Elf: Buddy’s Musical Christmas. 44 min. Dist. by Warner Brothers Home Entertainment. 2015. DVD $14.98. Blu-ray $19.98. UPC 883929428571.

PreS-Gr 3 –With its retro-style painted backgrounds and stop-action animation, this musical adaptation has the feel of classic 1960s and 1970s holiday specials. The puppets are finely textured and artfully rendered to embody each character. Based on the 2003 film starring Will Ferrell and with some of the musical pieces from the Broadway production, this is a cut above some of the banal holiday offerings that play on TV each year. The familiar story follows Buddy, a misfit who’s been raised by elves at the North Pole, as he travels to New York City to find his biological father and get him off of Santa’s “naughty list.” Of course, Buddy prevails and advances Christmas spirit in the city, enough to get Santa’s failing sleigh back up in the air for a happy ending. Among the voice talent are well-known actors Jim Parson, Fred Armisen, Mark Hamill, and the perfectly cast Ed Asner as Santa. The upbeat music is supported by amusing antics, such as the chorus of Santas singing and dancing to “Nobody Cares About Santa.” A standout number is “A Christmas Song,” during which Buddy convinces his crush, Jovie, to sing as they bounce from a skating rink to sparkly cardboard-looking clouds all the way to the top of a skyscraper. VERDICT This is a feel-good, high-quality production that young viewers will, no doubt, enjoy repeatedly. It is destined to be added to the canon of children’s Christmas classics.--Constance Dickerson, Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library

This review was published in the School Library Journal December 2015 issue.