Top 10 Favorite Christmas Movies

 

Well, Christmas is right around the corner, as Thanksgiving comes and passes later on this week.  Those who always fear the growing might and power of the "holiday season" are unfortunately going to have to endure the next 6 weeks of festivities, over-commercialism and repeated songs on the radio until the holidays pass until this time next year (unless you're like me and enjoy Christmas anytime of the year).  It's unavoidable, but if you lose yourself into a temporary time occupier like a movie or a show, it could help alleviate how some people feel about the holidays.  Naturally, this time of year is hard for many either emotionally or financially, so I don't judge those who have a hard time going through this time of year.  It's been hard on my Mom ever since my stepfather died last year and it's hard on a good friend of mine every year because this is when her own father died of cancer when we were younger.  But finding a temporary chance to escape is critical around this time of year.  Fortunately, movies give us an escape route, even if they are embedded with an abundance of Christmas or Holiday themed movies.  

Many don't understand or comprehend the true meanings of Christmas.  Many are made solely as cash grabs and hardly try to stand out or make a difference between them.  This is unfortunate, especially when these movies are based off of already existing properties, do not even remotely try and still end up being successful films (looking at that abomination Grinch movie that Illumination Studios made a few years back).  But some do understand it and some do make the holidays better just by showing up on our TVs.  I have my own personal list of these that I enjoy every year, as well as a list of favorite Christmas Specials I watch every year.  I'm choosing to split these up, because otherwise I would be here forever talking about all of the Christmas themed cartoons and shows I watch and never end the topic.  

For this first list, I will be talking about my 10 Favorite Christmas-themed Movies.  I constitute a movie as being something that was released theatrically.  Anything that was direct to video or premiered on television or streaming services first will not count.  The George C. Scott version of "A Christmas Carol" will be on the next list, as it was a TV only movie.  But there are a few full-length theatrical Scrooge movies to look at, as well as plenty of others that don't involve Scrooge.  Movies that have starred some of the best comedians and actors Hollywood has to offer, including Chevy Chase, Will Ferrell, Tim Allen and even the Muppets.  The next list will feature as many of those other TV specials that I can fit, from the Rankin-Bass TV Specials, to Charlie Brown, to the Grinch and so many others.  But first comes first, and we've got to give a good look at my personal Top 10 Favorite Christmas movies that saw theatrical releases first.  So, without further ado, let's begin:

First, Some Honorable Mentions:

Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)

Scrooge (1988)

Rise of the Guardians (2012)

March of the Wooden Soldiers (1934)

Ernest Saves Christmas (1988)

Bad Santa (2003)

Jingle All the Way (1996)

White Christmas (1954)

Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)

10. The Santa Clause (1994) 

I will forever blame this movie for the reason why an entire generation of kids cannot spell the name Santa Claus.  But on it's own, this 1994 Christmas Film from my childhood still surprisingly holds up to this day.  Tim Allen makes for a surprisingly good Santa given how miserable he appeared to be in the role when his son in movie pleaded with him to take up the suit after the previous Santa fell off of their roof.  I think the biggest sell of this movie is the chemistry between it's actors.  Judge Reinhold's character isn't an outright dastardly antagonist.  He's just a concerned psychiatrist who also serves as Charlie's stepfather and has a good connection with him.  He and Tim Allen are both looking out for the best for their stepson and son respectively.  Charlie and Scott Calvin of course have the best chemistry between them on screen, with both warming up to each other as the film goes and makes the scenes later in the film of Charlie wanting to desperately follow his dad to the North Pole (after spending the first few scenes in the film pleading with his Mom to not leave him there).  Tim Allen was in fact so good in this role that Disney pumped out two sequels, neither of which held a candle to the original, but hey.  They do say that Lightning rarely strikes twice in Hollywood.  

9. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)

I'll never understand how Clark Griswold could ever believe that he could have the perfect Christmas Celebration considering he was three movies into his franchise at this point.  I think one of the best aspects of this film is not just the comedy, though that hits it out of the ballpark every single time I watch this movie around the holidays, but Chevy Chase in particular is sensational in his role of being not just a guy trying to have a fun family vacation, but instead trying to have just one perfect Christmas Day.  And literally everything you could possibly expect to go wrong does go wrong in this film.  The Griswolds have to uproot a tree when they realize they never brought any saws or axes to cut it.  The lights they install around the house cause a blackout.  When his boss doesn't give him the Christmas bonus he had been desperately in need of, his brother in law kidnaps him and gets SWAT teams involved.  Man, this family just cannot catch a break, can they?  But the spirit of Christmas is still so strong in this movie despite everything going wrong and is precisely why this time of year is so important to me.  The Holidays don't have to be perfect, or fancy or anything of the sort.  So long as you've got people around you that you care about and love, does it really matter if the house almost burns down?  Well, kinda...

