Christmas movie season is a go! We refuse to hold off until December because it’s been a bloody bleak and miserable year and watching a weepy, beautiful Jude Law cuddled up with Diaz in a tent will cheer us up no end.
The world needs love, safe predictable plots & pure relentless Hallmark silliness right now
The world needs love, safe predictable plots & pure relentless Hallmark silliness right now, so let’s not waste another second. Here’s all the Christmas movies worth streaming this Yuletide. Grinches need not apply.
The Holiday (2006)
Yes, we’re watching it again, what of it, Karen? Few can compete with this elite Christmas fable starring Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz, Jude Law as the weepy single dad & Jack Black as the only casting mistake.
The Christmas Chronicles 1 (2018) & 2 (2020)
In this instant holiday classic, Kurt Russell plays a fine laid-back Father Christmas, possibly the best there has ever been. We said what we said. When siblings Kate & Teddy try to catch Santa on video, they accidentally cause his sleigh to crash. With Christmas in jeopardy, they join forces with Saint Nick on an unexpected mission to save the holiday.
And yes, the sequel to The Christmas Chronicles has just landed, so 2020 is officially saved. Unhappy with her mum’s new relationship, a now-teenage Kate runs away and winds up at the North Pole, where a naughty elf is plotting to cancel Christmas.
Holiday In The Wild (2019)
If you thought you were done and dusted with all your elephant-related crying after Dumbo, you were wrong. After her husband abruptly ends their marriage, Kate (Kristin Davis) embarks on a solo second honeymoon in Africa. There, she and Derek, a pilot, rescue a baby elephant. While nursing the elephant back to health, Kate discovers how much she loves her new surroundings. Cue the mistletoe.
Christmas With The Kranks (2004)
Starring Tim Allen, Jamie Lee Curtis & Dan Aykroyd, this spirited Christmas comedy is a bad Christmas movie favourite. When their only daughter, Blair, leaves home for the holidays, Luther (Allen) and Nora (Curtis) decide to skip their usual high-octane celebrations and go on a cruise instead. But when Blair decides to return home for Christmas after all, they are left with just a few hours to pull their neighbours together for the best celebration ever.
Holidate (2020)
Who needs Oscar winning cinematography when you can have pure Hallmark corn? Holidate is a self-aware rom-com about two holiday cynics, Sloane (Emma Roberts) and Jackson (Luke Bracey). They agree to be one another’s platonic plus ones to every holiday date for a year, only to catch real feelings along the way.
The Knight Before Christmas (2019)
An endearing saccharine holiday rom-com starring Vanessa Hudgens – a medieval knight is transported to present-day Ohio where he falls head over heels for a high school science teacher, who helps him navigate the modern world and fulfil his mysterious quest. It’s a guilty pleasure movie there for the taking.
Christmas With The Coopers (2015)
Christmas is the season for the Coopers to come together for a drama-filled dysfunctional family reunion. As the evening unfolds and a series of unexpected visitors and unlikely events turn the night upside down, the Cooper clan rediscover the true spirit of the holiday.
Operation Christmas Drop (2020)
Operation Christmas Drop transports you to the island of Guam for the holiday season. The beachside rom-com follows a congressional aide named Erica who is sent to investigate a tropical US Air Force Base using military cargo planes to drop Christmas gifts & supplies to remote islands. Her boss wants to shut it down but when Erica experiences the communal spirit of the Christmas Drop for herself (and meets a certain captain eye candy), she has a change of heart.
The Princess Switch (2018)
A Chicago baker and soon-to-be princess (both played by Vanessa Hudgens) discover they are doppelgängers and trade places for a few days. It’s like Parent Trap on Christmas steroids.
The Princess Switch: Switched Again (2020)
Netflix are filling the 2020 void with those long-awaited sequels and tbh, we are so ready for another Hudgens holiday switcheroo.
Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey (2020)
Featuring music by John Legend, Jingle Jangle is a musical feast for the whole family. The film follows the legendary toy maker, Jeronicus Jangle (Forest Whitaker) whose inventions burst with whimsy and wonder. But when his trusted apprentice steals his most prized creation, it’s up to his spirited and adventurous granddaughter, Journey (Madalen Mills) to reawaken the magic within. A warm-hearted tale with all the trimmings!
A Christmas Prince (2017) A Christmas Prince 2: A Royal Wedding (2018) A Christmas Prince 3: The Royal Baby (2019)
An aspiring journalist casually sneaks into a palace to get the scoop on a young future king. Realistic? No. But does it make for a delightfully bad but irresistibly watchable viewing? Yes, we believe it does. If nonsensical schmaltzy Christmas movies is what you crave, you’ve found it x 3 in this Netflix original trilogy.
Let It Snow (2019)
Slushy, clichéd and lame with all the Love Actually vibes, Let It Snow has all the tropes of a typical Christmas film. Based on the best-selling YA novel of the same name, the festive flick follows the stories of a group of small-town high school seniors in the midst of a major snowstorm on Christmas Eve.
Klaus (2019)
A top tier Christmas movie in 2019? Santa take the wheel. This original animated feature narrowly missed out on an Oscar last year (to Toy Story 4 – what the fork?) and let it be known that 2019 did Klaus seriously dirty because it is a 2D hand-drawn animation film and it deserved to take home that award, for crying out loud. Five stars!
Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch (2018)
Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without this green-skinned disgruntled festive grump and his village pint-sized Whos. In this film, we get a softer version of Jim Carey’s brilliant but brutal green character and in 2020, we welcome anything that feels cosy and safe. Thank you, Benedict Cumberbatch, kind sir.
Arthur Christmas (2011)
At Santa Claus’s super-secret toy-making facility, Mr. Claus entrusts his son, Arthur, to carry out an ultra-important Christmas mission. An adorable oldie packed with relentless positivity, Arthur Christmas is the wholesome feel-good animation we all need to see us out of the 2020 sh*tshow.
