NEED TO KNOW
Did Santa Claus kidnap Buddy the Elf at the beginning of the 2003 classic Elf? It’s kind of complicated.
Vida Johnson, a professor of law at Georgetown University, the co-director of the school’s Criminal Justice Clinic and a former public defender broke down the possible case in a video for Georgetown University.
In Elf, while Santa (the late Ed Asner) is setting out toys at an orphanage on Christmas Eve, Buddy (Will Ferrell) crawls into his sack. Santa doesn’t realize he has a baby on board until he’s way back in the North Pole. But then, he keeps Buddy in the North Pole, where he’s raised by Papa Elf (the late Bob Newhart). Only as an adult does Buddy learn he’s not an Elf, but the son of Walter Hobbs (the late James Caan).
The question remains if Santa committed a crime when he took Buddy to the North Pole. Johnson explains that Santa does find himself in some “serious legal and ethical conundrums.”
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But she says his actions are not indefensible. “In order to prove kidnapping, the prosecutor would have to prove one of two things, either that Santa knowingly took Buddy by force, or that he prevented Buddy from leaving,” she says. “On the first count, no. Santa didn’t forcibly take Buddy, Buddy crawled into the sack by himself without Santa even knowing.” She jokes that he was so busy delivering presents around the world, “He didn’t have time to plan a kidnapping.”
“And on the second count, Santa didn’t keep Buddy locked up at the North Pole. When Buddy wanted to find his dad, Santa encouraged him,” she says. This, of course, is how the movie’s action begins, with Buddy leaving the North Pole to find his dad.
She adds that “child neglect or reckless endangerment” charges also wouldn’t work since Buddy has “a dream life” in the North Pole. “The elves treated every day like it was Christmas, and Buddy was surrounded by people who cared for him,” she says.
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But the biggest thing, she says, that would help Santa avoid a kidnapping charge would be jurisdiction. “The North Pole doesn’t belong to any country or any state. So, there isn’t anyone to prosecute Santa, which makes my job easy,” she says. Since he didn’t know about Buddy until he got up north, he didn’t commit any crimes in New York, which means they can’t charge him.
“Does New York have the right to retrieve Buddy from the North Pole since he was an orphan ward of the state? Absolutely. But that’s not Santa’s problem,” she says. She adds, “Could Santa have easily returned Buddy on his annual Christmas trip? Maybe. But let’s not get the jury focused on that.” She admits Santa might not be “perfect,” but he’s not guilty of kidnapping.
Johnson adds that if there are any crimes committed in the film, they might be from Buddy himself. She names trespassing, assault, destruction of property and “a little” stalking of his dad.
Elf was released in 2003 and was directed by Jon Favreau from a script by David Berenbaum. It also stars Zooey Deschanel, Mary Steenburgen, Daniel Tay, Peter Dinklage, Amy Sedaris, Faizon Love, Michael Lerner and Andy Richter.
The movie made over $225 million at the box office and has remained a Christmas classic. Ferrell, 58, told PEOPLE in 2024 that Elf is “really quite special” for him.
“I mean, it continues to grow by leaps and bounds, and it continues to kind of entrench itself as kind of a holiday classic for people. I’m so lucky to have a movie like that in my catalog,” he said.
He added, “You never really have an idea of what’s going to land with people, and I love the fact that this movie continues to resonate in a way that’s pretty incredible.” In 2023, he added another holiday movie to his resume, Spirited.
