The Top 5 Christmas Movies of All Time

The holiday season is filled with some of the greatest genres of their art forms. I recently published an article about the top five Christmas singers of all time on my music blog The Alt Rock Cult. In that article I informed the readers that I would be making a small series of articles throughout my blog network revolving around all different things Christmas. Today I'll be talking about one of the greatest things the holiday season has ever brought us, Christmas movies. Watching a Christmas movie is one of the most joyful things you can do and the best of them are viewed as some of the biggest classics in the industry. 

So without any further drawn out intro, let's get into my top 5 Christmas movies. (Also I would like to note that I've never seen Miracle on 34th Street so it will not be making an appearance on this list.)

My number 5 may surprise some of you, but Jingle All The Way is such an underrated gem.

Every single point of this experience hits on a 10/10 note. Something I like about this movie is the way it looks at a different angle of Christmas than any other movie I've watched. It follows Arnold Schwarzenegger, a successful man with a high power position at his job, who is at work so much that he starts to become estranged from his only son. And the final straw is pulled when he misses his son's karate... thing, by staying too late at an office Christmas party. Arnold fears that his relationship with his son may not recover from a cut that deep, so he sets off to get the one thing that could redeem him and make his son truly happy, the Turbo Man action figure. However, the figures have been sold out for months and Arnold, through sheer determination and love for his son, travels across the city in many different adventures searching for his son's wish. 

I watch this movie as many times annually as I do Elf and Home Alone. It's also one of the three Christmas movies that I bought on DvD. It's that good. The fact that this movie almost meets the highs of Elf demonstrates that. Almost every single FRAME of this movie is completely perfect. The fact that this movie can take us into so many different random directions and make almost all of them feel plot relevant and taken to the perfect length and measure. The Santa mob!? Come on! That is 100% in literally every category. It's just hilarious. And the fact that they got Jim Belushi to play a member of the mall Santa mob is like 10% of why I love this movie. Probably one of my favourite scenes in a Christmas movie. And the climax is just superb. Arnold accidentally crash the local Christmas parade's main attraction, the Turbo man float. In a clever nod to what a behemoth Arnold is, he gets mistaken as the fill in to play the super hero Turbo man on the top of the float. And after a full day of running himself to emptiness trying to provide his son with his Christmas wish, Arnold is handed a Turbo Man figure and is told he can choose one kid from the audience to give it to. And at that moment, Arnold sees his son amongst the crowd, and finally gets his son what he wanted. And then out of the crowd at flawless timing, bursts Myron, Arnold's rival throughout the entire movie, taking one last attempt at taking the Turbo Man doll for his son. Myron is dressed as the main villain in the Turbo Man franchise, and he begins to try and hunt down Arnold's son and take the toy from him. What follows is a 110% great sequence that caps off a 110% great movie. Seriously if you haven't seen this movie and you're on your 53rd rewatch of Elf and Love Actually, give this a try. It's so well worth it.

The number 4 position was a heavy debate between these two movies, but in the end I decided that Home Alone edges out Jingle All The Way.

Home Alone is the highest grossing Christmas movie ever made and viewed by a large group of people as the greatest Christmas movie of all time. And I can see why. The characters are mostly likable, the dialogue is sharp and entertaining, and the premise is fun and original.  All in all this movie near flawless. So why is it only number 4 you ask? Well, for every category Home Alone excels in, I decided that the 3 movies I've placed above it are better every time and just work better altogether. The comedic climax, while being elite, gets heavily outclassed by the sequel. Also, some people have raised understandable points debating about whether or not it even qualifies as a Christmas movie. Although I view those arguments as people who are grasping at straws to try and prove their insane opinion that Die Hard is a Christmas movie.

That being said this movie is a banger. I cannot find anything wrong with this for the life of me. The intro where Kevin gets sent to the attic after ruining the pizza dinner for the family perfectly demonstrates how Kevin feels like the entire family discriminates against him and treats him like the black sheep. The montage of the things Kevin does when he first realizes he's home alone is immensely relatable, the scene where Kevin gets a free pizza by using the Angels With Filthy Souls VHS he finds to scare away the pizza guy is just comedic genius. The old man who shovels snow on the street truly is my favourite character in this movie. The way he's introduced as the threatening villain and then is shown as a soft wise man with internal conflicts and emotions just like any other character in this movie. The scene where he sits next to Kevin in the church is absolutely beautiful and I love how they talked about problems within his life too. This makes the reveal of how awesome the man (Apparently named Marley) is, more believable and feel more plot relevant than if they just discussed and tried to fix Kevin's problems. 

And then The Carol Of The Bells remake they used to transition between the church scene and the climax is sensational. But the climax is definitely the Magnum Opus of this movie. Kevin places traps out of household objects for the two burglars trying to rob his house while his family is away on vacation. The burglars are played by Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern, who do an amazing job as Harry and Marv. They play off of each other really well and Joe Pesci, an actor known for shooting a man that called him funny in GoodFellas, has really good comedic timing and you could never tell from watching this movie what a mature movie catalogue. But back to the climax, some of the greatest slapstick comedy I've ever seen. The absolutely brutal ways the burglars are punished never fail to make me laugh even on the 40th rewatch. Overall Home Alone is made so perfectly it's beautiful. But the three movies above it on this list are just that much better. 

