The Happy Elf | |
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DVD cover
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Written by | Andrew Fishman Scott Landis |
Directed by | John Rice |
Starring |
Rob Paulsen Harry Connick, Jr. Carol Kane Mickey Rooney Kevin Michael Richardson Mae Whitman Lewis Black |
Narrated by | Harry Connick, Jr. |
Theme music composer | Harry Connick, Jr. |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language(s) | English |
Production | |
Producer(s) | Scott D. Greenberg Sidney Clifton Natasha Abrahams Karen Bailey Ted Rogers William L. Arance Harry Connick, Jr. |
Editor(s) | Yoel Frohlich |
Running time | 45 minutes |
Production company(s) |
Film Roman HC Productions |
Distributor | IDT Entertainment |
Release | |
Original release |
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The Happy Elf is a 3D-animated family holiday special, which first aired December 2, 2005 on the NBC television network in the USA. Based on Grammy-winner Harry Connick, Jr.’s original song, The Happy Elf.
Production on the special is by Film Roman, an IDT Entertainment company, the same animation company known for producing The Simpsons.
Eubie the Elf (Rob Paulsen) loves working in Santa Claus' workshop up at the North Pole, despite the other elves' complaints about being annoyed by his overly happy personality. One Christmas Eve morning, Eubie's boss, Norbert, assigns him to checking the naughty and nice lists. However, while checking the lists, Eubie discovers that every child in the town of Bluesville is naughty. So, he decides to go to Bluesville and spread Christmas cheer.
Bluesville is a dark miserable town at the bottom of a very deep valley, completely surrounded by tall dark cliffs. There, the townspeople feel the warmth of the sun only once a day. They never smile, they don't know how to tell a joke properly, most of them work at the What Factory, where all the world's question marks are made, and at the Bluesville school, recess only lasts one minute. Eubie tries to brighten everyone's spirits, but his overly good mood frightens them.
Eubie talks to the mayor about what is wrong with Bluesville and if there's anything about Bluesville that makes him feel proud. The mayor replies that Bluesville is the world's largest manufacturer of un-burnable coal, which children enjoy throwing at people and at each other. The mayor then makes a deal with Eubie. If he can find another use for the coal, he'll put a Christmas tree up in the town square.
Eubie's first plan on getting the kids to help him make Bluesville a happier place is having them gather on a busy street and start a pie fight, but that only makes all the people angry. To search for more help, Molly (Mae Whitman), a naughty 10-year-old girl, takes Eubie to downtown Bluesville, the most miserable part of Bluesville, for a meeting of a group called S.L.O.B. (Smile League Of Bluesville), which only has one member of its group. While there, Molly and Eubie meets up with Curtis (Candi Milo), who is there because he brought along his foreign friend, Oreg, who doesn't speak English, but is happy to be there. Molly soon decides that Eubie's plans are hopeless, and tells him to just take all his big ideas home. At the mention of that, Eubie gets another idea, and is about to implement it when the lights in the room go off and Eubie is taken back to the North Pole.