Let's Watch This: "The Happy Elf" (2005)

When I was younger, I watched a Christmas movie called The Happy Elf. And then, if my memory is correct, I never watched it again. But now I actually AM watching it again!

This review is just RIVETING so far, isn't it?

So, what IS The Happy Elf? Well, it's based on a 2003 song by Harry Connick Jr. The song is about one of Santa's elves and how he likes making folks happy. And that's about it. John Rice (who has also worked on shows like BraveStarr, Rugrats, The Simpsons, and King of the Hill), the film's director, apparently heard the song one day and said, "Hey, why don't we make a MOVIE about this?"

The film features the voices of Rob Paulsen, Carol Kane, Mickey Rooney, Kevin Michael Richardson, Mae Whitman, Lewis Black, Candi Milo, and even Harry Connick Jr. himself. And in 2007 it was adapted into a stage musical featuring five (count 'em - FIVE) new songs. Not bad for a direct-to-video movie.

Will The Happy Elf succeed in making me happy? Or will this blast from the past make me wish I'd just left it in the past? Let's find out, shall we?

The movie begins with a guy making his way down the street when he spots two kids fighting. Since this is from 2005, the CGI animation isn't exactly PIXAR quality. Far from it, actually. Though to be fair, it probably looked more impressive when the film came out. That's the problem with CGI - it's always being updated, so what looks incredible in the 1990s won't look as great in the 2010s.

Anyhow, the guy (voiced by Harry Connick Jr.) is all, "Why are you being all naughty? Santa ain't gonna like this!" to which the kids (Rory Thorst and Liliana Mumy) are all, "So what? It's Christmas Eve, and we've been good all year. Santa won't change his mind NOW." The guy tells them that they're wrong because "he checks who's naughty and nice... TWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO TIIIIIIIIIIIIIMES."

Little known fact: all animated Christmas specials need an on-screen narrator.

Then he adds that Santa makes the second check on Christmas Eve, and that these kids probably haven't heard the story of the Happy Elf. He introduces himself as Little Farley and says, "I'm telling you a story. So close your mouths and open your ears!"

By the way, haven't these kids been taught not to talk to strangers? That's something usually hammered into kids' heads at an early date. I know Little Farley's not gonna do anything bad to the kids, but I'm a bit concerned that neither of the kids are going all "STRANGER DANGER!" on the guy.

The Happy Elf, Little Farley tells us, is a cheerful little fella and one of Santa's helpers. He goes by the name of Eubie, he's voiced by Rob Paulsen, and works at Santa's poorly-rendered workshop. So as the first song, "The Happy Elf" (natch) begins to play, we see Eubie doing his thing.

He's sort of a cross between Buddy from Elf and SpongeBob SquarePants.

Be warned - once this song enters your head, it will never leave. It'll set up shop in there and you won't be able to get it out.

The head elf, Tucker (Kevin Michael Richardson), tells Eubie to knock it off, to which Eubie says that he's just so excited about Christmas. "Just picture it, sir!" he says. "Glorious moment... wrapping paper strewn around the room... a child saying 'Hello, new toy. I'm going to love you and remember this day forever!' Ah ho ho, sir, these toys have to look their best, and I'm here to do my part! Why, just yesterday, I..." But instead of being happy that Eubie is such a dedicated employee, Tucker tells him to take some time off.

"WHY WEREN'T YOOOOOOOOOOOU AT ELF PRACTICE?!"

He explains that it's not healthy for an elf to work so much - if they don't take an hour or so off every now and then, they might get tired and not be at their A-Game. Now, I suppose from the description of Eubie that I've given you - constantly cheerful, never stops talking, dances for no reason - you'd expect him to be a very annoying character (like Pinkie Pie, for example). But he's actually a rare example of this sort of character that actually WORKS. I think it mainly has to do with Rob Paulsen's performance and the natural charm that he has as a voice actor.

We then cut to Santa Claus himself (Mickey Rooney) and his elves in a business meeting of sorts. Because kids just love watching business meetings!

As you can see, most of the elves in this film have an Uncanny Valley thing
going on.

An elf named Norbert...

No, no, not THAT Norbert... anyhow, the non-beaver Norbert (Lewis Black) who's in charge of checking the Naughty and Nice lists admits to Santa that his staff is stretched a little thin, no thanks to the "baby boom" a few years back. Santa asks if any of the other teams can spare an elf, and Tucker decides to volunteer Eubie for the job. Norbert is all, "Noooooooooo, not Eubie! He's so annoying!", which the other elves concur with. Regardless, Santa says that Eubie has the heart of an innocent, which they could use a little more of around the workshop.