Number 3 might be a controversial decision but it really shouldn't be. Number 4 is one of the few good Sony animation movies, the most underrated holiday movie in the discussion, Arthur Christmas. 

I have so much to say about this movie, Arthur Christmas is a beautiful underrated masterpiece. Everything about it is fresh and nothing about it feels tired or unoriginal. I love the concept of the title of Santa being passed down through generations, it's really believable. I love how they don't paint the current Santa as perfect but as a flawed individual who means well. The dispute between old and new technology feels really relevant to today. And I absolutely love how they set Arthur's brother up to look like a twist villain who's going to take the role of Santa by force, but then he isn't. The twist villain trope had been brutally butchered by Walt Disney Animation Studios in years before and after this movie and to see a movie subvert that is so refreshing. Everything about this movie is so tonally different than the Christmas movie status quo. The action, comedy, storyline and stakes are all so new in my opinion and this movie is absolutely perfect...

For the first 15 minutes or so. The rest of the movie is phenomenal but really forgettable. I have probably watched Arthur Christmas around 45 times and I can't tell you for the life of me what happens during the second or third act. However the few parts that do stick with me along with the first act definitely justify its placement at number 3.

Next up at number 2 is an even more controversial opinion but I am fully prepared to back it up. 2 spots above its predecessor, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York is my number 2.

Home Alone 2 is definitely a better Christmas movie, and movie overall, than the original Home Alone. It's such an amazing sequel and excels off of the foundation that Home Alone built. Taking Kevin to New York is such genius not only for world expanding but New York provides such a better Christmas vibe than the first movie had. I love seeing Kevin mess around in the hotel and that scene with the turtle doves at the toy store is so wholesome. As are the scenes where Kevin gets to know the bird feeder lady can only be described as art. The slapstick climax where the robbers invade the house is also way funnier this time around. The original was hilarious but this one does even better. When Daniel Stern falls into the pit is my single favourite example of line delivery ever. When he says "Wow, what a hole!" that gets a laugh out of me on the 20th rewatch. I also love that they brought back the Angels With Dirty Souls gag from the first movie and built upon it to make it so much better. Just like what this entire movie does. The original Home Alone may always be generally viewed as the best in the series but head to head I'd take Home Alone 2 any day. 

Before we reveal the king of Christmas movie I'd like to list some honorable mentions that almost made the list.

A Christmas Story

good but I didn't really gain anything from it or have a ton of laughs either

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 

I watched it four years ago and cannot find a place to watch it anywhere (No I am not paying ten dollars to watch it Amazon!) all I remember was a cat being fried by electricity. It gets 8 points for that alone.

2018's The Grinch and 2000's How The Grinch Stole Christmas

The 2018 animated Grinch movie is actually very good and the best quality movie out of them all. The competition was just too strong. And I was very underwhelmed by everything about 2000's Grinch movie and aside from Jim Carrey's (ahem) Carreying, of this movie, there's not much to look at here quality wise. 

It's a Wonderful Life

left me conflicted on whether this was a Christmas at all. The ending put those to rest. It is impossible to not smile while you watch it. Just got beat by the movies on the list.

Die Hard 1 and 2. 

These are not Christmas movies. The fact that we are still debating this in 2021 is saying something about us. Murder and German terrorism does not make for a holiday experience. Some drunk guy probably called it a Christmas movie one night as a joke 30 years ago and we all just ran with it.

Well that's all I can think of at the moment. So on to number one. And I'm not going to act like there's any suspense to which movie gets this honor. Because I knew the second I thought of this list that Elf was the greatest Christmas movie ever made. 

There truly is nothing left to say about this legend so I'm going to keep this brief. Elf is a completely perfect movie in every aspect. Every second from start to finish in this movie is flawless comedy. Rather than just repeat the words of hundreds of other critics, I'm going to list my top 5 favourite parts of this movie. Remember please that this is the movie equivalent of picking your top 5 favourite Beatles' songs. It's hurts your brain trying to make the decisions.

Number 5: When the children's author kicks Buddy's ass because Buddy think's he's an Elf from the North Pole. Oh my god. That's all i can say. Oh my god. 

Number 4: Buddy's Father's whole character arc isn't talked about nearly enough. It's done well, his Character feels like an old burnt out version of David Spade in Tommy Boy. And in the climax when he walks out on his bosses to go find Buddy, I have never fist pumped harder while watching a movie. Just hell yes.

Number 3: The Mailroom. Buddy's Naivety towards the world is shown in full swing here and it's perfect. And really charming too.

Number 2: Every scene that takes place within the mall. From the famous "SANTA! OH MY GOD! I KNOW HIM! I KNOW HIM!" and "You sit on a throne of lies, you smell like beef and cheese!" scenes, to his decorating of the mall, it's all flawlessly funny and I can't stop laughing for a second of it even on the 15th rewatch or whatever time I'm on now. 

Number 1: "Buddy The Elf, What's Your Favourite Color!?" (I don't believe I have to elaborate here.)

This article has been probably one of the most fun I've ever gotten to write. And if you read to the end and didn't leave the second you saw me put Home Alone 2 over the original, thank you. I really appreciate that. Well I need to go give my brain a break now because making those decisions gave me a migraine. Merry Post-Christmas everybody!