Now you could dust off one of the all-time favorites like “It’s A Wonderful life” “Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer” or “Elf.” But you might be feeling a little daring this year and, for that, I have just the list. These are 10 uncommon holiday films for the whole family. A disclaimer before I jump into the list is that some of these are short films rather than full feature length films but are well worth the watch. I did not put these in any particular order but these are my 10 favorites.
The first movie is “Rise of the Guardians.” This fun filled animated adventure follows the story of Jack Frost as he tries to discover who he is. With character appearances from Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the Boogeyman. This film has no shortage of humor, mystery, and heartfelt moments for the whole family.
If you want a good laugh, then “Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special” is a hilarious movie for the Christmas season. Drax and Mantis travel to earth to try and find a great holiday gift for Starlord and have some fun along the way. If you enjoy the Marvel franchise, you will appreciate this holiday special.
Continuing with the theme of movie franchises that had a Christmas special, the Disney Frozen series has a Christmas special called “Olaf’s Frozen Adventure.” The film follows Olaf as he tries to discover a tradition for the holiday season and adventures out and meets various people who have different ways they celebrate. But Olaf struggles to retain the items he wants to bring back. This is more of a short film than a movie but certainly is a great watch.
This next film is a little more popular and fits more under the “mainstream Christmas movies” category but I couldn’t leave this one off the list because it is my personal all-time favorite — “The Polar Express.” Tom Hanks does an amazing job in this film voicing three of the characters. An iconic line from the movie which I think summarizes the humor of the film is when the hero is looking for his friend, and a train vagrant asks the hero “what he is doing on the top of the train?” A kid replies “I’m looking for a girl,” to which the vagrant laughs out “HA! ain’t we all!”
Next up on this list is “Bugs Bunny’s Looney Christmas Tales.” This is one I would recommend for a younger audience or perhaps if you have some emotional nostalgia towards Looney Tunes, you would enjoy it. The plot is very simple and heartwarming but you can expect the gags of the cast throughout every moment.
The Nightmare Before Christmas can either be considered a Halloween movie or Christmas movie depending on your perspective but it made it to our list. Jack is our hero of the story who lives in Halloween town but is growing bored of the constant flow of everything being Halloween, so he travels to Christmas Town and tries bringing back Christmas to Halloween Town. While a very family friendly film I would not recommend for children who have nightmares often as there is some creepy imagery, it is “Halloween Town” after all.
Die Hard has been long debated as to whether it is a “Christmas film” or not. We can debate that at another time but it made it to this list. Die Hard Follows New York City police officer John Mclane (Bruce Willis) visiting his estranged wife and two girls, but the holiday party they attend is disrupted by terrorists. Mclane realizes no help is coming so he must take matters into his own hands.
“The Chronicles of Narnia The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe” Is a movie that I would dare say no one considers to be a Christmas film but this is one that my family will sometimes watch around the holiday season. Why? Because it has a fantasy and magical tone throughout and Father Christmas does appear in the film being that the setting of Narnia upon first introduction is a snowy winter wonderland. If you’re looking for some action as opposed to a sweet and neat holiday film try telling your family “Narnia is a Christmas film” If nothing else, it’s at least a conversation starter.
I am going to throw in a Christmas special that is not really a standalone film but rather a Christmas special based upon the TV show “Downton Abbey.” The title of this episode is “The Finale” which is the last episode of the entire show. The reason that I put this episode on the list is although watching the entire series would probably make more sense, because of the conclusion and nature of how the episode played out I was able to follow along pretty well upon watching it. And might not even have known it was part of a TV series had it not been for the fact that there were a few plots already established. But because these plots came to an end it was easy to understand. It was kind of like watching The Force Awakens without seeing any of the star wars movies prior the more prequels — if you had never watched the events leading up to it, you would still understand most of what is going on.
Lastly I want to end with a Christmas movie that you have probably heard of which is a cute theater production turned movie, “The Nutcracker.” I recommend the Warner Bros 1993 version. While this film has a low audience score, I believe this to be as a result of wrong expectations towards the film. This is a theater performance which was filmed like a movie, and I think for its genre it was a very well done film.
Whether you are home for the holidays or traveling, I think that these films are ones which the viewer will enjoy and most people have either not seen or would not have considered watching around the holiday season. I believe each film on this list brings a wonderful level of entertainment value to those who view.