Say hello to Norbert, everybody. And also say hello to a new potential meme...

Little do they know that Eubie and his friends are just outside the large window behind Santa, spying on them. Let me introduce Eubie's friends... there's Gilda (a rather grating Carol Kane), a girl elf who of course is supposed to be Eubie's love interest, and there's also Derek (Kevin Michael Richardson), who's fat and kind of a pessimist. They're just in time to hear Santa announce the lucky elves who will be joining him on the sleigh this year. However, they wind up running afoul of some WHACKY SHENANIGANS!

Oh, whacky shenanigans, why art thou so humorous?

After crashing into the North Pole Cider house, the three elves discuss their chances of being picked for the Sleigh Team. Derek doesn't think they're gonna be picked. Why? Well, the flashback explains it for us... Gilda failed the music portion (it's hard to play a piano with swelling fingers), Derek wound up eating the gingerbread house that he was supposed to build (geddit? The fat guy eats a lot cuz he's FAT!), and the toy car that Eubie made exploded. But hey, as Eubie points out, there's always next year.

Just then, Eubie's beeper (remember beepers? Y'know, those things from the days before text messaging?) goes off, alerting him that he's needed at "HQ ASAP". He assumes that means he's been picked for the Sleigh Team and they want to tell him in person.

Why is it that almost every screencap I take of Eubie has him looking like he's high?

At the elf headquarters, Norbert condescendingly tells Hubie that he's not on the Sleigh Team, he was summoned there because he's been reassigned to the Naughty and Nice Department. We also get an appearance from this fat elf who I'm only pointing out because I want to include a screencap of him:

"Now, I'm not going to say that this guy is fat... but when he sits around the
workshop, HE SITS AROUND THE WORKSHOP!"

The Naughty and Nice Department is basically set up like an office, with elves in cubicles typing away at computers. It's like a North Pole version of Dilbert. Eubie is super-excited to get started... until he sees just how much paperwork he has to do.

Also, I keep writing Eubie's name as "Hubie".

This feels like the sort of job that more than one elf should be working on. How is
Eubie alone supposed to get through all of those by Christmas Eve?

A nice gag here is that as soon as Norbert closes the door, leaving Eubie in the office, you can hear all the other elves cheering. Anyhow, Eubie quickly gets to work, and eventually he realizes that all of the papers dubbing a kid "NAUGHTY" are coming from a place called Bluesville (population: 1,000 Smurfs and a Genie). This gives him an idea...

Eubie heads over to Norbert's house and tells him that there is a town full of naughty, undeserving children known as Bluesville. Norbert slams the door on him, but Eubie does that "magically teleports into the guy he's annoying's house" trick that all wacky cartoon characters use (it's been established that he can teleport using his hat, so maybe that's how he did it?) and manages to get an answer out of Norbert. He knows about Bluesville. All the elves (except Eubie, apparently) know about Bluesville. Attempts at getting Eubie to leave him alone quickly become futile, so Norbert explains to Eubie that, on direct orders from Santa himself, they wait until Christmas Eve for the follow-up visit to Bluesville. That way, they have more time than anyone else to "straighten-up and fly right". "Fly right"? Norbert just reminded me of Continental Airlines. Whatever happened to those guys?

Oh, look. ANOTHER screencap that I can use as a meme...

Norbert throws Eubie out the window, and I guess Eubie realizes that Norbert's not in a "doing something about the kids of Bluesville" mood because he doesn't magically teleport back into his house. Instead, he goes to tell Gilda about it. "It just doesn't make any sense! There's gotta be something wrong!" he says. Perhaps the kids of Bluesville aren't naughty, perhaps they're just sad. They just need a little cheering up. Thus, he and Gilda must visit Bluesville and get those kids off the Naughty List. Problem is, it's against regulations to interfere with the Naughty and Nice Reports.

Methinks Gilda's house is located in the Uncanny Valley section of the North Pole.

"This is something I've just GOTTA DO!" Eubie proclaims. Besides, he'll be back before anyone even knows he left. So off the Happy Elf heads to save Bluesville from having another blue Christmas (see what I did there?).

