Ranking my Favourite Christmas Films
I love Christmas, it is my most favourite time of the year, I am one of those people that will start listening to Christmas music in July, start Christmas shopping in October and will put their Christmas tree up at the beginning of November. One of the many great things about Christmas is all the festive films, and here is my list of my top 15 Christmas films, these are in order:
15. The Polar Express
On Christmas eve, the train, the Polar Express heads across America and picks up children unannounced, who are starting to stop believing in Santa Clause. This train journey is one of the weirdest and most dangerous experiences that could ever be imagined. Throw in a weird ghost man and spookily rejected toys and you’ve got “The Polar Express”. My favourite scene is definitely the hot chocolate serving scene.
It’s the lowest down on the list because it’s a tad too weird, the animation of the characters face’s puts me off and it feels quite long, but it’s still worth the watch.
14. The Holiday
Iris (Kate Winslet) is in love with her ex, whoose also her boss, and also treats her like a doormat. Amanda (Cameron Diaz) has been cheated on by her boyfriend who she kicks out. Both women are sick of their lives in the UK and LA and therefore decide to house swap, even though they’ve never met. In walk the love interests Graham (Jude Law) and Miles (Jack Black).
This is a great film, there is no doubting that, the cast is great, the story is simple and it’s set at Christmas. There’s nothing more that I could want from a film, however it’s so low down on my list because I’ve watched it so much. The film came out in 2016 and I’ve watched it at least once a year since then, giving me a minimum watch of 15 times. That’s a lot.
13. The Grinch
The Grinch is a creature who lives at the top of a mountain away from everyone else because he hates people, and he especially hates Christmas. Cindy-Loo, an inquisitive child who wants to befriend the Grinch ruins the Grinch’s plans to ignore Christmas.
The Grinch, possibly Jim Carrey’s best films, is definitely one of the main Christmas classics. It took me many years to warm to this film, but now it’s on my “must watch list”. I’m not sure what makes me love it so much, it might be the crazy costumes and setting, or a young Taylor Momsen singing “Where are you Christmas” or it might be the fact that the Grinch is actually a really, really relatable character.
12. Noelle
This is the only film on the list that I’ve only watched once, however I knew, even before watching the film, that it would be going on my list of favourite Christmas films. Anna Kendrick as a positive Christmas elf is one of my most favourite festive characters. I can’t talk about this film without talking about the costumes. I NEED Noelle’s wardrobe, it is just so festive and so cosy!
11. Eloise at Christmas
I stumbled across this film back in 2007 on You Tube. The film was uploaded in about 10-12 parts, each part lasting between 7-12 minutes long. I don’t why I clicked on part1, but I watched it, and then I watched part 2 and before I knew it I had watched the film and I loved it. I watched the film again every year in the exact same way for at least 10 years, but the film has now been taken off of You Tube, it’s not on Disney Plus, nor any other streaming service in the UK, and the only way I can watch it is if I pay for the £38 DVD which I’m never going to pay, so although I don’t think I’ll be able to watch the film for many years to come, it’s still one of my favourites.
10. The Santa Clause 2
This is the sequel to The Santa Clause, where Santa discovers that he has to get married by Christmas Eve or he can’t continue to be Santa. This film is a great sequel, it’s plot is quite predictable but it fits perfectly and lets the characters grow. It’s also great to see blended families represented positively in films!
9. Home Alone 2
New York at Christmas looks so unbelievably magical in this film. This is the sequel to “Home Alone”. In this film Kevin is on his own in New York, after getting split up from his family at the airport and getting on the wrong flight. Kevin would be fine, but Marv and Harry are back terrorising the New Yorkers and Kevin and his new friend the Pigeon lady must protect the city.
I love the festiveness of this film. This is one of the very few films where I feel the sequel is just as good as the first film.
8. Christmas with the Kranks
Luther (Tim Allen) and Nora (Jamie Lee Curtis) are faced with spending their first year without their daughter Blair, as she’s away with the Peace Corps. Luther decides that him and Nora are going to skip Christmas, no tree, no decorations, no festivities, nothing and instead there going to head out on a 10 day cruise around the Caribbean.
