The Muppet Christmas Carol was also the first theatrical release during The Muppets’ troubled partnership with Disney. Despite Disney’s lacklustre legacy since their full takeover of The Muppets brand in 2004, A Christmas Carol enjoys a unique place in the Muppets chronology, benefitting from that sweet House of Mouse money yet enjoying more creative control. This concoction of incredible production value from Disney alongside the imaginative and creative prowess of The Jim Henson Company was the perfect storm. As such, The Muppet Christmas Carol is a chart-topping showstopper, considered by many to be the best of all Christmas films.

In this Movie List from The Film Magazine, all of The Muppet Christmas Carol has been put under the microscope and evaluated. Having explored each individual moment to see why this particular Muppets movie has become such a special festive favourite over the last 30 years, we have compiled a list of the most fun, emotionally resonant, powerful and beloved bits, for these: the 10 Best The Muppet Christmas Carol Moments.

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10. Christmas Scat

By 1992, the technological innovation of the Jim Henson Company had come a long way since Jim himself had cut up his mother’s dressing gown to make his first sock puppet. The Muppet Christmas Carol is distinct from the previous cinematic releases of the Muppets as the direction took a bold step from camera angles akin to ‘The Sooty Show’, finally having the CG technology available to erase away pesky visible puppeteers. No more shots exclusively from the waist up! Thus, far more dynamic and exciting shots were finally achieved to truly fool us that the Muppets can inhabit our human world.

This technological innovation reaches its peak in this single scene of Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim returning home from church whilst singing to each other. It’s hard to believe that this cute little scene was the most challenging to film, but the efforts in creating a free standing and dancing puppet will convince children that Kermit the Frog is just as real as Santa Claus.

Recommended for you: ‘The Muppet Christmas Carol’ at 30 – Review

9. One More Sleep ’til Christmas

For those who share in the tradition of watching The Muppets Christmas Carol on Christmas Eve, it is very likely due to this single song. Nothing is guaranteed to get young children as hyped and excited for Father Christmas’ imminent arrival as much Kermit the Frog does. After our first introduction to Michael Caine’s frankly terrifying Scrooge, no wonder his book-keeping staff are overjoyed by the prospect of having a day off.

This moment doesn’t just capture the excitement of the season, but also the solemnity. As Kermit sings the final notes of “One More Sleep ’til Christmas”, staring into the distance as a shooting star streaks by, a tangible melancholy fills the screen. The anxieties and hopes of the season come to a fruition for this single moment; will peace finally reign this Christmas? The whole mood is made more palpable knowing that Kermit’s performer Steve Whitmire was full of anxiety, filling his beloved mentor’s boots in the first feature film since his passing. Kermit’s pensive moment is as if a reassurance that Henson’s legacy is in safe hands.

According to Screencraft, there are six essential elements to a Christmas film: nostalgia, magic, family, atmosphere, hope, and redemption. These can all be easily applied to festive classics we know and love, such as the iconic It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), the joyous Elf (2003), and the British household staple Nativity! (2009).

Even so, there has been debate upon debate about whether certain films can be entered into the yuletide Hall of Fame, the most prominent of these being Die Hard (1988). One film that should be considered but seems to fly under the radar is Steven Spielberg’s 2002 crime caper and comedy-drama Catch Me If You Can.

Released on Christmas Day, the film is based on the true story of how teenager Frank Abagnale Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio) successfully pulled off confidence schemes worth millions of dollars by impersonating a pilot, a doctor and a lawyer, all whilst evading the clutches of FBI agent Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks).

Doesn’t sound very Christmassy, right? Wrong!

Spielberg’s caper immediately establishes the film’s sense of nostalgia through its period setting of the 1960s. We are transported back in time to when banks didn’t have high-tech security, Pan Am was the kingpin of American air travel, and Frank’s ugly orange knitted vest was considered fashionable. These are all nostalgic for the people who grew up in and around the 1960s, and that group would have been the target audience for this film back in 2002.

The film’s sense of nostalgia still holds up today. There is a scene in which Frank, in the midst of his pilot con, goes to the cinema to watch the iconic James Bond film of the era Dr. No (1962), then it cuts to him having a suit measured. What name does he give the tailor? Ian Fleming, the author of James Bond.

In a way, it’s magic. Which is, of course, a key ingredient of a Christmas film.

Whilst the magic isn’t depicted in the stereotypical manner of wizards and fairy dust, Frank is represented as an immoral magician, right from the moment he steps into his classroom in a new school and hoodwinks his class into thinking he is the substitute teacher. We buy into the grand scale of Frank’s ongoing mastery of disguise and sleight of hand, and it makes for entertaining viewing even if certain elements of the true story have been widely disputed.

As with most Spielberg films, one of the central themes is a broken home and the effects it has on the children involved. If anything screams “Christmas film” it’s the idea of family and themes of reconciliation and repairing broken relationships.

