Best Christmas Movies

Guide Note

This page contains information about the most well-reviewed and highly regarded Christmas movies... if you are looking for an alternative to the popular standard, It's a Wonderful Life. As it includes classic feel-good holiday movies and new hardcore action flicks, some will be more "Christmasy" than others.

Timeless Favorites

1. A Christmas Story (1983): Based on Jean Shepherd’s timeless classic, the film introduces us to Ralphie, who wants a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas, in spite of the fact that every adult he knows is convinced that he’ll poke his eye out.
2. Miracle on 34th Street (1947): A single mother and her daughter in New York City, discover that the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Santa Claus just might not be a myth.
3. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966): Try watching the TV version and the movie version back-to-back!
4. A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965): The first of many prime-time animated TV specials based upon the popular comic strip Peanuts, has aired annually since 1965.
5. A Christmas Carol (1951): The original Dickens novel has had many film adaptations... set in the present, in the future, with a female Scrooge, with a diva Scrooge, etc. This version stars Alastair Sim as a Scrooge who really does seem to redeem himself (as opposed to those who reform because they are afraid of what the future holds)
6. White Christmas (1954): One of those feel-good Christmas musicals starring Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye and featuring the music of Irving Berlin. The title song was originally one of the musical numbers in the 1942 Christmas classic, Holiday Inn.
7. The Bishop's Wife ([1947]]): Cary Grant provides guidance as the angel Dudley to an episcopal Bishop (David Niven and his wife (Loretta Young) as Christmas approaches. Dudley does help everyone he meets, but not necessarily in the way they would prefer.
8. The Santa Clause ([[1994): Tim Allen becomes a Santa Claus-in-training when the old Santa meets his demise during his annual present run. The film has amazing visuals of Santa's workshop at the North Pole!
9. The Polar Express ([2004]]): An animated Christmas film about a young boy who is taken on a train ride to the North Pole to meet Santa Claus and discover the true meaning of Christmas.
10. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993): An animated musical film about Pumpkin King Jack Skellington, bored with the daily Halloween celebrations in Halloween Town. He discovers the holiday of Christmas and embarks on a misguided quest to make it his own.
11. Home Alone (1990): The misadventures of a young boy who has been stranded by his parents during the Christmas holidays.
12. Bad Santa (2003): A comic film about a con man pretending to be Santa Claus so he can carry out department store robberies.
13. Elf (2003): Will Ferrell is an orphan raised by Santa Claus and his elves.
14. Die Hard (1988): Bruce Willis’ John McClane travels from New York to Los Angeles to spend the Christmas holiday with his estranged wife and children. With all of the action, violence and humor, it remains a tale of redemption.
15. Gremlins (1984): A teenager receives a furry, cuddly animal called a Mogwai as a Christmas gift. The pet turns out to be an unusual creature who spawns a multitude of unpleasant and destructive monsters when the conditions are right.
16. Batman Returns (1992): Directed by Tim Burton and with Michael Keaton reprising the role of Batman, the story follows Bruce Wayne struggling to provide peace during Gotham City's [[Christmas] season after the appearance of a mysterious "Penguin-like man" and the sudden birth of Selina Kyle into Catwoman.
17. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989): The third film in the National Lampoon series, this comedy features the Griswold family, their in-laws, and their Christmas traditions.
18. A Wish for Wings That Work (1991): A Bloom County animated tale with Opus the penguin yearning for real wings an featuring a pig that thinks it’s a rhinoceros, a cross-dressing cockroach and Bill the Cat.
19. Joyeux Noel (2005): True story of French and Scottish soldiers of World War I leaving their trenches to celebrate the Christmas holiday with their German enemies.
20. Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus (1991): Richard Thomas, Ed Asner and Charles Bronson star in this remake of the 1974 original. While newspaper writer Bronson struggles with the death of his wife, he receives a "special" assignment to answer a little girl's question about whether Santa Claus really exists.

Not finding what you are looking for? Try our listing of the Best Christmas Movies for Kids or our Christmas movie listing.