10 Top Family Christmas Movies

If you’re anything like me you’ll be looking forward to watching some great Christmas movies over the festive period and there are plenty of them about. 

I looked at the Christmas TV schedule the other day, thumbing excitedly through the pages to see what is on the box and was disappointed by some noticeable absentees and others which had the audacity to replace them.  I went straight to my DVD library and began pulling out all my best Christmas movies ready to fill in the gaps (yes, I know it’s a bit early, but I do get excited about my Christmas viewing).

So it’s time to surrender yourself to heart warming adventures, sentimental stories and magical fairytales and to help you, here is my guide to ten of the best family Christmas movies.

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation: Chevy Chase, Beverley D’Angelo, Randy Quaid

Alright, it’s not the best of the ‘Vacation’ series but it’s better than Vegas Vacation and it’s a damn fine Christmas movie.  The Griswolds capture the spirit of what every family wants at Christmas, excluding the annoying relatives (Randy Quaid), the collapsing turkey, a house covered in 25,000 lights, no Christmas bonus and an exploding septic tank.

This is Chevy Chase doing what he does best, making us laugh as Clark W. Griswold.  Beverly D’Angelo is great as his loving (and patient) wife and there’s an early appearance for a young Juliette Lewis (as daughter Audrey).

If you want a chaotic and highly amusing romp through a Griswold family Christmas, with laughs for all ages, then this is for you.

 

  

Home Alone: Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, John Candy

For those of you who have never given 1 hour 45 minutes of your time to watch this festive treat, you’re in for a fun time.  As the name suggests, this is about an 8 year old boy (Culkin) who is accidentally left Home Alone while his family go away for the Christmas holiday and to top it off there are two bungling burglars (Pesci and Stern) who want take advantage of riches the (seemingly) empty house.  Culkin is forced into defending the home using all manner of wacky and hilarious booby traps with equally laugh out loud consequences, while his family desperately try to get back to him (with the aid of comic genius (John Candy).

Culkin is fantastic in this movie and you can’t help but love him, supported by an equally brilliant Pesci with other the cast members putting in fine comedy performances.  I could write all day about how much I love this movie but I won’t.  Just watch it and enjoy.

 

 

Miracle On 34th Street: Richard Attenborough, Elizabeth Perkins, Dylan McDermott 

Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without Santa and in my opinion, Attenborough puts in the finest performance as Santa ever to grace the big screen.

Attenborough plays Kris Kringle, a man who claims to be the real Santa Claus and as a result is labelled insane and has to prove this in court, defended by lawyer McDermott.   This movie is a heart-warming story that builds real emotional attachment with its characters and will leave the spirit of Christmas inside you long after it is over. 

I must mention that this is a remake of the 1947 classic of the same name which is also very good, but if your kids aren’t enthused by black and white

then this version is more than worthy.  Do you believe in Santa Claus?  I do and you might too after watching this.

 

 

A Christmas Carol: Patrick Stewart, Richard E. Grant 

“Come in and know me better man!”  I know there are numerous versions of this movie and this number is likely to continue to increase as the years pass by, but for the moment this remains my favourite.  To be fair, previous versions are also very good and that speaks volumes about the story and the message it delivers.

In this version Ebenezer Scrooge is played by Patrick Stewart and Bob Cratchit played by Richard E. Grant and both are perfectly suited.  Viewing is also enhanced by some minimal yet fairly decent special effects.

We all know the story so I won’t go into the details of the plot and if you haven’t seen this adaptation yet then make it essential viewing this Christmas.

 

 

It’s A Wonderful Life: James Stewart, Donna Reid, Lionel Barrymore, Henry Travers 

If you’ve never seen this movie then I can kind of understand why you’ve never taken the time to watch it because the clips that are often shown on TV etc are what could be considered the ‘corny’ or ‘cheesy’ bits.  Yes, some of it may be a bit like this but when you watch it, you won’t even realise.

This movie is a truly genuine classic about George Bailey (Stewart) who, at his lowest ebb, decides to commit suicide but is visited by his guardian angel, Clarence Odbody (Travers) in his hour of need.  Clarence shows George what his town would have been like if he had never been born, taking us on a journey that teaches George the value of his life and what he has achieved. 