What I love about this film is that it’s so different from all other Christmas films, it’s refreshing, it just has a different beat. It’s also one of the funniest Christmas films. Luther is just so ridiculous.
7. The Santa Clause 3 : The Escape Clause
The reason that the third film in The Santa Clause trilogy beats the second film is because of Frost, he is just such a cool character and a great addition to the film. So in this film, Frost wants to become Santa because he’s sick of being the sidekick to the big Christmas event.
I also love Carol in this film, and just how festive everything look, I think this is the most festive film of the trilogy.
6. Home Alone
Kevin is accidently left alone at home while his family go on holiday to Paris for the holidays. All would be fine, except for the fact that two men try and break into his house and Kevin must defend it.
This film is such a masterpiece, it’s almost impossible not to enjoy it. My favourite part though, which I only noticed last year when I saw it on a comment on somewhere on social media is that Kevin’s home is completely red and green, it is 100% a Christmas house. Honestly, next time you watch the film, just notice at how much red and green is in the film.
5. The Snowman
A young boy wakes up to find a blanket of fresh white snow has settled in his garden and so he rushes out to make a snowman, who comes to life at night and takes the boy away on a magical flight to see Father Christmas.
This short film was released in 1982. There is no talking, but there is the beautiful song: “Walking in the Air”.
When I’m in the middle of watching so many long Christmas films, it’s refreshing to watch this one as it’s only 26 minutes long.
4. The Santa Clause
I’ve watched this film every year since it came out on video, and for a long time this was the only Christmas film that I thought existed and I would watch it and have almost no idea what was going on, except for the fact that some grumpy bloke turned into Santa Clause. Growing up watching this film meant that each time I watched this film I understood it a little bit more, and now watching it as an adult I realise how cheeky the film can be at times.
Tim Allen is great in this film, he is so sarcastic and you can really see that becoming Santa is a real pain for him, but that he learns to love it.
3. Arthur Christmas
Arthur is the second son of Father Christmas, he responds to all the letter that Santa’s sent. He finds out that a child’s present hasn’t been delivered. Arthur takes it upon himself to deliver the present, but he runs into a few problems.
This is one of the best Christmas films, I love literally everything about this film, from the cast, to the plot, to the animation style, literally everything.
Arthur is voiced by James McAvoy, Santa is voiced by Jim Broadbent, Grandsanta is voiced by Bill Nighy, Steve is voiced by Hugh Laurie, Mrs Santa is voiced by Imelda Staunton and Bryony is voice by Ashley Jensen. Each character is so brilliant and has a great role in the film.
2. Love Actually
This film is filled with so much love and I love that. I you didn’t know Love Actually is about many different love stories in the run up to Christmas. It has a great cast including Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, Bill Nighy, Martin Freeman, Keira Knightley, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Joanna Page, Rowan Atkinson, January Jones and so many more.
This film may be long, but honestly it’ so good and has such a good message. Also, if you own the DVD I recommend you watch the deleted scenes, they are so many and each one is worth a watch.
1. Muppets Christmas Carol
If you don’t know “Muppets Christmas Carol” tells the story of Scrooge, a mean old man with no friends, and very little family, who works from day till night and cares only about himself. Scrooge is visited by three ghosts, one who takes him to the past, one who shows him the present and the last one shows him the future.
It’s hard to put into words how much I love this film, but I really do. I watch this film multiple time a year, and not just at Christmas. This year I had a really crappy birthday (in July) and the one thing that made it better was watching this film. I know every word, every lyric, every moment is carved into my memory forever more. If I had to put a number on the amount of times I’ve seen this film, I think perhaps 40 times, if not more.
That covers all of my most favourite Christmas films. These aren’t the only Christmas films I’ve watched or enjoy, these are just my top favourites. Some other Christmas films I enjoy and recommend are “The Christmas Chronicles”, “Bridget Jones’s Diary”, “Klaus”, “The Nativity”, “Last Christmas”, “The Princess Switch”, “A Christmas Prince” and so many more. Let me know your favourite Christmas films in the comments bellow.
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