We are introduced to the tight-knit Abagnale family, with Frank Sr. (Christopher Walken) receiving an award as his wife Paula (Nathalie Baye) and son Frank watch on in admiration. We then cut to a scene in which Frank watches his parents dancing by the family Christmas tree, as Frank Sr. recounts the story of how he and Paula met. From here, the idyllic family life takes a turn when Frank Sr.’s tax problems and Paula’s affair ultimately lead to their divorce. Upon being forced to choose which parent to live with, Frank rebels by running away from upstate New York to the City, thus kickstarting his career as a high-stakes con artist.

Throughout the film, we see Frank meeting up with his father, hoping that the money he has made will convince his parents to reconcile and make their living situation go back to the way it was. Frank Sr. resists this idea, having moved on and accepted what happened. This upsets Frank, who plunges deeper and deeper into his scams.

The film’s heartbreaking climactic moment comes years later, as Carl tells Frank that his father has died whilst they are flying back to the US. Distraught, Frank escapes the plane and finds the house of his mother, who has a new family. This prompts Frank to finally stop running and to surrender to Carl and the FBI.

In the climax, Frank sees his mother’s new family on Christmas Day, where there are fairy lights and a tree just like the one in the start of film. He looks on through the window, excluded from the life he used to have and desperately longed to have back. The beautiful tones of Nat King Cole’s “The Christmas Song” underpin the emotional weight of the scene, with the warmth of the classic song heavily contrasting Frank being left out in the cold.

Christmas Eve itself is a recurring motif throughout the film. Frank calls Carl to provoke him to send a team to chase him and apologise for their last encounter. Carl sees through this, realising that Frank has nobody to talk to. A few years later, Frank calls Carl on that day to tell him that he wants a truce, as he is getting married. Carl declines, saying that he will be caught and put in prison. Their final interaction on this day comes when Carl tracks Frank down to Montrichard, where his father met his mother on Christmas Eve. Frank is subsequently arrested by French police.

Hope is another seasonally relevant key theme throughout Catch Me If You Can, as Frank’s schemes are based upon his hope that the rewards will prompt his parents to get back together. The naivety of this notion makes the film’s climax all that more heartbreaking. Leonardo DiCaprio’s performance in this regard is phenomenal, as he is able to shape-shift from a cocky kid playing the part of an adult into an anxious young boy going through a traumatic change in his life when he is on the brink of adulthood. It is certainly a gamble to cast a 32 year-old as a 16 year-old, but it paid off. Spielberg is able to utilise the actor’s talents to convey this loss of childlike hope over time, presenting a type of coming-of-age we often see in Christmas films like Elf and Meet Me In St. Louis.

At the end of the film, after Frank is sentenced to 12 years in prison, Carl offers him an opportunity for redemption, as he realises that Frank’s conning skills can be utilised to help the FBI detect fraud. Frank accepts serving the rest of his sentence by working at the FBI, but finds that an office job is incredibly tedious. Frank prepares to impersonate a pilot one last time, but Carl finds him in the airport, saying nobody is chasing him. He tries to question Carl about his family, as Carl reveals that he is the father in a broken home, with a daughter not much younger than Frank himself. At that moment, we think Frank is going to go through with the con, but he appears back at the FBI and the film ends with him and Carl discussing one of the cons in great depth. This is a bright, feel-good ending reminiscent of any number of great Christmas films, and one that arguably ties their father-son-like relationship together, revealing to us a found family staple of a deeply unconventional nature but a wholly Christmas one nonetheless.

Written by Grace Laidler

Follow Grace Laidler on Twitter: @gracewillhuntin

In this Movie List from The Film Magazine, we are looking at these movies in particular. The films that have spoken to us as a culture, have lasted long in our public consciousness, have been present for many a warm Christmas memory. These films are all under one hour in length – you can find our feature length selection in our 50 Unmissable Christmas Films list – and must be exclusively festive in nature. These are the most important, the most memorable, the most beloved, the 10 Best Christmas Short Films.

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10. Frosty the Snowman (1969)

Rankin/Bass are one of the most famous animated short producers in film history, their contributions to seasonal fare living long in the public consciousness of those in the United States and beyond since their releases more than fifty years ago. The animation of this production house was so beloved that Jon Favreau famously fought for it to be paid tribute to in his 2003 Christmas film Elf (a unique aspect of this contemporary live-action film that separates it from many of its competitors). Rankin/Bass’s legacy is one that continues to find fondness generation after generation.

Frosty the Snowman was the final animated short made for (and released on) television that Rankin/Bass released in their most popular decade, the 1960s, and the first of a few Rankin/Bass films to make this list.

Based on the song of the same name by Walter E. Rollins and Steve Nelson, this 1969 version of the seasonal tale is harmless and fun, animated with all the soft lines and wholesome glow of the best Rankin/Bass films. It tells of a snowman and a small girl being pursued by a magician for the snowman’s magic hat, and aside from a few slightly scary scenes offers all the warmth and heart of the season.

Recommended for you: 5 Reasons ‘Elf’ Is a Gen Z Christmas Classic

9. Olive, the Other Reindeer (1999)

This uniquely animated Christmas musical released by Fox Television and Flower Films just before the turn of the century is as star-studded as it is lovely.