As Eubie arrives in Bluesville, Little Farley explains to the kids and the audience why it's such a lousy place. Problem number one - it's located at the bottom of a canyon. As a result, those living in Bluesville only feel the warmth of the sun once a day. Problem number two - there isn't a lot of laughter in Bluesville. Apparently the town doesn't have comedy clubs, newspaper comics, or cable TV allowing them to watch Frasier reruns. It's so dark and depressing there that nobody even knows how to tell a joke. Problem number three - recess only lasts one minute, not leaving the kids at school much time to do anything. In fact, the only thing there is for the citizens of Bluesville to do is work at the What Factory, a place where they make... um, question marks.

So does that mean I owe the people of Bluesville money whenever I use a question mark? Crud, I just used one, didn't I? Did I just use another? Why can't I stop?!

How is the dot connected to the rest of the question mark when it's not attached to it?

Naturally, Eubie's cheery personality makes him stick out like a beaver in a herd of beluga whales in Bluesville. He asks the Mayor of Bluesville (Kevin Michael Richardson) why there isn't a Christmas tree set up anywhere in town, to which the Mayor says that A) it would cost too much and B) Christmas trees are too festive for a town that runs on pure depression. He explains just how glum the town is through song. I think this song would've worked for the situation, but instead we get an original song, a blues song (fittingly enough) with synchronized dancers.

Do you think they rehearsed this number, or do they just do it for newcomers
so often that it's hardwired into them by now?

So, is there ANYTHING about Bluesville that doesn't make Droopy Dog look like a jolly happy soul by comparison? Actually, yes - they're the world's largest producer of non-flammable coal, which is terrific for throwing at cheery elves who sound like Yakko Warner... as Eubie finds out the hard way.

Classy, fellas...

If Eubie can find another use for the coal, the Mayor will personally see to it that a Christmas tree is put up in Bluesville. After dodging more coal thrown at him by Bluesville's kids, Eubie enlists the help of a kid named Molly (Mae Whitman) to get Bluesville off the Naughty List. First, he gets them to start a pie fight, which he believes nothing is funnier than. Alas, all that succeeds in doing is angering the citizens and sending a stroller with two babies in it hurtling down a hill. Thankfully, they turn up again unharmed, but that was still a pretty dark joke.

After that, Molly informs Eubie that she knows of a small group of "freakishly nice people" who could help them. They live in Downtown Bluesville - the darkest, saddest part of town. There's no puppies, no ice cream, no funny YouTube videos, nothing happy about that place. But that doesn't stop the S.L.O.B.s - that stands for the Smile League of Bluesville from being a thing... all two of them.

The kid on the right isn't a member of S.L.O.B., he's just supporting his friend.

Fortunately, Eubie has another idea. But before he can finish explaining it to the kids, the lights go out and he's suddenly nabbed and whisked back to the North Pole. Apparently the higher-ups at the North Pole found out offscreen that Eubie left and followed him to Bluesville. What is it with elves in Christmas films being, like, ninjas or secret agents or whatever? The Santa Clause, Prep and Landing, Arthur Christmas... why does it pop up so much?

Santa chews out Eubie for going against so many of the elf rules as Norbert stands there menacingly, implying that he's going to beat Eubie with a bowling pin. Well, that seems like a random thing to beat someone with... and more importantly, methinks Norbert's a bit too aggressive.

Does he plan on STRIKING Eubie with it? Hopefully he has enough SPARE time
to do so. Ha ha, bowling puns...

However, Santa's too busy getting ready for Christmas Eve to deal with Eubie, so until he can give this his full attention, he asks Eubie to turn over his hat. This is a huge deal for elves - an elf's hat is full of Christmas magic. Everything that makes one of Santa's elves special is in that hat. I suspect this is going to lead to a "you don't need the hat, the magic was inside of you all along" moral a la Dumbo and his magic feather.

Also, take a look at the sadistic glee Norbert gets from swiping Eubie's hat. The music goes all creepy and the lighting dims, with only Nobert illuminated but still covered in shadows (if that's even possible). They're really trying to make this a dramatic moment, aren't they?

"I'm gonna take your hat, Eubie... and I'm gonna BURN IT! Burn it and then
burn the remains!"

Then we cut to Gilda and Derek discussing Eubie's punishment as a seal plays the piano (makes sense to me, I don't know why YOU'RE confused). Derek says that they probably sent Eubie south - their polar opposite. In fact, Derek, despite presumably being Eubie's friend, is surprisingly chill about it. This makes Gilda MAD!

Had to get a screencap of the seal playing the piano, but to be honest, now I'm more
focused on how creepy Gilda looks here.

