December 19, 2006

Watch It - Top 5 Christmas Movies

5) Elf

Elf is about Buddy, a normal man who believes he is one of Santa's elves due to being raised at the North Pole. Buddy is raised by Papa Elf, who is played wonderfully by Bob Newhart. Will Ferrell plays Buddy and is hilarious, he never quite fits in due to his enormous size relative to the other elves. Eventually Buddy figures out that he's a normal sized man and he heads to New York to find his real Father and more hilarity ensues. I know this isn't exactly a classic Christmas movie but I loved it. I'm a big Will Ferrell fan and you definitely need to be to love this movie, though I'd recommend it either way.


4) Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

This is a great kids movie. The original story of how Rudolph saved Christmas one stormy year with all kinds of added plot lines like Yukon Cornelius and the Abominable Snowman. In this story we learn that everyone is worthwhile no matter how "different" they might be. I watched it again recently and was reminded of why I loved it so much as a child. This is a true classic with great animation and voices, a truly unique story.


3) It's a Wonderful Life

It's a Wonderful Life is not only a great Christmas Movie, for many people it is also one of the great movies of all time. Jimmy Stewart plays George Bailey, a kind and compassionate businessman who runs into a string of bad luck and tries to take his own life. His guardian angel saves him and shows him what life would be like had he never existed. This is a great story, a feel-good story if you will. The style and age of the movie may keep some of today's movie goers from getting into it but if you've never seen it you're missing out.


2) How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Another classic kids movie. This cartoon based on the Dr. Seuss book is 30 minutes of pure enjoyment. The voices, drawings and songs are all memorable and I still enjoy watching it as an adult. This is yet another Christmas movie with a great uplifting moral to it and though Jim Carrey did his best with the live action version they made a few years ago it pales in comparison to the simple and superior cartoon.


1) A Christmas Story

This is a movie that captures childhood. Through the narration of the main character, Ralphie, we are told the story of a memorable Christmas in his childhood. A Christmas that includes a bebe gun, a horrible gift of bunny pajamas that Ralphie is forced to try on, a child's tongue freezing to a pole, a Christmas dinner at a Chinese restaurant and many other family moments you'll never forget. This is my favorite because it re-tells Christmas from the perspective of a child who is at the age when I remember loving Christmas the most.

6 comments:

The Hansens said...

Great list tanti. You're number 1 is a beauty. I think the only switch I would make is to have The Christmas Carol instead of Rudolph. Could've had a worst Christmas movie list whcih would include: Jingle all the Way, Ernest Saves Christmas and the Santa Clause 3.
Sorry, I thought of another switch - Christmas Vacation for Elf. I choose Chase over Ferrell.

Tony Tanti said...

Xmas vacation is good, never blew me away though. Christmas Carol is good too and would be in my top 10.

More worst list ideas; Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights and Hulk Hogan's Santa with Muscles.

Heidi said...

Aaah, but Adam Sandler's isn't a Christmas movie, it's Hanakah (sp?). Lame anyways. I love all those movies too but I would put in The Muppet Christmas Carol instead of Rudolph.

Jon Coutts said...

great list although i disagree with everything on it.

just kidding.

i actually prefer the jim carrey grinch.

i hate the christmas carol. am i missing something?

christmas vacation would be on mine too, but this top 5 is good. elf was an AWFUL movie but Will Ferrell was AWESOME, so it even out.

The Hansens said...

I saw the Good Shepherd the other day. It was good...long but good. You should review it.

* (asterisk) said...

Thanks for stopping by and commenting at my movie review site, Tony. Good to see A Christmas Story up here, and funny that we both illustrated our reviews with the same picture. I'll check out the rest of your site. Cheers.