While Olaf was busy finding Christmas traditions for Anna and Elsa, we were already happily indulging in ours: Christmas movie marathons. Granted, it doesn’t take months of intense physical exercise and mental preparation to sit through these feel-goods like actual marathons do, but we reckon the fervour that’s necessary to engage in both activities are pretty much paralleled.
Every year we get snowballed with hit-and-miss Christmas blockbuster specials — and don’t get us wrong, we’re definitely seeing all of them — but the movies we’ve grown up with admittedly occupy a special space in our hearts. There’s only a week left and we’ve already bought our great gifts for friends and family, so what better way to spend the remaining time donning our ugly Christmas sweaters and enjoying these films to get us through!
Christmas With The Kranks
We all wish we could be part of the Krank family. After their daughter Blair announces that she’s leaving home for the holidays, husband-and-wife Luther and Nora Krank decide to ditch celebrating Christmas in a town full of Christmas-obsessed families. The slapstick that ensues between the two having to thwart off the festive cheer is hysterical, but even more hysterical than that is when Blair decides to call them on Christmas Eve surprising them that she and her fiancee are going home for the holidays! In the spirit of last-minute shopping Luther and Nora scramble to re-invite Christmas into their home, a comedy-of-errors we’re willing to re-watch ever year.
The Polar Express
The Polar Express could be well defined as the quintessential Christmas movie. A boy who remains unnamed throughout is distracted by a train passing outside his bedroom window on the night of Christmas eve. Eager to see where it’s headed, he hops onboard with a bunch of other kids to discover the magic of Santa in the North Pole. Through its clever use of symbolism and earnest perspective, we too learn the importance on holding on to the faiths we had when we were young.
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Even if you’re allergic to happiness, this movie is sure to turn your frown upside down. Tim Burton, a true icon of quirky macabre, depicts Christmas in his own twisted way with The Nightmare Before Christmas by sending Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town, through a journey of discovery in a world of joy and colour, which incidentally is completely unfamiliar to him. The story is sinister and grim, yet somehow totally appropriate for the kids. With Burton’s ironic take on the holidays you’ll get just the right amount of awww from the romance between Jack and his sweetheart Jane without the cringe of queueing in front of other families to meet mall-Santa.
Elf
When Buddy was just a baby, he snuck into Santa’s sack and accidentally got sent back to the North Pole after Christmas. Ever since, he’s been raised as a Christmas elf. Now, Buddy’s determined to find his birth family. The hilarity that ensues with basically Will Ferrell in an elf costume attempting to navigate the human world is one that we can’t get enough of. From bumbling adult childishness to naive kindness, Buddy learns how to operate in society as much as he teaches the world to be a kinder place.
Arthur Christmas
If the mythology of Santa as an omnipresent Grandpa who singlehandedly sleighs the night sky delivering kids presents just doesn’t do it for you, a crew of highly trained elves on an invisible spaceship just might…? Arthur Claus, son of do-we-even-need-to-say-who, turns out to be kind of an incompetent successor of his dad’s. His heart of gold, however, proves to be enormously useful as he rallies the gift-giving crew to deliver one last present they left out on a magical sleigh fuelled by flying reindeer parked on the ship’s garage. It’s a movie the kids will totally get a kick out of and parents will secretly laugh along to.
Header image: Auto Straddle
