With Christmas coming up fast, you know what’s up: Christmas movie time! Now’s the season to make a hot chocolate, kick back, and enjoy both the classics and the classically bad holiday movies. The holiday season is one of the happiest times of the year, so naturally, Disney has us covered. Let’s take a walk through just a small part of Disney’s selection, both new and old.
1. One Magic Christmas (1985) (Available on Disney+, Prime Video, Apple TV and more)
The teaser trailer for One Magic Christmas.
Source: youtube.com
Starting with the older ones, we have One Magic Christmas, which tells a story about finding joy in what you have and the people you love. The plot centers around a financially struggling family: Ginny cannot enjoy Christmas because she worries about her husband’s unemployment and her own meager job. Her daughter Abbie meets an angel named Gideon, who strives to show Ginny the true spirit of Christmas. With its messages about valuing family in the face of hardship, this is a movie with a “the real presents were the people we met along the way” kind of message. If that’s your cup of tea, One Magic Christmas is a great classic to watch with your loved ones. Just something to keep in mind in advance: the movie features some tragic and difficult scenes that may be hard for younger ones to digest, but does offer a moving message about family in the end.
2. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) (Available on Disney+, Prime Video, Apple TV and more)
The teaser trailer for The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Source: youtube.com
You might have already watched this classic movie during Halloween like our club did, but why not watch it again for Christmas? The Nightmare Before Christmas follows Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloweentown who wants something new beyond the usual scares and screams. When he discovers Christmas, everything changes as he tries to spread the fun of the holidays in Halloweentown…but sometimes, Halloween and Christmas don’t mix. His efforts lead to some serious consequences for the holidays. Fun fact: while this movie is technically Disney, Disney released it under their adult label Touchstone Pictures since they thought the movie could be too “dark” for children. Don’t worry if you have little siblings, though. The Nightmare Before Christmas is good for everyone to watch no matter how old they are, as long as they aren’t scared of a little dark humor.
3. Godmothered (2020) (Available on Disney+)
The teaser trailer for Godmothered.
Source: youtube.com
Time to jump to the more recent Disney holiday movies! With the existence of Godmothered, it looks like Cinderella isn’t the only Disney character with a fairy godmother. To her credit, though, she’s the only Disney character with a competent one! Godmothered’s protagonist, Eleanor Bloomingbottom, is a fairy godmother-in-training who just can’t seem to do her job right. She finds out that her school in the Motherland may stop training fairy godmothers, since people don’t make wishes anymore. To keep the practice of fairy godmothers alive, she travels from the Motherland to the real city of Boston to grant a girl’s wishes and prove that the world still needs fairy godmothers. As Disney’s modern twist on the fairy godmother character, Godmothered is a nice, lighthearted movie to watch with the family with its fairy puns, its cute depiction of love and its humor.
4. Christmas… Again?! (2021) (Available on Disney+, Spectrum TV, Prime Video)
The teaser trailer for Christmas... Again?!
Source: youtube.com
Ah yes, we gotta have the classic trapped-in-a-time-loop trope. The plot of Christmas… Again?! revolves around Ro, a teenager going through her parents’ divorce who just wants things to go back to how they were. She wishes to a local Santa for a do-over and finds herself reliving Christmas day again and again. Not only must Ro find a way out of the loop, but she must also come to terms with her new family and learn what Christmas means to her. Just to warn you: Christmas… Again?! is one of the more classically bad Christmas movies on this list. While this movie often gets reviews harping on Ro’s slow character development and the poor acting, those looking for a comfort movie with a familiar story to curl up on the couch with may find it in this holiday retelling of Groundhog Day.
5. Home Sweet Home Alone (2021) (Available on Disney+)
The teaser trailer for Home Sweet Home Alone.
Source: youtube.com
Let’s be real: no one can really get tired of the classic Home Alone starring Maccaulay Culkin. If you want something new to watch this year, though, then check out Disney’s version of the concept they made after they inherited the rights to the original movie. Home Sweet Home Alone centers on 10-year-old Max Mercer who, surprise surprise, is left at home alone when his family leaves for a holiday vacation. A married couple, Jeff and Pam McKenzie, believe that Max took one of their most valuable possessions: a doll. To take it back, they go Wet Bandits-style and break into the Mercer home. It’s up to Max Mercer to hold the fort until his family gets home. This movie can be a hit or miss for lovers of the original Home Alone. While Max Mercer is no Kevin McCallister, Home Sweet Home Alone may be worth the watch for those open to seeing a retelling of the classic holiday movie.
Author Bio
Linda Tran is an English major with a minor in Professional Writing. She loves talking anything Disney and Pixar, as well as anime and video games. Her favorite Disney character is Baymax. In her free time, you’ll most likely spot her binging an anime, listening to music on her headphones, or furiously typing on her laptop doing God knows what. While she has many things she wants to do, Linda hopes to find a professional writing or marketing career in the entertainment industry. You can find more of her written work on College Magazine.
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