The best Christmas movies on Disney+

Disney recently released its own reboot of the home-invasion series, Home Sweet Home Alone, but the streaming service is also home to the Macaulay Culkin classic (and its less-than-stellar sequels). It’s the holly-jolliest film about child neglect ever made!

For all the nightmarish Halloween chaos – Danny Elfman’s opening track is inarguably the best All Hallows song ever written – this macabre stop-motion treat takes its holiday spirit very seriously too (‘What’s This’ deserves a spot on any Christmas playlist). Sure, the amateur elves of Halloween Town botch the big day by delivering heads and snakes to unsuspecting kids, but it’s the thought that counts, right?

It’s pretty much exactly what the title implies: the immortal Charles Dickens story, as interpreted by Jim Henson’s daffy felt children. Although it was released during a rather down period for the Muppets, it’s still among the most entertaining versions of the tale. That’s thanks in large part to the brilliant Michael Caine – the lone human in the cast – portraying one of the Scroogiest Scrooges to ever bah humbug.

It sounds like a Cronenbergian body-horror film: a mild-mannered grump (Tim Allen) accidentally causes Santa’s death, only to find himself suddenly gaining weight and sprouting hair as he magically becomes the new boss of the North Pole against his will. Yet The Santa Clause is a ‘90s kid classic thanks to its big heart, inherent silliness and overall cheer. Just ignore those lump-of-coal sequels. 

Tim Burton’s deeply personal fairytale doesn’t shift into the Christmas spirit until the third act, yet the entire film plays like a fireside Christmas Eve story (it’s even narrated as such). The themes of acceptance are universal, and the image of Winonna Ryder dancing around ice sculptures as Danny Elfman’s career-best score swells and Edward sends snowflakes flying are as stirring as anything else out there this season.

The ultimate in cuddly Christmas afternoon movies, this original stars Edmund Gwenn as Kris Kringle, who must prove he is in fact Santa Claus – not least to a young girl (Natalie Wood) who has lost the true meaning of Christmas. As a bonus, the better-than-expected 1994 remake with Richard Attenborough in the red suit is also available to stream. 

While the film takes a few liberties – we’re pretty sure Dickens never wrote about a shrunken Scrooge surfing on an icicle – technical wizard Robert Zemeckis’s motion-capture animated spectacle manages to keep the spirit of the source material intact, with Jim Carrey capably pulling quadruple duty as the world’s most famous miser and all three ghosts of Christmas. It’s a dazzler that doesn’t pull punches when it’s time for the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come to execute the world’s most effective ‘scared straight’ program. 

Denzel Washington gets his wings as an Earthbound angel helping a New York preacher save his congregation. The Penny Marshall-directed film is overflowing with gorgeous music delivered by megastar Whitney Houston, who anchors a story about faith and kindness while demonstrating the vocal prowess that made her an all-time great. 

It might be better known these days for SNL’s classic ‘Lazy Sunday’ skit (‘Pass the chronic – what? – cles of Narnia’), but this snowy Christmas treat based on CS Lewis’s novel is, indeed, a dreamworld of magic. There’s both a Father Christmas and a White Witch, the latter played by Tilda Swinton.

Look, if we’re going to count Die Hard as a Christmas movie, then we’re counting this timeless love story about two dogs learning the value of selflessness and snuggling. Plus, it begins with a lengthy Christmastime sequence and ends with a litter of puppies underneath the tree. Which is to say: Yippie-kay-yay, Bella Notte. 

Sarah Jessica Parker, Claire Danes, Diane Keaton, Luke Wilson and Rachel McAdams star in this American comedy-drama about an uptight guest (Parker) in the liberal Stone household, where matriarch Diane Keaton rules supreme. It’s a solid cousin to the squabbling-family delights of the overlooked Home For the Holidays: Watchable Christmas fluff with a delightful mean streak. 

A movie that acknowledges the true meaning of Christmas – crass consumerism – and mines it for all the goofy humour its premise can muster, this retroactively classic comedy pits Arnold Schwarzenegger against Sinbad as desperate dads hoping to score their respective kids the most coveted gift of the season: a Turbo Man action figure. It’s unapologetically dumb, but if we’re being honest, so are a lot of things about this holiday we love so much, which makes it a great bonding experience for the whole family.

Sandra Bullock is at her most loveable in this smart, thoughtful romcom about a lonely Chicago subway worker who rescues the man of her dreams from an oncoming train only to fall in love with his bad-tempered brother. Witty, sweet and festive – if a little stalkery – it’s the kind of movie Hollywood has always excelled at.

Lethal Weapon and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang scribe Shane Black is the king of the Christmas-set action movie, and his entry in the MCU is no exception. If you’ve ever wanted to watch Robert Downey Jr spend the holidays with an oversized teddy bear and save the world from certain doom while going full George Bailey during an identity crisis, here’s your dream movie. Throw in a detour to the Miss Chattanooga Christmas Pageant and you’ve got a stealthily cheery superhero Christmas-adjacent extravaganza.

An old-school Disney live-action comedy in the spirit of The Santa Clause, this holiday flick was one of Disney+’s banner offerings upon launch, then quickly forgotten. Shame too: Anna Kendrick is perfectly at place as Santa’s overlooked daughter, while Bill Hader is reliably hilarious as the big man’s unwilling heir.