Based on the 1997 children’s book of the same name by Vivian Walsh and J. Otto Seibold, which in turn was based on the misunderstanding of the lyric “all of the other reindeer” as “Olive, the other reindeer” in the Christmas song “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”, Olive, the Other Reindeer follows Drew Barrymore’s titular Jack Russell Terrier who travels to the north pole to help pull Santa’s sleigh when it is discovered that Blitzen is injured and unable to fly.

Nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program, the seasonal short is stylish and beautifully brought to life by the voice actors, with the type of story that will bring plenty of smiles to faces, especially at Christmas. There’s even a song by Blitzen’s cousin Schnitzel, voiced by R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe. What more could you need?

Little Women (1933)
Director: George Cukor
Screenwriters: Sarah Y. Mason, Victor Heerman
Starring: Katharine Hepburn, Joan Bennett, Paul Lukas, Edna May Oliver, Douglass Montgomery, Jean Parker, Frances Dee

“Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott, first published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869, has been adapted for the screen seven times over the last 100 years. In 1933, following two silent films in 1917 and 1918, George Cukor, who would later go on to direct such classics as The Philadelphia Story, Gaslight, and 1954’s A Star is Born, directed the first sound adaptation starring Katharine Hepburn. Cukor’s overly sentimental version of the novel was just what Depression-era audiences needed during a period marked by uncertainty and poverty. The film was a critical hit as well, and was nominated for three Academy Awards, winning Best Adapted Screenplay. Hinging on Hepburn’s superb performance, Little Women takes Alcott’s novel about four sisters coming of age during and after the American Civil War and remakes it for a Depression-era audience nostalgic for family values and desperate to relive a simpler time.

Little Women follows the March sisters – Jo (Katherine Hepburn), Amy (Joan Bennett), Meg (Frances Dee) and Beth (Jean Parker) – as they make the transition from adolescence to adulthood, against the backdrop of the Civil War. With their father away fighting for the North, the March sisters do their best to help their Mother (Spring Byington), who they affectionally call Marmee, keep the house in order. They all have their own hopes and dreams: Amy wants to become a famous painter, Meg longs to find love and marry, Beth yearns to stay right where she is and play her piano, and Jo dreams of traveling and writing great tales of romance and adventure. Together, they experience first love, marriage, and eventually tragedy.

All of the screen adaptations of “Little Women” offer a window into the time they were made. Gillian Armstrong’s 1994 adaptation, for instance, put a strong emphasis on Jo’s writing and her search her independence during a time when women weren’t really allowed to be much more than wives and mothers. Greta Gerwig’s Little Women deconstructed the narrative, commenting on the very act of telling stories and how they help us to immortalize those we love. 1933’s Little Women is interesting because it doesn’t deconstruct the story as much as it twists it to fit the ideals of a country ravaged by The Great Depression, which began in 1929 and eventually affected the global economy. It threatened jobs and livelihoods, and it forced people out onto the streets. Because of this, Little Women is dripping with sweetness, with Cukor putting a strong emphasis on family values and domesticity. The Civil War is nothing more than a set piece, rarely mentioned in great detail, so that the March sisters’ trials and tribulations can be a stand in for the struggles of those living through current times.

It is also worth mentioning that the film was made only a year before the Hays Code began to be strictly enforced. Several Hollywood scandals, including the rape and murder of a Virginia Rapp by silent film actor Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle and the still unsolved murder of director William Desmond Taylor, as well as the increasing moral panic over sexually suggestive themes in movies, led to the creation of the code in 1930 by studios desperate to get various religious groups and the government off its back. Given how tame and conservative it is, it’s not hard to see how Little Women might have been a breath of fresh air for certain audiences.

The script is pretty sparse and it speeds through plot points breezily, never stopping to really consider the consequences of any of them. There aren’t really any consquences in the film at all, just things that happen and then we quickly move on. The film doesn’t dwell on unpleaseantness very long, or at all, even when there is a major death towards the end of the film. Because of this, the March sisters – save for Jo – are all interchangeable and never really get a chance to shine on their own. Meg’s courtship and eventual marriage to Laurie’s (Douglass Montgomery) tutor Mr. Brooks (John Lodge) is sidelined, and Amy’s trip to Europe and her marriage to Laurie happen almost completely off screen.

The only character that truly gets the spotlight is Jo and it’s hard to complain when she’s being played by Katharine Hepburn, whose own outspokenness and firery personality mirror that of Jo’s. One can’t help but to think of Hepburn’s own defiance of Hollywood and society at large when she’s playing Jo, particularly her habit of wearing trousers before it was “okay” for women to do so. But modern audiences might be taken aback by Hepburn’s portrayal of Jo because she doesn’t resemble the version of Jo seen in later adaptations. Both Winona Ryder and Saoirse Ronan, who played Jo in the 1994 version and the 2019 version, respectively, exhibit a kind of passion and wit that just isn’t in Hepburn’s portrayal. Because these versions go to great lengths to showcase Jo’s stubbornness and her anger, her refusal to conform to society’s expectations, they make Hepburn’s Jo feel watered down, her fire extinguished. Even Hepburn’s own voice, so distinctive and loud, is softer and meeker in Little Women.

