The 2021 holiday season is here. It’s time to dust those old DVDs of top Christmas movies and spread the good cheer.
It’s the best time to curl up on the sofa with the top Christmas movies and dig into the spirit of the holiday season.
But with so many to pick from, which are the top holiday Christmas movies you can watch?
We’ve come up with our list of the best Christmas movies of all time. From Christmas films on Netflix to historical family favourites, our list has all the movies that you need to watch this festive season with your family and friends.
The Santa Clause (1994)
Tim Allen stars in this festive comedy about an ordinary man who have to step into Santa’s footwear after an accident. A day trip to the North Pole follows, alongside with a number of comic as he physically morphs into Santa in front of his disbelieving ex-wife (Wendy Crewson). The movie spawned two sequels with diminishing results, however the original stays a vacation basic for ’90s kids.
The Holiday (2006)
Everything about this Christmas film in which Jude Law romances Cameron Diaz in a cutesy cottage shouldn’t work. And yet there’s some thing deeply charming about this festive romantic comedy. Perhaps it’s due to the fact we’ve been bullied into submission with numerous viewings; or possibly it’s the secondary LA-set plot, which points Kate Winslet on height structure as a scorned British reporter who flirts with Jack Black and befriends a forgotten however well-known screenwriter from the Golden Age of Hollywood (played by the late Eli Wallach). Either way, like a bathtub of Quality Street, it’s irresistible.
The Lemon Drop Kid (1951)
Bob Hope didn’t so much play characters as variations on the Bob Hope persona, a wisecracking coward with a tendency to get in way over his head then make matters worse for himself. Hope’s not the most obvious fit for a Damon Runyon adaptation, much less a Christmas-themed Runyon adaptation with a deep sentimental streak, but their sensibilities end up meshing pretty well anyway in this 1951 comedy. Hope plays the eponymous character, a con artist who has to flee Florida for New York to pay off a debt to a gangster. The ensuing scam involves criminals dressed as Santa and a fake retirement home for “Old Dolls.” The inspired slapstick bits reportedly come from the brilliant animator-turned-director Frank Tashlin, but it’s Hope and co-star Marilyn Maxwell’s performance of the then-new “Silver Bells” that’s ensured the film its spot in the Christmas-movie canon.
Ernest Saves Christmas (1988)
Turns out the only thing more threatening to Ernest P. Worrell’s life than sticking two fingers into an electrical socket is the Kentucky fried nincompoop putting his whole hand into Santa’s magic bag. This obligatory Christmas adventure finds Ernest and Mr Claus on a mission to retrieve the effective gift-giving knapsack. Part Miracle on 34th Street, part Dumb and Dumber, Ernest’s naiveté makes him the ideal manchild for the holiday season.
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010)
What if Santa was once actual and buried in a mass grave somewhere in Finland? That’s the weird and hilarious question posed by director Jalmari Helander in this whimsical horror romp about a young boy (Onni Tommila) and his reindeer-herding father (Jorma Tommila), who looks into a mysterious mountain-excavation company and wind up in over their heads. Packed with winking John Carpenter references, bursts of gun-churning violence, and a stunning quantity of (older) male nudity, the film now and again struggles to nail its anarchic, storybook tone down the home stretch, however, it’s more than a post-milk-and-cookies viewing.
The Christmas Chronicles (2018)
In this Netflix original, Kurt Russell is an uncommonly cool, handsome and wise-talking Santa Claus, who helps a brother and sister (Judah Lewis and Darby Camp) rediscover the magic of Christmas after the loss of their father. The Christmas Chronicles was directed by Clay Kaytis (The Angry Birds Movie) and produced by Chris Columbus (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone). The big draw here is Russell’s performance, and he does not disappoint. This isn’t really like any Santa you’ve seen before.
A Christmas Prince (2017)
In the vein of Hallmark and Lifetime originals, although perhaps a bit greater self-aware than average, Netflix romantic comedy A Christmas Prince was a massive hit upon release in November 2017, and the sequels had been well-received, too. In the first movie, young American magazine journalist Amber Moore (Rose McIver) won the affections of Prince Richard (Ben Lamb) of Aldovia.
Klaus (2019)
Sergio Pablos‘ critically acclaimed 2D-animated family comedy centres on a postman who dashes through the snow with the world’s most well-known toymaker.
Winner of the BAFTA and Annie Awards for Best Animated Feature. Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, the first Netflix unique nominated in this class (it lost to Toy Story 4).
