story…
And the way he told Buddy he didn’t care that he was his son was pretty heartbreaking.
But luckily, despite his anger, he did reveal he had a heart. And Buddy
was able to fix his dad’s negative ways with a little bit of Christmas Spirit.
Next, we have Ming Ming. It’s true Ming Ming was very annoyed by Buddy’s inability to make toys…
and he did accidentally spill the beans that Buddy was actually a human…
but he meant no harm. And he was also nice enough to lead the workshop
in telling Buddy that he had his own special talents as well. So he was a well-meaning elf.
Next, we’re placing three different characters from different walks of life… Dr. Leonardo,
Deb and The Mail Room Guy. Dr. Leonardo gets a little annoyed by Buddy’s Christmas weirdness,
but you can understand how that might grind the gears of someone as orderly as a doctor. But he
also offers some good, empathetic advice to Walter about bringing Buddy home to meet his family.
As for Buddy’s new friend in the mail room… This guy may not be the best employee… and he
may be on parole… but he’s good natured enough to accept Buddy’s strangeness.
And he’s clearly open to the Christmas cheer that Buddy brings.
And finally, Deb seems to be a very positive and friendly person in every scene she’s in.
Which must be tough to maintain when your boss is as grumpy as Walter is.
We have another two character spot next… Mr. Narwhal and Leon The Snowman. THey certainly
on screen all that much, but c’mon. They’re meant to be a throwback to the
Christmas themed critters and characters in those classic Christmas stop motion movies.
Both Mr. Narwhal and Leon The Snowman are very nice to Buddy. Leon sends him off with
positive vibes and Mr. Narwhal makes sure to offer him a friendly goodbye.
Next, we have Michael. We sympathize with this kid quite a bit because it seems his
relationship with his dad is far from the best. But it becomes clear that he’s a good kid;
and it doesn’t take much to accept his new brother despite how odd he is. Once he warms up to him,
he even helps him get a date with Jovie. Buddy is just the older brother that he needed.
Speaking of Jovie, she is up next. She doesn’t have as much Christmas
spirit as Buddy would like at the start… but she’s clearly a good,
shy and slightly quirky person. And she’s also pretty forgiving considering the fact that Buddy
wandered into the women’s locker room while she was showering. In the end, she also forces herself
outside of her comfort zone to sing in order to help Buddy raise the level of Christmas spirit.
Next we have Emily. There’s no way that Emily wouldn’t rank near the most good end of the
spectrum. She is a great, caring mom and wife… and that says a lot given the fact that she
is married to Walter. She is optimistic and willing to see the good in every situation…
Even when Buddy is acting absolutely ridiculous. She’s also more than happy to move Walter in
the right direction with reconciling with his son, despite how strange of a dynamic it is.
It may be a shock that we’re only giving him the Bronze Medal of Good… but next is Santa.
We don’t have anything bad to say about Santa… I mean…
he’s Santa. It’s just that we think there are two characters in this movie that are
a little more noble than him. Still, the big man delivers Christmas presents to the world
every year. All this despite the fact that he is running dangerously low on Christmas spirit.
We also like that Santa has clear respect for Buddy, despite him being different. He
knows that Buddy’s Christmas spirit is more than anyone else’s. Even if he is a human.
Speaking of which, we are giving The Silver Medal of Good to Buddy. There really isn’t anything
negative that you can say about Buddy… he is the definition of good intentions. Granted, those good
intentions can still get him in trouble… like when he rips the beard off the Gimbles Santa or starts
unknowingly roasting Miles Finch. But in his head, he didn’t know he was doing anything wrong.
Buddy also has a habit of spreading Christmas cheer and happiness whenever
he goes. Whether it’s convincing Jovie that she has a beautiful singing voice…
helping his new brother in a snowball fight… or helping Santa make it out of Central Park.
All Buddy wants is to be accepted and loved by his new family, makes Papa Elf proud and
do right by Santa and the rest of The North Pole. We could all stand to be a bit more like Buddy.
But finally, we have to give The Gold Medal of Good to Papa Elf.
We can’t help but think that Buddy turned out to be such a great guy
because he was raised well by Papa Elf. He taught him how to be a great person
and even took on the task of raising him when Buddy was discovered to have crawled into Santa’s
bag. Papa Elf is a great dad and an honorable elf, which is why he earns the Gold Medal of Good.
But let us know in the comment section which Elf character you think is the
most good! Make sure you have a safe, Merry Christmas and a Happy New year.
We look forward to many many more videos in 2022. Thanks for watching!