Christmas time is a time of year where people try to come together, to spend time with the people that they love, eating good food, drinking well, sharing gifts, and just enjoying each other's company. And one of the best parts of this time is watching fun, enjoyable Christmas movies, either on your own or with the people you care about. But, with new Christmas films being released every year it can be hard to find good ones, and you'll often end up watching the same movies year after year. After all, you can only watch Hallmark movies about a businesswoman moving from the big city to a nice small town to learn the real meaning of Christmas for a handsome man she falls in love with for so many times before the plot feels overused.
Here are the five films that I absolutely love to watch around Christmas time. I doubt that there'll be any here that you haven't heard of as they're popular ones; but they're the ones that I adore, and that I try to fit in around Christmas time.
Elf
I'm going to be honest about this one, I absolutely hate Will Ferrell movies. I normally can't stand him, I don't really find him funny, and have never enjoyed his work. Elf, is the one exception to this.
Released in 2003, Elf tells the story of Buddy (Will Ferrell), a human who ended up being taken from an orphanage to Santa's village when he was still a baby. Having been raised by the elves all his life he's shocked to learn that he's a human, despite being three times everyone's size. After he gets told who his real father is, a publishing executive living in New York, Buddy sets out to find his family and make a connection with him. Unfortunately for Buddy, his father is on the naughty list, and he's going to have a hard time winning him over.
As I already said, this is one of the only Will Ferrell films that I can actually watch and enjoy. I think the thing that I dislike about his other roles is that he tends to play egotistical ass holes, people who it's hard to like. Buddy is actually someone who's really quite a sweet and nice, despite not really knowing how to act around people outside of of Santa's village. He's a kind man who just wants to make everyone around him feel good; which isn't that all we want at Christmas time, to feel happy and cared about?
Thanks to the sense of fun, the humour, and the general feel good attitude of Elf it's made it's way high on my Christmas movie list despite my negative feelings towards the main actor.
Arthur Christmas
I only watched Arthur Christmas for the first time last year, despite it being out since 2011. I'd heard about it, but had never made the plunge to actually give it a go. But once I had, it was a film I immediately loved.
Arthur Christmas tells the story of Arthur (James McAvoy), the youngest son of the current Santa. You see, Father Christmas isn't a single man who's lived for centuries, but a family who has passed the title, and the responsibilities, down to each new Santa. The current Santa, Malcolm Clause (Jim Broadbent) is making his 70th mission, and is expected to soon retire. His eldest son, Steven (Hugh Laurie) is expected to take over, especially as he's innovated the entire operation; introducing a new high-tech ship instead of a sleigh, handheld devices, and using the elves to help deliver presents.
However, when Malcolm refuses to step down Steven is so put out that he doesn't care that a child was missed out, happy with this margin of error on the mission. Arthur disagrees with this sentiment, refusing to let even one child go without at Christmas, so with the help of Grandsanta (Bill Nighy) and Bryony (Ashley Jensen), a punkish elf from the wrapping division, he sets out on the old sleigh to make sure that the little girl gets her gift.
Arthur Christmas is the only animated film to make it on my list, and out of all of the Christmas cartoons it's easily my favourite. I love the way the Santa myth has been portrayed in this film, with the family of Santa's passing on the mantle one after the other, as well as the fun ways in which they've updated the mission of Christmas with their huge spaceship and commando-like elves. But it's the central message of the film that I love. The message that at Christmas all that matters is making people happy.
Arthur sets out to make sure that one little girl is happy, that she doesn't end up thinking that Santa didn't care about her, because he loves hearing about the joy that Christmas brings others. He's willing to put his life on the line to do this, even when everyone around him is telling him it's the wrong decision. There's a level of sweetness about the movie that genuinely brings joy to me, that makes me emotionally happy, and for that this film will always have a place in my home at Christmas time.
Home Alone 2: Lost In New York
This choice might get me some hate, as there are a few people out there that will love to argue over which of the Home Alone movies (the first two at least) are the best. Whilst I do adore both of them, the sequel definitely manages to do better with the formula.
Released two years after the first movie, the sequel picks up with Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) a year after he was left home alone over Christmas, and prevented a pair of criminals from robbing his home. This year the family are planning to head off for a Christmas break again, but they're making sure that Kevin isn't forgotten this time. Unfortunately, thanks to a mix-up in the airport, some bad decisions from Kevin, and general bad luck, he ends up on a flight to New York whilst his family head down to Florida.
Arriving in New York, Kevin decides to make the most of a bad situation, and instead of going for help, uses his dad's credit cards to book himself a suite in the Plaza Hotel, where he runs up a huge bill and has a good time. However, the fun times can't last, and Kevin ends up being chased out onto the streets of New York, where his old enemies Harry (Joe Pesci) and Marv (Daniel Stern) are waiting for him, having just escaped from prison. Now Kevin needs to survive alone in the big city, as well as preventing the two criminals from stealing the charity money from a toy store. Luckily, his uncles empty home is nearby, ready to be converted into a whole new house of horrors for the criminal duo.
Whilst Home Alone 2 received some criticism upon release for being similar to the original it's hard to really see what more could be done to set it apart from the formula established in the first film. The fact that every subsequent entry in the franchise since has been absolutely awful shows that perhaps it did in fact deviate from the central conceit enough to be the only successful sequel. And personally, I much preferred the plot for this one than the first. Opening things up and having Kevin be a complete fish-out-of-water away from his home and his sense of safety made this much more interesting.
