8 Fun Facts About “Elf” to Celebrate Its 20th Anniversary

Who’s your Buddy? It’s hard to believe that Elf is turning 20 this year. I recall seeing it with my wife and young daughters when it came out in 2003. It felt like an instant classic on the first viewing. There was really nothing like it before or since. Sure there were popular Christmas movies that had come out in the previous years such as; Christmas Vacation, The Home Alone movies, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Jingle All The Way and the Tim Allen Santa Clause franchise. They were all good, but none had the old school charm and humor of Elf. It felt like an old Rankin and Bass movie but instead of Claymation characters it was real life actors and action. Will The Thrill! The casting of Will Ferrell hot off his tenure on Saturday Night Live as an all time great. It is hard to imagine anyone else in the role. As you will read later, the role at first was meant to be for the great Jim Carrey  who went on to star as the Grinch in 2000 instead. The Grinch made a lot of green but was more of a fantasy movie in the land of the Who’s.  It was a stunning movie to look at and Jim Carrey was a marvel in the starring role and just as you can’t picture anyone else playing Buddy the Elf, you can’t imagine anyone other than Jim Carrey as the Grinch. A Christmas Classic It’s not the holidays until you watch Elf. True there are other classics that we all watch, but after 20 years most would say it’s their favorite holiday movie. Let’s celebrate Elf" turning 20 years old this year, and you KNOW you're gonna watch it, because it's that much of a holiday classic. Here are some fun facts about the movie to help you celebrate the anniversary: