As dark nights and cold weather begin to settle in, the time to start watching holiday movies nears. While everyone has his/her own opinions on what the best film of all time is, here are some top picks for the most popular and classic holiday movies:
- The Polar Express
Starting off strong, The Polar Express, directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Tom Hanks, tells the tale of a young boy who is doubtful about the existence of Santa Claus. When the young boy looks out the window on Christmas Eve, he sees a train that is on its way to the North Pole. When he runs out of his house and approaches the train, the conductor invites the young boy to join them. After contemplating in confusion, he accepts the invitation to find out whether Santa Claus is real and goes on an adventure to the North Pole. He makes friends on this venture, completes missions to get to the North Pole safely, and learns valuable lessons about the faithful spirit of Christmas.
- A Charlie Brown Christmas
A Charlie Brown Christmas is an animated television cartoon made in 1965 by Charles M. Schulz. The main character in the movie, Charlie Brown, does not understand the true meaning of Christmas and what Christmas spirit means. As he searches for the answer with his friends, he realizes that no one knows what Christmas is about. Charlie Brown sets out to search for special things that reveal the true meaning of Christmas.
- The Grinch
Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch is an animated movie about the Grinch who hates Christmas. Directed in 2018 by Scott Mosier and Yarrow Cheney, Grinch and Max live inside a cave on Mount Crumpit, distanced from the people of Whoville. The Grinch’s heart was always two sizes too small compared to a normal person. On tChristmas, he is determined to do anything to ruin the day. The main cause of his anger is his neighbor in Whoville, who celebrates Christmas with the most amount of spirit out of anyone in the town. The Grinch decides to dress up as Santa Claus and steal the Christmas spirit away from everyone. But he encounters a little girl named Cindy Lou Who, who changes his whole perspective on Christmas. Freshman Sloane Coble said, “The Grinch is very inspiring and educational about some people whose bad experiences can ruin the new, good ones they can have and how someone or something can bring their spark back.”
- Home Alone
The movie you can rewatch repeatedly without getting bored: Home Alone. The family of eight-year-old Kevin prepares to go on a family trip to Paris, but the night before, Kevin and his mom get into an argument. As a punishment, he is forced to sleep in the attic. Before falling asleep, Kevin makes a wish for his whole family to disappear. After the family awakes late for their flight and rushes to the airport, they accidently leave without Kevin, and he wakes up to an empty house, thinking that his wish came true. Played by Macaulay Culkin, Kevin is left home alone for the holidays. As he enjoys the freedom he has not felt in years, that freedom and excitement diminish once he realizes that two men are trying to rob his house. Now, he must protect his home and himself all alone. Freshman Nicky Raynor expressed, “Home Alone is a great movie! I can watch it so many times, and it will never get old!”
- Elf
A holiday classic: Elf. On Christmas Eve, Santa Claus went to an orphanage to deliver presents to the children. While Santa was taking the presents out of his sack, a teddy bear falls out and Buddy, portrayed by Will Ferrell, crawls into the sack to get it. Santa never realizes that Buddy has entered the sack and accidentally takes Buddy with him back to the North Pole. Buddy grows up with the elves and believes he is part of their pack; however, he is taller than the other elves and is not good at making toys like the others. Buddy learns that his dad was not an elf like him and discovers the man whom he thought was his dad is not his biological father. After finding this out, Buddy travels to New York to try to find his real dad and goes on a chaotic adventure. “I really enjoyed the movie Elf! It was a great movie to get into the holiday spirit. This movie was very funny with a lot of exciting parts,” shared junior Addison Cooper.