So I urge you, watch It’s A Wonderful Life this Christmas and you’ll wonder why you never gave it a chance sooner.  Brilliant!

 

 

Elf: Will Ferrell, James Caan, Bob Newhart, Edward Asner 

Back to great family Christmas comedy now with Elf, starring Will Ferrell.

This is a story about Buddy (Ferrell), who as a baby, is accidentally taken back to the North Pole by Santa (Asner) on Christmas night.  Once there, Buddy is raised as an elf by Papa Elf (Newhart) until it becomes apparent to him that he does not quite fit in (as a 6′ 3” adult human) and decides to head to New York to meet his real father.  As you’d expect with Ferrell, this turns out to be a highly comedic tale as his excitement and enthusiasm for everything that is Christmas hinders him at every turn.

This is a family Christmas must-see and Ferrell makes this part come alive in his own unique style of comedy that ignites the fires of  innocence in us all.

 

 

 Scrooged: Bill Murray, Karen Allen, John Forsythe 

As I mentioned earlier, there have been numerous versions of A Christmas Carol and if you want a variation / modernisation of the story then this is a comedy must.

Francis Xavier Cross (Murray) is a ruthless and arrogant TV executive who’s dedication to his career has cost him the love of life (Allen) and the love of his family.  When he is given the task of leading a Christmas Eve broadcast of A Christmas Carol, he is visited by the corpse of his dead mentor (Forsythe) and his life begins to reflect the story that he has been asked to produce.

This role was made for Murray as the cynical, sarcastic, self centred (as he plays so well in other movies too) Frank Cross  and the supporting cast are perfect to make this a Christmas comedy classic.

 

 

Santa Claus: The Movie: Dudley Moore, John Lithgow, David Huddleston, Burgess Meredith 

Another great Santa Claus movie with another great Santa Claus. 

The first part of this movie tells the story of a 14th century peasant named Claus (Huddleston) who is transported away during a blizzard with his wife to the North Pole where they are greeted by the elves and Claus learns of his new duty as Santa Claus.

The movie then moves to modern day where we are introduced to Santa’s helper, an elf called Patch (Moore) who after an encounter with scheming toymaker B.Z. (Lithgow) in New York, becomes competition for Santa.

This is delightful, colourful movie that addresses (one version of) the origins of Santa and then reflects this in the modern age.  Well worth a watch this Christmas!

 

 

The Santa Clause: Tim Allen, Judge Reinhold, Wendy Crewson, Eric Lloyd

I only recently watched this film for the first time and I was pleasantly surprised.  The story was different and refreshing to anything I’d seen before as well as being very funny.

Divorcee Scott Calvin (Allen) inadvertently causes the death of Santa Claus, the body magically disappears and leaves only the famed red suit on the ground.  After putting on the suit, Calvin unwittingly resumes all responsibility of Santa (The Santa Clause) which includes getting fatter, growing white hair and a beard etc.

Fearing that Calvin is losing the plot, ex-wife Laura (Crewson) and psychiatrist husband (Reinhold) make life very difficult for him.  Will Laura believe that her ex-husband really is Santa Claus?  Watch it and see.

  

 

The Polar Express: Tom Hanks, Daryl Sabara, Nona Gaye

One thing that the family loves at Christmas is a great fantasy adventure story and this fits the bill nicely.  Ok, so it’s not Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter, but that’s a good thing and besides it still cost $165 million and you will see why.

This ‘live action’ performance capture animation tells the story of a young boy (Sabara), desperate to believe in Santa, who is invited aboard the Polar Express en route to the North Pole by conductor (Hanks).  Here he has an experience of a lifetime with friends he makes on the way and meets Santa, who gives him a special gift. 

Don’t be put off by ‘a young boy dreams of meeting Santa story’, the animation is some of the finest I’ve ever seen on film and the characters are believable and endearing.

 

 

So there you have it!  My guide to 10 Christmas films you should watch this year and any other year come to that. 

 

I am aware that there are some that you feel I have missed such as White Christmas, Bad Santa (hardly family viewing), even Gremlins (which is awesome) but I feel that the movies listed above all capture a true essence of Christmas and all the family can enjoy them.

 

In addition, if anyone is wondering “what about Jingle All The Way?” then I say shame on you, give me The Muppets Christmas Carol anytime.