This is, of course, not Hepburn’s fault. The story doesn’t allow for her to really let go, to emotionally revel in any kind of emotion that isn’t happy and grateful and content. Meg is going to marry Mr. Brooks? That’s inconvient, but it turns out fine. Amy is going to Europe with Aunt March instead of Jo? That’s fine too, afterall, Amy deserves it more. Beth dies? Well, it’s sad, but she’s looking down on them and smiling from heaven, so that’s fine too. Every time Jo encounters an obstactle, a moment that should move the story along and change her in some way, she simply accepts what’s happening without much care. The movie seems to be saying, very loudly, everything is okay. It’s fine. It’ll be fine.

Little Women may not strike at the hearts of modern audiences the way it did with audiences during the turmoil of the 1930s. It may feel too simple, too clean. Too okay. For those who desire conflict and darkness and pain, this movie offers none of that. But for others, those who may need an umbrella during a sun shower, or a hand to hold when theirs is empty, 1933’s Little Women might be exactly what they’ve been looking for.

Score: 20/24

It’s a Wonderful Knife (2023)
Director: Tyler MacIntyre
Screenwriter: Michael Kennedy
Starring: Jane Widdop, Joel McHale, Justin Long, Jess McLeod, Katherine Isabelle, Cassandra Naud

One has to wonder if a review for a film titled It’s A Wonderful Knife needs any introduction, but one must be written regardless. If you think it might have some twist to what the title would suggest, please allay those fears: it’s exactly what you think it is. Knife is a slasher take on It’s A Wonderful Life, the 1946 Frank Capra film starring Jimmy Stewart, a man who wishes his life never existed and through visiting an alternate timeline at Christmas, comes to appreciate what he had. Here we have a play on the same thing, with Jimmy Stewart being replaced by Jane Widdop’s Winnie, who stopped the Angel Falls masked killer one year before, and when ending up in a timeline where she never existed, finds the killer still on the loose, now with over 25 kills under his belt. If Winnie doesn’t stop the killer before the end of the night, she’ll never get back to her home world.

When you realise that Michael Kennedy also wrote the screenplay to Christopher Landon’s 2020 slasher film Freaky, a slasher sendup of classic Lindsay Lohan/Jamie Lee Curtis film Freaky Friday, you know what you’re in for. It’s a film that isn’t afraid to lean into the film it’s stealing its storyline from. It’s going to be pretty campy, silly in parts following teen outsiders coming together in the strangest of circumstances, with a decent production budget, and everyone knows what they’re doing. There’s never an attempt to be anything it isn’t and there are a few people who overdo the acting for the sheer joy and fun of it. Case in point, horror veteran Justin Long as the smarmy corporate businessman Henry Waters, doing his best capitalist megalomaniac impression. It’s overdone to a Matthew Lillard Thirteen Ghosts level, but so good for it. As the kids would say, he understood the assignment.

The cinematography from Nicholas Piatnik is great, full of christmas lights managing to set off the darkness well. It’s a film of contrasts, of light and dark, of neon greed shining out in a world that has forgotten hope and faith. In a film like this which is, despite the bloody slayings, warm and cosy, the atmosphere is perfectly captured. Of course, congratulations also go to the art direction by Louisa Birkin, and set dressing by Matt Carson and Jan Sikora for helping Piatnik get the lighting right with the practicals. It’s a wonderfully cohesive film in terms of its visual aesthetic, and when the blood hits the snow and the white costume of the killer, the blood is dark and visceral, which only works in contrast to the vibrant lighting. It’s a gorgeous looking film.

It’s a Wonderful Knife also isn’t afraid to go the whole way with its anti-capitalist statement. Its whole sentiment is that greed and complicit non-action in the thuggish, brutal ways to establish corporate dominance is not only manifest in physical actions, but is a kind of mental virus, capable of taking over the minds of those watching. It preys on grief. It preys on when we are at our lowest. Even those vehemently opposed to megalomaniacal corporations taking advantage of the lower classes still order from Amazon on occasion. In this way, Knife manages to take criticism of capitalist greed further than other films which might otherwise just have a statement of ‘capitalism bad’ as their fundamental premise.

But despite all this praise, there are parts that aren’t fantastic on a technical front. A few moments are very on-the-nose with their dialogue, expositionally overdoing the points we already know. The first kill is badly done, seeming like it’s cut to hide any effects work that they apparently haven’t done. Either that or it’s just badly cut. And even though Justin Long is perfectly embodying the smarmy businessman, one could say it’s overdone even past the point of campiness; overdoing an overdone performance. It’s how you take it.

So it isn’t perfect. Perhaps the messages are heavy handed, as subtle as a candy cane to the throat. But who cares? It’s not the greatest film in the world, but the main cast is great, the visuals are very Hallmark, and it’s got a cute ending. So on a cold night, if you’re fed up with the regular Christmas films, this 90 minute blast might just hit the spot for some holiday horror hooliganism.

Score: 16/24

It’s the hap-happiest season of all. We bring nature inside as we adorn our living spaces with seasonally appropriate trees, and we light up the longer nights with bright and colourful lights. Music from generations long since passed is re-played and re-contextualised, and centuries old iconography is re-evaluated and repurposed.