So as you might have guessed, Gilda totally has the hots for Eubie. Nobody can make her smile like he can. She decides to head off, find Eubie, and help him, leaving Derek to deal with the seal. When she finds him, he's lamenting the fact that his attempts at helping just made matters worse. She gives him HER hat and a pep talk to make him realize that he can still make things right, and he teleports back to Bluesville.

In Bluesville, Eubie gathers the kids together and explains to them what Christmas is all about... through SONG. I was wondering when the Rob Paulsen-voiced character was going to get to sing. After that, Eubie's plan is set into motion - Molly and two other kids sneak into the What Factory and build something. Two other kids sneak into the Mayor's office. Eubie rubs shoe polish on the canyon walls. The only thing that could possibly foil this is a certain fat pessimistic elf noticing that Gilda's not wearing her hat, figuring out that Eubie has it and left for Bluesville with it, and alerting Norbert that Eubie's flown the coop.

Too bad that's exactly what happens.

Thanks a lot, Derek. Even your humorous expression doesn't make up for the fact
that you stabbed Eubie in the back.

Eubie is almost done polishing the canyon walls when two tough-looking elves show up and dub him "one busted elf". He begs them to just let him finish, but they don't negotiate. Not even at Christmas. They DO, however, taser busted elves, as Eubie once again finds out the hard way. Jeez, guys...

After Eubie is tortured, we cut to the North Pole's Wrap Party, already in progress. All the elves are having themselves a swingin' good time... except for Eubie and Gilda. Eubie got THAT hat taken from him too and now he and Gilda are stuck as the clean-up crew. Fortunately, Derek realizes what a lousy friend he is, and Gilda reassures Eubie that she'd rather be naughty with him (get your minds out of the gutter) than nice with just anyone else. They're about to make out when Derek teleports in and admits that he's the one who tattled on them. Of course, being the nice guys that they are, they forgive him immediately.

Derek should really get another shirt. I don't need to see his belly button.

Derek, of course, still feels bad and wishes there was something he could do to make up for his actions. Eubie tells him that, actually, there is SOMETHING he can do to help them. We then cut to Santa receiving a note from the Naughty and Nice Department informing him that Bluesville's status is "pending". Hmmm...

In Bluesville, the citizens are shocked to discover that all the shoe polish makes the sunlight reflect off the canyon walls, brightening up the town (and probably also burning at least one resident's retinas). The What Factory's machines now make exclamation marks in a variety of different colors. The school bell has been muffled, resulting in a much longer recess.

Derek shows up and informs Molly that he has a message from Eubie - bring the mayor a shoe polish-covered piece of coal. He also gives another kid a joke book.

Nobody in this town has ever found a joke book before? Apparently Bluesville doesn't
have any book stores either...

Molly gives the Mayor the coal, then reminds him of what he told Eubie about how he'd put up a Christmas tree if Eubie found another use for non-flammable coal. And thus, the Christmas tree is put up, delighting the people of Bluesville... and an incognito Santa Claus.

Yeah, everyone just ignore the tall guy with a white beard and a conspicuous-looking trenchcoat.

Back at the North Pole, Santa gives a big speech about how they succeeded in bringing Christmas cheer to the world and how Eubie taught them all a valuable lesson and stuff, so he's decided that Eubie, Gilda, and Derek will be his Sleigh Crew this year. Upon hearing this, Norbert gets MAD. But he's Norbert, so who cares? Santa, Eubie, Gilda, and Derek get into the sleigh and fly off, and Little Farley reveals that the very town that they're in right now was Bluesville all along. What a twist!

WHAT'S THE VERDICT?

Y'know, I was pleasantly surprised to see that The Happy Elf still holds up. It's got a likeable protagonist, catchy songs, some genuinely funny jokes, and Rob Paulsen. Can't go wrong with Rob Paulsen. And their getting Mickey Rooney to voice Santa again for this was a nice touch. Is the film flawless? Well, no. As I've said before, the animation is lousy. Again, I know it probably looked slightly better in 2005, but looking at it now, the presumably very small budget shows very, very much. But this does lead to some funny facial expressions from the characters, both intentional and unintentional. I'd recommend checking out The Happy Elf at least once. You'll probably like it.

We've looked at a lot of weird, wacky, and bizarre things this year, haven't we? Snakes selling hot wings, talking baseball bats, sentient piñatas, monkeys in a rocket ship, whatever the heck this was... you can be assured that the reviews I plan on posting next year will be just as strange. Happy holidays, everybody!