The most wonderful time of the year has just begun. But this year, for some of us, it might not feel like Christmas at all.
There is a lot of uncertainty about the upcoming holidays. Some of us might not be able to celebrate with their loved ones; others can’t go home due to the pandemic and are stuck in student halls alone. So, grab a hot chocolate, some biscuits, and snuggle up. Hopefully, those 10 movies will spark your Christmas spirit. Happy watching and Merry Christmas!
10. Miracle on 34th Street
1994 | 1h 54min | Family | Fantasy
Miracle on 34th Street is truly a feel-good Christmas classic. The original movie is a black-and-white film shot in the 1950s. It tells the story of six-year-old Susan Walker (Mara Wilson) from New York City, who does not believe in Santa Claus. Until the day she meets Kris Kringle (Richard Attenborough), who claims to be the real Santa. He gives Susie “the most precious gift of all, something to believe in.”
9. The Muppet Christmas Carol
1992 | 1h 25min | Comedy, Drama, Family
In this 1990s Disney production, the Muppets retell Charles Dickens’ Christmas classic A Christmas Carol. Ebenezer Scrooge is an elderly and cold-hearted miser, who despises Christmas until three ghosts pay him a visit and help him to find his Christmas spirit.
8. The Family Stone
2005 | 1h 43min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
The successful businessman Everett Stone (Dermot Mulroney) invites his new girlfriend Meredith Morton (Sarah Jessica Parker) to spend the Christmas holidays with his family in Connecticut. Meeting your partner’s family for the first time is exciting. But meeting your partner’s ultra-liberal family, when you are strait-laced and uptight, is a recipe for disaster. Despite all her efforts Meredith does not fit in and all she gets from her boyfriend’s family is a cold shoulder. She feels left out and invites her easy-going sister Julie to join her for emotional support. But little did she know that things were going to get even worse…
7. The Santa Clause
1994 |1h 37min | Comedy, Drama, Family
Have you ever asked yourself what happens if someone accidentally kills Santa Claus? On Christmas Eve single dad Scott Calvin (Tim Allen) and his 6-year-old son Charlie (Eric Lloyd) have an unexpected visitor. With a loud bang Santa and his reindeer land on their roof. And soon after the tragedy happens. Santa slips and falls off the roof, disappears, and leaves behind his red suit and a business card saying: “If something should happen to me, put on my suit. The reindeer will know what to do.” No sooner said than done! The reindeer take Scott and Charlie on an exciting adventure around town and to the North Pole. But can Scott take on the biggest job in the world and save Christmas?
6. How the Grinch Stole Christmas
2000 | 1h 44min | Comedy, Family, Fantasy
“Inside a snowflake exists the magical land of Whoville, wherein live the Whos” and everybody seems to love Christmas. Everybody but the mean-spirited Grinch (Jim Carrey). He hates Christmas and there is only one way to end this annual torture. He forges out a mischievous plan to steal Christmas from the Whos for good.
5. The Polar Express
2004 |1h 40min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
On Christmas Eve in Grand Rapids, Michigan a little boy is struggling to fall asleep. Quietly laying in his bed, he is listening for a sound – the sound of jingling sleigh bells. But nothing happens. He starts to doubt Santa’s existence. All of a sudden he hears a sound. The Polar Express, a steam locomotive, stops right outside his house. It is the beginning of a magical journey to the North Pole, which shows that “the wonder of life never fades for those who believe.”
4. The Holiday
2006 | 2h 16min | Comedy, Romance
A light-hearted Christmas rom-com, which will definitely spark your Christmas spirit. After Amanda Wood (Cameron Diaz), a movie-trailer maker from Los Angeles, breaks up with her boyfriend, she urgently needs a holiday far away from home and men. On the other side of the world, Iris Simpkins’s (Kate Winslet) life falls apart after she finds out that the love of her life got engaged to marry someone else. “Through a house exchange website, Amanda impulsively swaps her mansion for Iris’ cottage in Surrey for the holidays.” Who would have thought that both of them find love in a hopeless place?
3. Elf
2003 | 1h 37min | Adventure, Comedy, Family
Everybody seems to love this movie. “And that’s because it resides at the sweet spot where all Christmas movies overlap… It’s a traditional tale of belief. It’s an emotional story about family “, writes the Guardian in 2019. The story begins on Christmas Eve 30 years ago, when a little orphan boy accidentally crawls into Santa’s sack and unwillingly ends up at the North Pole. Santa’s elves name him Buddy and raise him as one of them. The only problem is Buddy (Will Ferrell) is not an elf – he is human. After discovering he is human, Buddy travels to New York City to find his real father, who is unaware of Buddy’s existence. Searching for his father, he experiences the city that never sleeps and human culture for the very first time. He finally finds the place where he belongs.
2. Home Alone
1990 | 1h 43min | Comedy, Family
Home Alone is truly one of the most iconic Christmas movies of all time. The McCallister family, from Chicago, went on a Christmas trip to Paris. But they accidentally forgot the youngest family member, eight-year-old troublemaker Kevin McCallister, at home. Kevin’s biggest dream has finally come true. He’s got the whole house to himself and can do as he pleases. He orders pizza, eats a ton of sweets, and watches TV all day. But Kevin’s dream turns into a nightmare when two burglars try to rob the McCallister mansion on Christmas Eve…
1. Love Actually
2003 | 2h 15min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
And last but not least my all-time favourite Christmas movie, Love Actually. The prime minister (played by Hugh Grant) sums it up perfectly. “It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it’s not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it’s always there-fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends.” Love Actually tells 11 intertwined and heart-warming stories set during Christmas time in London. And they all have one thing in common: love.