There’ll be parties for hosting, marshmallows for toasting, and carolling out in the snow. If we’ve been good, we’ll receive gifts (thanks Santa!), and if we’re lucky we’ll eat so much food we can barely move. Almost certainly, we’ll watch a movie. From the Netflix Originals of the current era to the silver screen classics of wartime Hollywood, Christmastime movie watching doesn’t discriminate based on picture quality, colour or the lack thereof, acting powerhouses or barely trained actors – if it works, it works. And if it’s good, we’ll hold onto it forever.

In this Movie List from The Film Magazine, we’ve scoured the annals of Christmas movie history to bring you the very best of the best to watch this holiday season. These films are Christmas classics and beloved cult hits, some culturally significant and others often overlooked. These films are seasonal treats; two advent calendars worth of movie magic from the big-wigs in Hollywood and beyond.

Short films (those with a runtime of under one hour) will not be included here, nor will films that cross multiple seasons but feel like Christmas movies – sorry You’ve Got Mail and Bridget Jones’s Diary. Debatable Christmas movies like Gremlins have also been omitted because of their inclusion in our alternative list “10 Excellent Non-Christmas Films Set at Christmas“. Seasonal classic The Apartment has also been disqualified on the grounds that it covers Christmas and beyond, and is arguably more of a new year’s movie.

These are 50 Unmissable Christmas Movies as chosen by The Film Magazine team members. Entries by Mark Carnochan, Kieran Judge, Martha Lane, Sam Sewell-Peterson and Joseph Wade.

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1. Remember the Night (1940)

Golden Era stars Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray (who would go on to star in The Apartment) spark an unlikely romance when Stanwyck’s Lee Leander steals a bracelet from a jewellery store and MacMurray’s John “Jack” Sargent is assigned to prosecute her over the Christmas holidays.

One of the era’s many beloved studio romantic comedies, Remember the Night features all the elements that would come to define the genre while encompassing some screwball comedy and classic transatlantic accents. The tagline read “When good boy meets bad girl they remember the night”, and it’s likely you’ll remember this seasonal treat too. JW

2. The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

Few things signal classic Hollywood Christmases like Jimmy Stewart, and 6 years before arguably his most memorable performance in the iconic Frank Capra Christmas movie It’s a Wonderful Life, he starred in a seasonal favourite that was just as beloved by critics, The Shop Around the Corner.

This holiday romance from Ernst Lubitsch (who also directed Heaven Can Wait) sees Stewart’s Alfred fall in love with his pen pal who, unbeknownst to him, is the colleague he most despises at his gift store job – You’ve Got Mail has got nothing on this. With some hearty moments and all of the circumstantial comedy of the best movies of the era, The Shop Around the Corner will make you laugh and fill your heart in that special way that only the best Christmas movies can. JW

3. Holiday Inn (1942)

Early sound pictures were revolutionised by famed tap dancer Fred Astaire, and by 1942 he was a certified movie musical megastar. In Mark Sandrich’s seasonal musical Holiday Inn, he teams with would-be Christmas icon and man with a voice as sooth as silk, Bing Crosby. The result is one of the most iconic and influential Christmas movies ever made.

The film’s outdated attitude towards race are cringe-inducing and inexcusable in a 21st century context (there’s a whole sequence featuring blackface), but its other dated sensibilities shine bright amongst more modern and commercial Christmas films; its wholesome aura, classic dance scenes, and era-defining songs making for an unmissable experience. To top it all, Bing Crosby sings “White Christmas” for the first time in this film, cementing it in history as a seasonal classic. JW

4. Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

Widely acknowledged as one of the holiday season’s best-ever films, Vincente Minnelli (An American in Paris) illuminates his would-be wife Judy Garland in arguably her most established performance, bringing Christmas cheer to all without sacrificing any of the harsh realities facing the American people in the first half of the 20th century.

Featuring the original (and arguably the best) rendition of Christmas classic “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”, and being anchored by some heartbreaking story elements, Meet Me In St. Louis maintains its power and relevance 80 years on. It offers a Christmas movie that will forever mark the height of its sub-genre, as well as the two filmmaking careers (of Minnelli and Garland) that helped to define the era. JW

Recommended for you: There’s No Place Like St. Louis at Christmas

5. Christmas in Connecticut (1945)

Remember the Night star Barbara Stanwyck is once again front and centre for a Golden Era Hollywood Christmas movie, this time playing a city magazine editor whose lies about being a perfect housewife are put to the test when her boss and a returning war hero invite themselves to her house.

This is screwball comedy with all the spirit of the festive season is as romantic as it is funny, and prominently features the shadows of World War II to gift the film a unique emotionality that has ensured it is rewatched year on year. JW

Dashing Through the Snow (2023)
Director: Tim Story
Screenwriters: Paula Pell, Scott Rosenberg
Starring: Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges, Madison Skye Validum, Teyonah Parris, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Lil Rey Howery, Oscar Nuñez

The majority of Christmas movies for kids follow a similar pattern: a jaded grown up is sick to their back teeth with the festive season, and they are completely unwilling to suck it up for their child’s benefit (you know, like millions of the globe’s parents have to do each year), that it takes a Christmas miracle to restore their faith.  

