Movies go with the holidays like milk goes with cookies, and the best thing about the holidays is getting to re-visit old classics. Like Christmas songs, films are a holiday tradition that can transport you to a time and place. These Christmas movies from childhood will bring you back to Christmases past.
We’ve reserved this list for forgotten or overlooked Christmas gems. In other words, you won’t find beloved classics like A Charlie Brown Christmas or any entries from the weird and creepy claymation catalogue, like Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer or Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town. These forgotten gems from childhood are sweet and just as deserving of repeat viewings as other, higher profile films.
Prancer (1989)
This forgotten gem is sweet and lovable without being over-the-top. The film follows Jessie, whose mother has just died. Her father accidentally runs into Prancer– yes, *the* Prancer– and she makes it her mission to secretly nurse the reindeer back to health before Christmas Eve.
All I Want for Christmas (1991)
A young Ethan Embry? Check. A young Thora Birch? Check. Lauren Bacall? Check. Manhattan at Christmas? Check. Frankly, that’s all you need to know.
The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
This is arguably the best– or at least the most lovable– adaptation of Charles Dickens’s Christmas classic. What sets this one apart– well, besides the Muppets– is the fact that it is chock-full of delightful, hummable musical numbers. I mean, in what other film can you see the great Michael Caine singing alongside puppets?
The Snowman (1982)
This one is an oddly soothing, slightly trippy, and totally one-of-a-kind holiday favorite. There are no words in the film, so music and moving image converge to tell the story of a boy who travels northward with his magical snowman. This is an elegant, classy, and almost balletic Frosty the Snowman.
Babes in Toyland (1961)
In the crowded Disney canon of musical classics like Mary Poppins, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, and Newsies, Babes in Toyland often gets overshadowed and forgotten– even though it was Disney’s very first live action musical. Sure, it is so deliciously 60s. But that shouldn’t stop you from loving it. It stars original Mickey Mouse Club member Annette Funicello, and you have to embrace it for what it is: a fun, quirky little film about a magical land filled with storybook characters and toys.
Photo Credit: Walt Disney Pictures
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