The holiday season is a fun and festive time of year where we can all come together around the warm glow of our devices and binge-watch our favorite Christmas flicks and specials with our friends and family. That’s all sugar plums and mistletoe, but have you ever considered why we choose these films?
We’re not saying there’s anything wrong about our Christmas classics, but do you ever think if they’re actually that good or we just watch them out of habit or tradition? To show you exactly what we mean, have a look at these ten traditional Christmas movies and decide for yourself.
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
We’re just going to come out and say that this is honestly a good movie. That being said, many of us have it on repeat not only because it’s one of the funniest Christmas movies in existence, but because the plight of Clark Griswold is so relatable we can’t help but sympathize.
The comedic lengths Clark goes to put up with his wild family are always golden, but we’d be lying if we said we didn’t have our own Cousin Eddies in our lives. The lines are all quotable and many scenes are ingrained in our collective holiday culture. Simply put, it’s the gift that keeps on giving.
The Polar Express
This is a truly visually impressive movie once you get past the uncanny valley of the human characters. But as the years go by, the motion-capture animation gets more and more dated like the Ghost of Christmas Past. The story, on the other hand, is definitely one we don’t mind hearing over and over.
A magical train that grants kids a ride to the North Pole to gain an audience with Santa Claus for the first gift of Christmas definitely sounds like some holiday action we’d love to get in on. Pair that with a jazzy number about hot chocolate and we’re off to the races.
Elf
It’s hard to deny that this film was what jumpstarted Will Ferrell’s career. Especially considering that not only is it memorable, but usually aired in multiple showings every Christmas season. It’s sweeter than syrup-laced spaghetti, but at times it starts to give us a cavity.
We’re not ragging on it for being what it is, but after the first few viewings, it’s slowly starting to become one of those movies we put on in the background of our regular Christmas celebrations. Call us cotton-headed-ninny-muggins all you want, but once or twice is enough viewings for Buddy.
It’s a Wonderful Life
This is definitely an incredible film near and dear to all of our hearts, but it’s been repeated, parodied, and referenced so many times since it’s premiere that we have to put it on our list. We could tie a rope around the moon with the number of times this classic has played on our screens and even on stages around the country.
It’s not that it doesn’t deserve repetition, but it gets repeated nonetheless. The film still has a message that we all need reminding of, the importance and value of someone’s life and that one person’s life can actually make a whole world of difference.
Miracle on 34th Street
Whether you have Edmund Gwenn as your Santa or Richard Attenborough, you can’t deny this is a Christmas film that borders on cliche. Its messages are your standard “season of giving” and “believe in Santa” shtick that venture into rigamarole status. Still, we continue to watch.
To be fair, this was one of the first movies to push these messages for the central point of the film, but we digress. We know Santa’s real in one sense or another, but that doesn’t mean we don’t need a refresher course every now and again.
A Christmas Carol
This is one of the most repeated films not only during the holiday season but in general. The tale of miserly old Ebeneezer Scrooge has been told, retold, modernized, and reworked for decades on end.
Scrooge and the Three Spirits are as timeless and traditional as Christmas stories get. So of course, we’re bound to be exposed to some interpretation of the story whether it be on film, TV, stage, or even in a Mickey-Mouse-led special. Whether you take Alastair Sim, George C. Scott, or Patrick Stewart as your Scrooge, he’s bound to be on screen at some point.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Whether Karloff, Carrey, or Cumberbatch, the Grinch is just as iconic and watched as his previously mentioned counterpart. He’s green, he’s mean, and he’s been airing almost every year since Chuck Jones brought the Dr. Seuss curmudgeon to life in 1966. But is his story really that impressive?
To be frank, the story should be called “How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Brought it Back.” His revelation is one of the most over-and-done-with versions we’ve ever seen, but it’s Dr. Seuss, we’ll let it slide. Not the most complex plot on our list, but we’re counting it.
Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer
We could make a list of Rankin Bass specials alone, but we’re going with the most famous reindeer of all. Rudolf, Hermie, and all their friends have been on our screens since the sixties with no sign of slowing down any time soon. Classic, yes, but perhaps not as timeless as we think.
The stop motion puppetry, though fascinating, is a bit dated and some of the audio quality still sounds like it’s stuck in the sixties. Still, that doesn’t stop us from curling up around the TV screen whenever Rudolph and his misfit friends come on again.
A Charlie Brown Christmas
This special isn’t a bad way to chill out this holiday, but looking at it now, we can’t exactly call it genius. It’s not that we dislike it, but it’s quality of animation, acting, and delivery is more than dated, it’s also a bit cheaply done as well. If that’s the case, why do we watch it?
A Charlie Brown Christmas, despite its more obvious flaws, has a lot of good points going for it too. The music by Vince Guaraldi is timeless, the artwork is by Peanuts creator, Charles Schultz, and it’s one of the few specials that directly answer what Christmas is really about.
A Christmas Story
If there was ever a Christmas flick that was overly repeated, A Christmas Story holds the championship belt. In fact, TBS runs a 24-hour run of the famous film every Christmas Day. It’s by no means bad, it definitely earns its stripes with its brilliant comedy and quotable moments, but we’ve grown used to it over the years.
A leg lamp and a Red Ryder BB gun are just a pair of the things we can identify from this flick, but mainly because it’s one of the movies most everyone has seen, repeatedly. At one point, it was a creative and kitschy little film enjoyed by some, now it’s a behemoth of a Christmas tradition.