If Santa can fix a failing marriage too, then every Hallmark box has been ticked.

Eddie (Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges) is one such jaded adult, living alone while he and his wife (Teyonah Parris) go through therapy. He hates the holidays, claiming carol singers sound like wounded ducks, and he is happy to work through it to avoid any festivity. His daughter, Charlotte (Madison Skye Validum) is the exact opposite. She lives for Christmas and all the traditions that go with it. She wears red and green just in case her dad decides to take her somewhere nice this Christmas Eve.

Allison (Teyonah Parris) has some last-minute shopping to do so Charlotte is with grumpy dad who has an unusual Christmas off from work. After a pretty joyless dinner with nary a paper hat to be found, Eddie announces he needs to feed the neighbour’s cat. When looking for Pudding Foots, Eddie doesn’t find her (nor does he put any food out). What he does find is a man stuck in the chimney. Eddie is a social worker with the Atlanta police, his job is working with people who’ve fallen through the cracks and need a bit of help. This Nick Sinter-Claus (Lil Rey Howery) obviously needs it, the dude thinks he’s Santa! With Charlotte in tow, Eddie flips back into work mode to get Nick the help he needs.

On their way to the police station, Eddie realises they’re being followed. The disjointed style of storytelling means we haven’t been told why they are being followed, and won’t be told for another third of the film. But these goons are hellbent on taking Nick down.

In a lot of ways, Dashing Through the Snow is exactly what you would expect from a Christmas film. It is a short 90 minutes, features garish set designs, glimmer and shine, there’s a musical number, and there’s a boxing reindeer. However, it falls short…

The dreaded product placement logo as the opening credits roll prepares you for any awkward scenes of close-up iPad wiggling. Because that is what this film is about: an iPad. Why Santa can be seen on this night as opposed to any other is not explained. It barely snows and it’s not so much of a dash as a bumble around downtown Atlanta. Its strong cast are phoning it in. Mary Lynn Rajskub is woefully underutilised. She is a comic heavyweight and does little beyond gurn. While it seems Teyonah Parris’s soul purpose was to over-pronounce peppermintinis and go shopping. Lil Rey Howery’s Santa is given so many gags that when he does try to speak earnestly it seems insincere.

Oscar Nuñez is believable as corrupt politician Harf, but his storyline is completely two-dimensional. Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges is the star on top of the Christmas tree here; Eddie is likable and says the few genuinely funny lines in the film, but he doesn’t shine quite bright enough to save the venture.

Perhaps expectations were too high for Dashing Through the Snow – the back catalogue of the writers include an eclectic contribution to entertainment: ‘Saturday Night Live’, Con Air (1997), High Fidelity (2000), and the Jumanji reboots (2017, 2019) to name a few. All of which are highly popular and lucrative. It’s fair to say that people have lower expectations of Christmas movies. Schlock isn’t only accepted, it’s actively pursued. Tis the season for guilty pleasures and vegging out after all. It is a shame though, because with such talent behind the scenes it feels like Dashing Through the Snow could have been a good film, rather than a mediocre one.

Dashing Through the Snow has its moments but is ultimately a story about an iPad. It isn’t funny enough, and the story isn’t strong enough. Lil Rey Howery demanding cookies and farting cinnamon for 90 minutes might cut it for one watch, but it doesn’t feel like a new Christmas classic has made its way onto our screens. Ludacris earnestly saying things like ‘I believe in baby carrots and red potatoes. With the skin on’ is not going to be this year’s ‘yippee ka-yay.’

Score: 14/24

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Director: Henry Selick
Screenwriter: Caroline Thompson
Starring: Danny Elfman, Chris Sarandon, Catherine O’Hara, William Hickey, Glenn Shadix, Paul Reubens, Ken Page, Edward Ivory

If a single word can be used to describe “Tim Burton’s” The Nightmare Before Christmas, it would be “alternative”. Released two years before Pixar’s Toy Story, it was Disney’s first feature-length animated film to not be produced in the traditional animation style, though Disney initially had the film released under their sister company Touchstone Pictures as they thought the film to be too frightening for young children. In the past three decades, The Nightmare Before Christmas has become the alternative watch at Christmas for those of a spookier disposition, whilst at Halloween it has been the perfect choice for those who can’t stomach hardcore horrors. Lead character Jack Skellington has become the unofficial mascot of alternative goth/emo kids, with Jack’s spooky face peering out of all manner of black clothes, rucksacks, mugs, etc. – how convenient of Disney to end Nightmare‘s banishment once they realised how much money they could make from it through merchandise.

The Nightmare Before Christmas started as a poem by Tim Burton (inspired by a department store’s hasty changing of the Halloween decorations to Christmas ones), which he pitched to Disney whilst he was working for them as an animator in the 1980s. It was quickly rejected by them, though they soon changed their tune after he left and directed the successful blockbuster Batman (1989). After the adaptation of the original poem by Michael McDowell, Caroline Thompson fleshed out the bare bones story into something of an almost mythological quality.