8. Home Alone (1990)

Man, John Hughes must have been as big a Christmas fan as anyone I know.  I felt it would be very awkward to have three of his movies right off the bat in this countdown, hence why I chose The Santa Clause over Planes, Trains and Automobiles.  But this film is one I could not possibly leave off.  Like The Santa Clause after it, it had a great deal of charm and sincerity, a ton of laughs and spawned a franchise of vastly inferior films that lost the focus and heart of the original.  Kevin McCallister is unintentionally left behind as his family proceeds to embark on a lengthy vacation to France.  While he is initially happy about being the only one in his home, Kevin soon begins to realize just how important having family is around the holidays, especially when he finds himself needing to defend their home from two burglars.  As a kid, we all loved Macaulay Culkin's portrayal as Kevin and how both excitable and sincere he could be.  But as an adult, I find myself more magnetically drawn to Catherine O'Hara's portrayal as his mother, someone who goes to such incredible lengths to make it back home to her son while the rest of the family is unable to get flights back to Chicago in time.  The slapstick comedy is still excellent despite how it unfortunately changed Hughes from being a director of his time to being just another comedy movie director.  And both Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern are fantastic as Harry and Marv.  This one is one of a few Christmas movies I will put down whatever it is I'm doing to watch if I haven't seen it yet.  

7. It's A Wonderful Life (1946)

I tried my darnedest to put this film higher on the list than where it is, but one flaw has kept me from enjoying this film whenever I see it's on.  I won't get too deep into that now, as it's a major plot point that's revealed in the film later down the line, but the movie on it's own without that scene is incredible.  For those of you who haven't seen it, it follows a distraught man named George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart) who contemplates suicide following a string of disastrous turns in his life from losing his life savings in a run on the bank, to losing hearing in one ear and even having a falling out with his own brother.  A guardian angel ultimately prevents him from doing the unthinkable while also showing to him just how important he is to so many people in the world.  This one is tremendously popular to play around the holidays for it's belief in the ideals of charity, good will and brotherhood that Christmas does try to bring out in so many people.  And I can definitely see why, as George tries to equate the misery in his world to how he feels the world would be better off without him.  Having been someone on the cusp of suicide myself, I can see how he feels and how the pressures of life make it seem like an inevitability to die instead of living and loving life as best as possible.  But one thing this movie teaches us is that the good we can instill in others not only through our hard work, but our sacrifices can impact far more than we realize.  Just what would have happened to all of the people George helped in his life if he never existed?  Or any of us for that matter?  

6. The Polar Express (2004)

If you could ever ask me what a perfect adaptation of a children's book would be to a theatrical level, my choice would be this film.  Why?  Well, the original Polar Express book does not directly imply much about the main character, whom we as the reader is supposed to think of as ourselves.  It doesn't have any filler or over the top nonsense in it's story.  Instead, it takes on a lesson and moral that really is the backbone of the book and has us question all that is on screen, from the train itself, to the idea of whether or not Santa was real or a figment of imagination.  Add to that some surprisingly good Mo-Cap technology for it's time (that would oddly enough get worse and worse by the movie, hence why I left the Jim Carrey Christmas Carol off this list) and solid acting performances from actual children and as usual from Tom Hanks and you get a movie that has had an excellent impact on children and adults of all ages.  This is, strangely enough, my father's favorite Christmas movie, considering he was a kid around the time movies like the ones mentioned above were coming out and already available.  I thoroughly enjoy this one, but I cannot bear to listen to that Josh Groban song anymore, because it always makes me cry.  It's a film high on imagination, belief and creativity that I always enjoy revisiting year after year.  

5. The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)

I think what always gets me emotionally about this film is just how seriously Michael Caine takes this role.  He isn't overly comedic or not taking this seriously.  From the moment he takes up the screen as Ebenezer Scrooge, he is giving his heart to this role for both the menacingly cruel and selfish Scrooge in the beginning, all the way to the emotionally broken yet optimistic man he becomes by the end.  And, with the Muppets at the helm in this one, it has all of the comedy and heartfelt moments down to a science.  And of course, this movie is not without it's own controversy from one Jeffrey Katzenberg, who elected to and succeeded in cutting the film's emotional core, the song "When Love is Gone" from the film.  This song is only visible in certain releases of this film, including the 1993 VHS and Laserdisc, and I'm not 100% sure if Disney brought it back into the film's airings on Disney+.  If they have, this film becomes even better.  But the film's heart comes from Michael Caine's acting and just how seriously the film takes itself.  All of the best aspects of Charles Dickens' classic novel are here, just with a lot more weirdos like Gonzo and Rizzo.  

