I haven’t watched many of the “traditional” Christmas films this year – I wanted a bit of variation from the norm so I watched a bunch of Netflix and Hallmark-esque movies instead. Here’s my list, and my thoughts…
Falling For Christmas
My first foray into this Christmas movie genre and I loved it. As a millennial I grew up watching The Parent Trap, Freaky Friday and Mean Girls so Lindsay Lohan is very welcome on my screen. Add in that nice guy from Glee all grown up and an English bad guy you’ve definitely got my attention! I really enjoyed the cheese:Christmas ratio. Will certainly watch again.
The Christmas Switch: 1, 2 & 3
After enjoying FFC, I decided to dive right in. These films are so cheesey, so far fetched, get more and more ridiculous as they go on, but are thoroughly enjoyable! Big fan. Will watch the first again, maybe the others too.
The Christmas Prince: 1, 2 & 3
With a cameo in the first two Christmas Switch films, I moved onto these next, and although they are super ridiculous and removed from reality (unlike the very realistic Christmas Switch… 😂🤦🏼♀️), they are fun. I enjoyed watching them and following the story over the three films, but I don’t think I’ll watch them again.
Four Christmases
Not the same genre of Christmas movie that I set out to watch, but Tom and I watched this one together, and it is still not a traditional Christmas movie… It’s fun, it’s silly, and it’s predictable! Enjoyable, and will watch again.
Your Christmas Or Mine
I didn’t know this was British before going in and think it made me enjoy it more – just a bit more relatable. It was more unexpected story-wise than the usual formula (maybe that’s the British-ness of it – you don’t quite get the US grandeur of the other films I’ve already watched), and I really liked it. Will watch the second one, and I would watch this one again.
Exmas
This was a really fun story! It was incredibly predictable, sufficiently silly, and had some really good people in it. Will definitely watch again.
The Family Stone
Now this is full of famous faces! But such a weird storyline. Overall I enjoyed it, and it’s a film about a kind of normal family dealing with regular-ish stuff. But a couple of the character foibles in it were big to the point of being a bit weird – for example, the bit with SJP’s character’s mega homophobia seems completely unnecessary to the plot. The ending is unexpected to be fair. Wouldn’t watch again in a hurry but maybe in a few years I’ll give it another go.
Elf, The Grinch & A Muppet Christmas Carol
I did also watch these more traditional ones. Elf is fantastic as ever – love it, and love spotting Vancouver scenery at the beginning too. Muppet Christmas Carol is our Christmas Eve staple – hopefully next year we’ll include Maisie in it! We’ve been watching the 2018 Grinch on repeat as Maisie is obsessed with it – I hadn’t yet seen it but actually really like it, it’s quite different to the Jim Carey film so I don’t feel they compete!
Ellen Wiggins 