The brief prologue informs us that we are going to learn where holidays come from, before we are taken through a door with a pumpkin on it. Jack Skellington is the king of the pumpkin patch and is the figurehead of Halloweentown, the place responsible for carrying out Halloween celebrations in the human world. After another massively successful Halloween, Jack is showered with praise but he is left feeling empty. Achieving everything he can through his frightening prowess, he is left wishing to do more as he takes a solemn walk through the woods. After wandering all night, he comes across the other holiday doors, and after one catches his eye he tumbles headfirst into the bright and snowy world of Christmastown.

Completely enamoured with all of the sights and sounds of Christmas, he can’t help but to desperately try and understand more about the Christmas Holiday. However, Jack’s natural spookiness means he struggles to grasp the true nature of Christmas; in this quest to understand this new fantasy, Jack decides that Halloweentown should take over the Christmas celebrations this year, turning the season into a wholly horrifying and macabre affair.

It is still greatly debated whether The Nightmare Before Christmas is truly Tim Burton’s. He is credited as producer and the author of the original idea, but it was very much Henry Selick in the director’s chair and Caroline Thompson behind the typewriter. He was not a constant presence in the animation house, only popping into the San Francisco studios a few times a year. His original poem only outlined three characters in the film (Jack, Zero and Santa Claus), whilst it was McDowell’s and Thompson’s writing, alongside the creativity of the animators, that produced the bulk of the monsters and ghouls that inhabit Halloweentown. Burton’s influence and supervision is, however, evident within the gothic artistic style directly inspired by his original sketches, which is comparable to his other animated works such as Corpse Bride and Frankenweenie. He also very much had the final word when it came to the script – after he was told the original intended ending, he hated it so much he had to leave the room to kick a hole in the wall.

The most important influence Tim Burton had on The Nightmare Before Christmas was leaving Danny Elfman in charge of its music. Writing most of the principle songs before the script was finalised using the brief story points of Burton’s poem, Elfman stacked 10 distinct songs into the 76-minute runtime, transforming the movie into a veritable opera. Through Elfman’s musical prowess and emotional intelligence, a great deal of heart was put into the songwriting process, with Elfman confessing that he strongly empathised with Jack’s character. Being a member of the band Oingo Boingo, Elfman achieved massive success but was beginning to feel fatigued and was feeling the temptation of a change in work. Using this self-reflection and his own vocal talent (after asking Burton for Jack’s role), Elfman’s musical direction transformed The Nightmare Before Christmas from something akin to a Halloween TV Special into high art.

The exquisite quality of the music accentuates the other highlights of the production, and as the film behaves like an opera, most of the crucial plot points and characterisation are contained within it. Fan favourites “This is Halloween” and “What’s This” draw attention to the creativity of the art design of the different holiday locations: Christmastown is straight out of Dr Seuss whilst Halloweentown is an homage to the greats of German Expressionism, filled with the most delightfully gruesome inhabitants.

The operatic style of the storytelling is what makes Nightmare a modern fairy tale. The story is extremely economical with initially little motivation given for the characters’ moods and actions: Jack wants more than just frightening people because he says so in “Jack’s Lament”; Sally loves Jack because she sings that she does so in “Sally’s Song”. In this simplicity, they become the mythical creatures straight out of ‘tales as old as time’. Given the charm instilled by the vocalisation achieved by the cast, particularly by Catherine O’Hara as Shock and Sally, it is no wonder that after 30 years these characters are still adored. A great demonstration of the masterful orchestration of the talents of voice and animation is “Oogie Boogie’s Song”, in which Ken Page has the time of his life bringing to life one of Disney’s coolest villains with his casino-style lair being one of the most memorable in the history of stop motion animation.

In the 30 years since its release, stop motion animation has come along in leaps and bounds. It may lack the smoothness of more recent Laika releases, but such imperfections only add to a film with bags of charm. With this passage of time, it becomes more clearly evident that The Nightmare Before Christmas was a flash of lightning captured in a bottle. With the support of Tim Burton, Selick’s burgeoning aspirations, Elfman’s earnestness, and a cast of Burton favourites, The Nightmare Before Christmas remains the most perfect little Halloween treat for all to see. Jack Skellington is not just the King of the Pumpkin Patch, after 30 years he is the King of the Goths.

Score: 23/24

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse (2022)
Directors: Peter Baynton, Charlie Mackesy
Screenwriters: Charlie Mackesy, Jon Croker
Starring: Jude Coward Nicoll, Tom Hollander, Idris Elba, Gabriel Byrne

The BBC and Apple TV+ animated children’s story book The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse is 2023’s all-star offering in the Oscars’ Animated Short category, experienced British and Irish actors Tom Hollander, Idris Elba and Gabriel Byrne lending their voices on the screen, with Emma, The Phantom of the Open and ‘Fleabag’ composer Isobel Waller-Bridge providing the score.

Adapting from the beloved 2019 children’s book of the same name are directors Peter Baynton and the book’s author Charlie Mackesy. Through a beautiful 2D hand-drawn animated style, the pair faithfully bring the illustrated tale to life, the film’s unique “sketch lines still visible” approach an endearing quality that presupposes that imperfections aren’t always bad.

