Hey guys! Welcome to a special Christmas blog post. It's Christmas Eve and with this year being so much different, things in my house are also slightly different this year. So today I'm going to be talking about my favourite Christmas movies and specials of all time. Originally I was going to do a Top 10 list, but I have too many favourites to keep to a Top 10 list, so here's all of them. Also the movies on this list aren't just the ones that I watched when I was a kid. There are also a few more recent ones on it as well. Here we go.
I put Christmas Vacation first just because it's the one I've seen the least on this list. I first saw it on TV when I was a teenager, sometime in the mid-2000s and then I haven't seen it since then. I don't own it on any home video format, so I don't know if it holds up, but from what I've heard from other people over the years is that it does indeed hold up. Maybe one of these days I'll have the opportunity to watch it again.
Up next is I'll Be Home for Christmas. This was one of my absolute favourite Christmas movies when I was a kid. However, I watched it on Disney+ last year and it doesn't hold up quite as well as I'd hoped it would, particularly when it comes to the behaviour of the main character, Jake Wilkinson. I still enjoy the movie though. I own it on VHS, but I haven't watched it yet on that format. Maybe tonight, since it's Christmas Eve.
The Jim Carrey version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas is another Christmas movie that I loved when I was a kid, but doesn't hold up quite as well now. I watched it on Netflix last year after having not seen it since I had it on VHS in the 2000s. I still like it, but it's not as good as I thought it was back in the 2000s when I first saw it.
Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas is yet another example of a movie that isn't as good as I remember it being when I was a kid, but I still enjoy it. As I said in my review of the movie, being a direct-to-video production rather than a theatrical release, this movie didn't have the budget that the original did, AND it was produced by Walt Disney Television Animation, almost as if it was meant to be a special episode for a Beauty and the Beast series rather than as it's own movie. Except, I can't find any information indicating one way or the other. Still though, the story is decent for a direct-to-video film. And it's still mostly the original cast from the first film, so I enjoy it for that fact alone.
Home Alone 3 is the Home Alone movie that I grew up watching. I was too young to see Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York when they came out in the early '90s, but the third movie, which is it's own standalone thing and has nothing to do with the first two films, came out at just the right time so that I was old enough to be able to see it. I didn't get to see it in theatres, but we owned it on VHS and I watched it constantly. I haven't seen it in years, so I don't know how well it holds up, but it's on Disney+ AND I bought it on iTunes recently, so I have the opportunity to watch it.
My absolute favourite Christmas movie from the past couple of years is Klaus. It was such a brilliantly made film that I am still amazed that it's a Netflix Original. The animation style is so unique and the story so genuine and well written that despite my reservations about it, I couldn't help but love this movie when I watched it on Netflix last year. It's one of many interpretations of the origin of Santa Claus, but I think it's one of the best ones out there. Even surpassing the Rankin/Bass versions.
Let It Snow is another recent Christmas movie that I love. While it's nowhere near as good as Klaus, it's still a decent story and it has a phenomenal cast. Joan Cusack (Working Girl), Jacob Batalon (MCU Spider-Man films), Kiernan Shipka (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), Odeya Rush (Goosebumps), Anna Akana (YouTube), Isabella Moner (Instant Family), and Shameik Moore (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) are all excellent in this movie.
I was never a huge Kurt Russell fan, having not seen many of his movies, though he was quite good in Sky High. However in the last year I've seen two movies that have really turned me around on him as an actor. The first was Big Trouble in Little China and the other was the Netflix film, The Christmas Chronicles. Besides The Santa Clause this movie is the best attempt at modernizing the Santa Claus character. The child actors in this movie are pretty great too. I haven't seen the sequel yet, but I've heard it's pretty good.
Speaking of The Santa Clause, it's next on my list. I've already reviewed this movie but it's still one of my favourite Christmas movies of all time. My sister informed me that we did indeed own it on DVD in the 2000s and that it was the special edition release from 2002. She also informed me that it's now in her collection. I thought that if we owned it, that was the release we owned, because we didn't start buying DVDs until 2003 or 2004, but I couldn't remember if we'd owned it or rented it.
No list of favourite Christmas movies is complete without The Muppet Christmas Carol. Michael Cain is the best version of Scrooge that I have ever seen, with only Scrooge McDuck and Sir Patrick Stewart surpassing him in the role. Of course having the Muppets as the supporting characters is pretty great. I absolutely love that Statler and Waldorf, the elderly hecklers on The Muppet Show, play Jacob and Robert Marley instead of just having one or the other play the traditional role of Scrooge's partner, Jacob Marley. I have it on DVD and I popped it in last year to review for The Twelve Days of Christmas Reviews on my old blog and it holds up quite well, nearly thirty years later.
The other version of A Christmas Carol that is my absolute favourite is Mickey's Christmas Carol. I watched this on Disney+ this year and I definitely enjoyed watching it again after all these years. I thought it was genius to have Scrooge McDuck play Ebenezer Scrooge, and have Mickey Mouse play Bob Cratchit. I also think it's great that other characters from other Disney movies are included, such as the rabbits from Robin Hood, and the characters from The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad. And it works as a short.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is another special that is a favourite of mine. As I said in my review, this movie is a perfect example of learning to accept people who are different from you. Which is something I didn't really pick up on until I sat down to watch it a few weeks ago for my review. Plus I've watched it every year since I was a little kid. And Rudolph is a pretty great character.
I think How the Grinch Stole Christmas works because of Boris Karloff's narration and his singing of "You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch". That and it's just a fun special to watch or listen to if you have the CD soundtrack like I do. I've probably been watching this special for as long as I've been watching Frosty and Rudolph. I definitely like this version better than the Jim Carrey version, and not just because it's the original adaptation. The Jim Carrey version put too much emphasis on the negative aspects of the Whos of Whoville, and the torment the Grinch went through, rather than the fact that the Grinch was just...well...he was just a Grumpy person with no rhyme or reason. Which is how I prefer the Grinch to be. It's more faithful to the intentions of Dr. Seuss when he first wrote the book in 1957.
Finally, the last thing on my list is Frosty the Snowman. I watched this special on VHS so much that I practically have it memorized. I swear I could've done my review of it without watching it again first. Everything from Jimmy Durante's version of "Frosty the Snowman" to Professor Hinkle, is burned into my memory. It's probably my most favourite of all of the Christmas movies and specials that I have seen over the years. There's just something about this special that makes me go back to it every year as long as I have a copy on home video.
And those are my favourite Christmas movies of all time. And that is it for me for this week. I have one more review for you on Monday because the new Pixar movie, Soul, comes out tomorrow and I think I'm going to watch it on Sunday night. So until then have a wonderful holiday, whatever you celebrate this time of year, and have a great weekend. Bye for now!
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