There are hundreds of Christmas movies of every sort in existence – Christmas dramas, Christmas comedies, and even Christmas horrors and sci-fi films. But there’s no substitute for a good, solid film that the whole family can enjoy.
So, without further ado, here are the ten best PG-rated Christmas movies.
10. Home Alone 2: Lost In New York
The premise was done to death in years to come, but in 1992 the wheels had yet to fall off the Home Alone franchise, and Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, and Catherine O’Hara all reprise their roles from the 1990 smash hit. Kevin, once again separated from his family for the holidays, finds himself ensconced in a swanky New York hotel. Tim Curry is glorious as the oily concierge determined to discover exactly what Kevin is doing there.
9. Santa Claus: The Movie
This Dudley Moore vehicle from 1985 suffers from all sorts of tonal problems, and offers ample proof that by the mid-1980s, the Golden Globe winner’s star on Hollywood was beginning to wane in terms of the roles offered him. But the movie’s heart is unmistakably in the right place – Moore is excellent as an ambitious elf who leaves the North Pole in disgrace after his plan to rationalize the process of making toys goes horribly awry, while John Lithgow is suitably malevolent as a money-obsessed toy tycoon.
8. The Muppet Christmas Carol
This screwball take on Charles Dickens’ famous story did good box office on release in 1992, and benefits from a solid turn by Michael Caine as Ebenezer Scrooge. Adults may find the glut of jokes from the usual suspects of Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Beaker, and Fozzie Bear grate after a while, but children are sure to be entertained.
7. 8-Bit Christmas
This 2021 comedy has universal appeal, but it’s forty-something millennials that will get the lion’s share of the warm fuzzies, as the heady days of the 8-bit gaming era are celebrated in this cheery nostalgia-fest. Neil Patrick Harris stars as the father who recounts to his young daughter his boyhood exploits with his Nintendo games console.
6. Elf
Will Ferrell’s performance as the titular Santa’s not-so-little helper Buddy combined with a solid script and good directing from Jon Favreau ensured this endlessly quotable 2003 comedy was a major hit at the box office. James Caan and Academy Award winner Mary Steenburgen add heft as Buddy’s father and stepmother respectively.
5. Miracle on 34th Street
No, not the uneven 1994 remake, but the 1947 original, which won three Academy Awards on release, including a Best Supporting Actor award for Edmund Gwenn as Kris Kringle. The story, which revolves around a department store Santa Claus who claims he is the real thing, even going to court to prove his point, stars Maureen O’Hara as a doubting events director.
4. The Nightmare Before Christmas
Arriving hot on the heels of his box office success with another Christmas-set movie, 1992’s Batman Returns, Tim Burton’s Academy Award-nominated stop-motion classic features the voice of Chris Sarandon as Jack Skellington, who decides to spruce up the annual celebrations in his native Halloween Town by trying something a little more festive.
3. The Santa Clause
The less said about the sequels, the better, but this 1994 comedy about a man who accidentally causes Santa to have an accident on Christmas Eve, and has to step in to complete the annual round of present-giving himself, has much to commend it. Then at the height of his comedic powers thanks to his work in long-running sitcom Home Improvement, Tim Allen gives a spot-on performance as the workaday Scott Calvin at the reins of Santa’s sleigh.
2. Home Alone
Proof that just about any premise can be a hit Christmas movie with the right formula, Chris Columbus’ 1990 comedy still wows audiences over 30 years later. Macaulay Culkin plays Kevin with the perfect combination of sass and vulnerability, handling the film’s transitions from comedy to drama with aplomb. Meanwhile Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern knock it out of the park as the Wet Bandits, whose aim of robbing Kevin’s home is stymied in ever more inventive – and violent – ways.
1. It’s A Wonderful Life
Frank Capra’s 1946 movie is rightly labeled a masterpiece, and no wonder – James Stewart’s penchant for playing world-weary, beat-up characters comes to the fore in his peerless work as George Bailey, whose hard but fulfilling life in the sleepy town of Bedford Falls flies to pieces through a series of strokes of bad luck.
It’s hard to believe that a movie in which the lead character contemplates suicide became so dear to Christmas viewers, but Capra pulls Bailey back from the brink with a splendid final act that will leave you reaching for the tissues.