The film also felt like it was more comfortable with the characters this time round too, and definitely seemed to be having more fun with thing. Despite Kevin being alone in New York he's definitely more confident and outgoing, and you can even see this before he ends up getting lost when he makes cracks to his uncle Frank about being a cheapskate. His parents also feel better realised this time round, and seeing them going through this situation a second time is much more interesting.
Harry and Marv are a lot more fun this time around too, and their previous experiences with Kevin give them pause and lead to them being more cautious in the search for traps; something that is used for great comedic effect more than once. We also get the inclusion of some fun new characters in the staff at the Plaza Hotel, with the legend that is Tim Curry leading proceedings there.
As a film that takes everything that was fun about the original and does even more with it, shapes things up and gives us unexpected new twists on the formula, gets the cast to try new, funnier things, and just has a great sense of humour, this has been a favourite of mine for decades. Just ignore the sexual predator who gets a five second cameo.
The Christmas Chronicles
The newest film on this list, The Christmas Chronicles won me over very quickly thanks to one thing, Kurt Russell as Santa. Having grown up watching films like The Thing, Big Trouble in Little China, and Escape From New York I love Kurt Russell, and him as Santa just works. Honestly, I'd never understood the whole idea of finding Santa sexy until this movie.
The Christmas Chronicles tells the story of Teddy (Judah Lewis) and Kate (Darby Camp), a brother and sister who used to love Christmas, but since the death of their father their relationship has grown tense. When Kate watches through some old Christmas home movies she's convinced that the camera spotted Santa's arm for a brief second, and gets Teddy to agree to help her set up a trap for Santa. Whilst the trap doesn't work, it does let them know that someone is in the house, and the two of the sneak outside to see a red blur jumping from rooftop to rooftop; as well as a floating sleigh and reindeer.
Sneaking into the back of the sleigh they end up being taken into the air as Santa returns. Unfortunately, they end up distracting Santa and the sleigh crashes in Chicago, hundreds of miles from their home, and they lose both the sack of presents and the reindeer. Now the three of them have to set out to try and get everything back in time to finish making the Christmas deliveries.
Out of all the films on this list this is the one that most obviously deals with family, and about caring about the people in your lives. The focus of the film isn't Santa and the journey to save Christmas, it's the relationship between Teddy and Kate that's the real story here. It's the love between the two of them, strained because of the loss of their father, that sets them on this journey to begin with; and the journey makes them both realise how much they mean to the other, and what they're willing to do to keep that relationship.
A big part of why this works so well is thanks to the casting of a couple of great young actors in Judah Lewis and Darby Camp, who manage to really get you invested in their stories. Teddy is a young man floundering without his father, he desperately needs to see his father again, to get guidance from him, and without that he's falling in with the wrong people and is close to throwing his life away. Kate can see that, she can see her brother heading down a dark path and wants to prevent that, whilst also getting back that feeling of family that they've lost along with their father. It's a story that feels a lot more human and heartfelt than a lot of Christmas films get.
Added onto all of this is the amazing sense of fantasy and whimsy that Kurt Russell brings to the role of Santa. He's a Santa who hates the propaganda about himself, who dislikes the pictures of fat old men who say ho ho ho. He's quick witted, makes fun cracks, and generally tries to have a good time even when things are going badly. Plus, his ability to know what presents anyone wants and to just pull them out of his pockets like they're a bag of holding leads to some fun moments.
This might be the newest film here, but it's one that I know I'm going to be watching for many years to come.
The Muppet Christmas Carol
Lets be honest, this is the best Christmas movie of all time, and whilst you're welcome to disagree I'm sure you'll agree that even if it's not your favourite its going to be high on your list.
Telling the story of A Christmas Carol this version of the film casts Michael Caine in the role of Ebenezer Scrooge, a man who's dedicated his life to earning money, no matter how it might harm those around him and leaves him isolated and alone. As Christmas approaches the ghosts of his old business partners Jacob and Robert Marley appear to tell him that if he doesn't change his ways he'll be doomed to an afterlife of torment. To make him change he will be visited by three spirits of Christmas.
Over the course of the story Scrooge is taken through a journey across time, seeing key moments from his past that helped to shape him into who he is, the events that will happen to the people close to him this Christmas, and what will come to pass the next Christmas, which will see both he and the disabled son of his employee Bob Cratchit die.
Muppets aren't my favourite thing in the world, I've only ever seen a few episodes of the show, and haven't really seen many of their movies, so my love for this film doesn't come from Muppet nostalgia. I think what makes me love it so much is how despite having 90% of the cast played by puppets the film is played completely straight. Michael Caine has said in interviews he never performed in any way other than completely serious, as if he were acting for the Royal Shakespeare Company; and it really shows. Caine gives a powerhouse performance, delivering one of the best versions of Scrooge to ever be committed to film. He goes from utterly foul to a man you come to care about, with some moments that still bring me close to tears despite having seen the film dozens of times.
I've been watching it since it came out, sometimes even when it's not Christmas, and it's my favourite adaptation of the original story. The Muppet Christmas Carol is the film we watch every Christmas Eve, its the film that means Christmas has finally arrived.
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