4. Elf (2003)

I do not understand as to why this movie airs at random times throughout the year on TV, which is probably why so many people think it's overplayed.  But I have adored this movie ever since I saw it for my cousin's 10th birthday back in 2003 in theaters.  While I can't say I knew much of Will Ferrell from his SNL days (considering I was 8 or 9 when this film came out), I can safely say this movie won me over to him as a comedic genius and star actor.  He has the childish mentality down to a science in this film and his chemistry with the likes of Ed Asner, Bob Newhart, James Caan and especially Zooey Deschanel is where this film has all of the Christmas spirit that a film like this needs.  Combine that with some of the best comedy a Christmas film has ever had and you get a movie that not only stands up with the best that Christmas has to offer, but also surpasses some of the things that came before it.  Sheer holiday brilliance is this film, and I always enjoy it whenever I watch it.  It's got a lot in common with The Muppet Christmas Carol, in that this movie did not need to go as hard as it did to make this film work, but the actors took it all seriously and didn't let the childishness of the premise or tone of the movie change them.  

3. Die Hard (1988)

Yes, this movie counts as a Christmas movie.  Yes, this movie can play at any time of the year.  And Yes, I have no intention of changing my mind on this.  When it came to choosing between this film and it's sequel, I chose Die Hard because of a few reasons.  Chiefly, I'd say 50% because of the memes and another 50% because the film is such an enjoyable action flick that really had no reason being as good as it needed to be.  Both Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman are at their peak in this film from a performance aspect, with them having the best amount of chemistry a hero and villain have ever had despite only interacting one or two times the entire movie in person.  For those of you who don't know, this movie follows NYC cop John McClane as he tries to rescue his wife and her associates during a hostage crisis led by German terrorist Hans Gruber.  The rest of the film is a thrilling action packed spectacle that not only launched the careers of both Rickman and Willis, but also a franchise that went almost 35 years and is probably still going to keep going.  What else can I say but: "Yippee Ki-Yay Mother Effer"...

2. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Ah, the 1990s.  Back before Tim Burton became a hollow sellout and simply made all of the movies that existed to inspire an entire generation of otherwise scorned children.  Not only have I adored The Nightmare Before Christmas ever since I first saw it as a three year old back in 1997, but this film is also one of my all time favorite films, period.  The film follows the Pumpkin King Jack Skellington as he becomes mesmerized by the idea of Christmas and attempts to take the place of Santa Claus by spreading the joy as best as he knows, not realizing that there's a reason that both Halloween and Christmas are separated.  The film fits in safely with the other contemporary Disney Films of it's time as a musical as well as being among the finest and most beloved Christmas and Halloween films out there.  The film's horror-themed aesthetics, combined with the wonder and delight both worlds portray to us and you get a film that is just about as perfect as it can be.  If you've been putting off seeing this film because of some random internet turd saying it's overrated, please don't.  This film is a classic in every sense of the word and cannot be outdone by any other Christmas film apart from one...

1. A Christmas Story (1983) 

There is a reason this film plays on repeat for twenty four consecutive hours on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  This film captures basically all of what makes Christmas what it is to our country as a whole.  The commercialism, the childlike wonder and tomfoolery and of course the magic of the season.  The film follows Ralphie as he eagerly anticipates getting the greatest gift of them all for Christmas in an airsoft gun, despite everyone around him telling him he'd just shoot his eye out.  Add into that the best comedic writing in any Christmas film and some great acting performances all around and there's a reason this movie is as beloved as it is by millions here in the US.  I think my favorite part of this movie isn't exactly a part of the film itself, but the mass appeal it has.  My stepfather had the infamous leg lamp from this movie despite having only seen the film once or twice in his whole life.  My Mom and Dad used to quote this movie for years to me before I had even seen it for the first time when I was about 9 or 10.  Even the filmmakers have tried too hard to cash in with the TV version starring Matthew Broderick and the lousy sequel we've put into the back of our heads.  But no matter how much people try to hate on it, duplicate it or cash in on it, you cannot change the original film from being considered anything less than a Christmas classic, even with some casual 1950s racism thrown in there...