When young Buddy falls into Santa's gift sack on Christmas Eve, he's transported back to the North Pole and raised as a toy-making elf by Santa's helpers. But as he grows into adulthood, he can't shake the nagging feeling that he doesn't belong. Buddy vows to visit Manhattan and find his real dad, a workaholic publisher.
This movie contains 26 potentially triggering events.
You could argue that Buddy maybe accidentally stalks Walter but, like anything else he does in the movie, he had no ill intentions. He just wanted to know his father and form a healthy relationship with him, but didn’t understand human social norms since he was raised by elves.
The definition of gaslighting is to manipulate someone using psychological methods into questioning their own sanity or powers of reasoning. The elves were not gaslighting Buddy.
Buddy was not abusing the raccoon. Any mild harassment was obviously by accident because the whole point is that he is clueless. He literally just talked to the raccoon for a moment and went in for a hug because at the North Pole he was used to animals being friendly and affectionate. He had no intention of hurting it or “bothering” it like the other commenter wrongly said.
There are a couple of short scenes in which the main character is held back, but this is usually played for laughs and does not result in any long term injury.
When Buddy is sent to test out toys he tests Jack in the box toys. Also when he realises he’s human and things flash before his eyes there’s a clown doll and laughter
He runs around in a revolving door and then vomits in a trash can but nothing is seen and the audio is extremely fake sounding, just there for comedic, pg purposes. I'm an extreme emetephobe and this doesn't bother me at all. I almost forgot about it and I hardly ever forget when there's vomit in a movie.
it is implied that buddy was considering suicide as he writes a ‘note’ and is then seen saying he doesn’t belong anywhere, standing on a bridge. it’s not explicitly stated tho
I'm going to say yes and no. In the beginning he kind of has one when he realizes his real dad is on the naughty list. He freaks out but I can't say if its a full on anxiety attack or just normal panicking.
He doesn't outright say that he's going to kill himself, but he does stand at the edge of a bridge while mentioning how there isn't anything left in the world for him, so I guess that could count.
The scene of Buddy trying to shower in the elf-sized shower could make people feel claustrophobic because the space is much too small for him and he barely fits.
late in the film, the title character is seen standing atop a bridge, and the film implies that he is considering jumping because of his low self-worth
1: At the very beginning when Papa Elf describes all the occupations an elf can have, He gets to the second one that shows an elf baking Cookies in a tree which then sets ablaze (shown comically and non-threateningly), It briefly shows people leaving the flaming tree screaming (the screaming isn't too loud but any sort of screaming is distressing personally.
2: Buddy screams "NOOO!" loudly *before* leaving the North pole when Santa tells him the truth about his Dad and the camera pans dramatically to the Naughty & Nice Book.
3: In the scene when Buddy is in New York for the first time, He is shown screaming when going around in a revolving door, Just before he gets audibly sick.
4: The first day that Buddy is at the Department store he screams "SANTA WHOOO!!!" Near the end of the "work day" when it is announced that santa will be coming the next day. I personally found this more Comical but putting it anyway (because screams that others find "funny" can trigger me sometimes)
5: When Buddy walks in on Jovie singing 'Baby it's cold outside' in the shower, The scene goes on for quite a while, the time when I mute it is when Buddy joins in quite loudly with Jovie and her face turns to realisation, She pokes her head out the Shower curtain and shouts at him.
6: (most intense scene personally) When buddy is questioning the Mall Santa and calling him a fake in the Department store, He rips off "Santa's" beard and shows it to the crowd of young Children who spend the next minute screaming loudly and high pitched, The camera cuts back to the squealing kids several times.
7: When Buddy and his dad get a blood test at the doctor, Buddy (sort of?) Screams when he gets pricked with the needle.
8: At the end of that scene when Buddy and his Dad are talking about what activities they should do that day. Buddy's dad asks him to "Lose the tights as soon as possible" Buddy of course takes this literally and pulls his pants down, (Nothing is shown to us) and the Adoptive mother walks in and screams at buddy who screams back, The scene is very short and ends quickly.
Closest thing to this is Buddy giving his dad lingerie as a Christmas present. He was at a store and he saw a display saying “for the special someone in your life” so he thought that was a good gift for his dad who was his special someone. When his dad opens the present he’s very disturbed, a coworker comes into his office and is surprised and he immediately hides the gift.
The only little person is portrayed as grumpy and has elf jokes made at his expense. However, Peter Dinklage is very sensitive about the issues he faces as a little person and only did the film under the condition that he wouldn’t be cast as an elf, so I doubt he felt degraded, if nothing else.
The movie only focuses on the secular aspects of Christmas albeit nuns show up twice (the orphanage is implied to be Catholic but it’s still not discussed)
Buddy is seen taking a shower in a montage where he’s remembering all the signs of him not being an elf. His privates aren’t seen. Jovie is also seen taking a shower later on but only her shoulders and above are seen.