In the case of The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, these lines illuminate the animation’s hand-drawn artistry, allowing for a visual spectacle that people of all ages can enjoy alone or, as the film proposes, together.

This is an animated short that offers all the life lessons of a classic children’s novel. We see messages of acceptance, a celebration of kindness, an encouragement of intuition and intrigue, and a heap of wilful self-belief. It then reaches further, offering modern lessons on being emotionally available, open to pain and hurt and anxiety, but loving one’s self all the same. The children watching this film will no doubt have positive lessons reaffirmed, and the adults should feel as if old lessons have been retaught.

The voice work of the adults in the cast is no doubt stellar. Tom Hollander, known for so often playing despicable characters on British television, is a kindly mole here, and his voice work is soft, his words rolling out of his mouth as if a kind gift. His is the standout performance, but credit is due to young lead Jude Coward Nicoll, who anchors the whole piece with a warmth that reaffirms the film’s values. His is a vocal performance not handicapped by usual child performance woes, such as a whiny tone and questionable cadence, his is as mature and homely as the rest of the short film.

“When the big things feel out of control, focus on what you love. Always remember, you’re enough just as you are.” The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse is enough just as it is, a short film with both classic and modern messaging neatly bowed by some beautiful animation and exceptional voice work; a real triumph of its author turned screenwriter turned director, and a cosy, encouraging and beautiful little piece of cinema.

Score: 20/24

In 2005, BBC4 revived the series, beginning with an adaptation of James’ story “A View from a Hill”, and there have been seven films made intermittently in the years following, all M.R. James adaptations barring one.

In the spirit of Christmas spooks, and the old tradition of gathering around the fire to tell a ghost story (as Dickens himself loved to do; he was responsible for many famous writers of the day giving ghost stories for anthologies specifically for Christmas, including Wilkie Collins and Robert Louis Stephenson), in this edition of Ranked we at The Film Magazine are taking all sixteen films, including the classics and the new releases, and ranking them for your reading and viewing pleasure. Sit back with a mug of cocoa, a roaring fire, and get ready to feel a little chill go across the bones. These are A Ghost Story for Christmas Films Ranked.

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16. The Ice House (1978)

The second of two original stories created in the original run, The Ice House is the film which pretty much closed up shop on the series for nearly three decades.

In this tale, a gentleman staying at a luxury hotel in the countryside befriends the owners, a young brother and sister duo who seem to have the best interests of their residents at heart. But occasionally Paul feels some cold spells pass across him, and there’s definitely something strange and secretive about a modern, up-to-date establishment like this, with all its fridges and freezers, still having an ice house down the end of the garden.

The first film in the series to be directed by someone other than Lawrence Gorden Clark, the film suffers from being decidedly un-spooky, with a lack of chills save for perhaps one scene nearer the end. Irritatingly, it is also very uninteresting.

Ghosts are lacking in this ghost story, and whilst the performances try to lend… something, to the tale, it never really manages to rattle any chains. The final reveals are bland, and it’s easy to finish the film having forgotten pretty much everything as soon as it was said.

15. Stigma (1977)

The first of the two original stories from the original run, Stigma sees a mother at the mercy of an avenging spirit when a great boulder is moved from their garden. Now she’s bleeding everywhere, though there’s not a mark on her body, and her very life may be in danger…

Stigma is a fun concept, and it was certainly a risk for the series to both set a film in the modern day, and not be an adaptation of a previous work. Filmed in Avebury in Whiltshire, which was also used that year for the underrated family dark fantasy/folk horror serial ‘Children of the Stones’, there’s an attempt to blend past and present, bringing the traditional ghost story into the modern viewing age with an emphasis on bright red blood (hence the stigmata of the title) which possibly reflected the increase in explicit violence in film and TV happening in recent years. Despite this, the film just sort of… ends, and you can throw as much blood on the screen as you want; if it doesn’t chill the bones, it isn’t what we’re after.

Watch ‘Children of the Stones’, if you want good, spooky folk horror in the same setting in the same year.

Recommended for you: Blood Junkies (1993) Review

14. Martin’s Close (2019)

Peter Capaldi had acted in two ‘Doctor Who’ stories written by Mark Gatiss in the past, and now, not only is he back under Gatiss’ writing thumb, but also his directorial control (point to note: you’ll see many more ‘Doctor Who’ links as this list progresses).

This M.R. James adaptation has Simon Williams’ narrator regale us with a tale about a strange court case from the past, in which Capaldi’s Dolben must present the evidence for the conviction of a young man, Mr John Martin, on trial for the murder of a young woman. The strange part is, she has been seen by multiple witnesses, after she died.

This adaptation isn’t necessarily bad. The acting is strong (especially that of Peter Capaldi, but we all expected this), the direction is fine, and everything is generally ok. But therein lies the rub; it is ok. Nothing stands out, nothing really gets you sitting back in the armchair with your fingernails scratching at the leather.

Whilst the storyteller dramatisation idea with Simon Williams in his home is a commendable idea to recreate the story-by-the-fireside cosy feeling, it functions to interrupts the flow of the story when it shouldn’t, and constantly brings you out of any kind of immersion you might have felt. Despite everyone trying their best with what they have, it just doesn’t come together.