Home alone for Christmas? Here are some movies to welcome the festive cheer
YS Weekender recommends some of the best Christmas-themed movies of all times to enjoy a laid-back holiday season.
Christmas calls for celebrations. While the pandemic has left us stuck inside our houses, there are still ways to enjoy a cosy Christmas — with friends, or by yourselves.
Bring out the warmest of blankets, make a piping cup of hot chocolate, and enjoy a laid-back holiday with these Christmas-themed movies:
Home Alone (1990)
A timeless Christmas comedy, Home Alone is the story of Kevin, a troublemaker being ‘accidentally’ left behind home by his family during a Christmas vacation. The film revolves around the eight-year-old protecting his house from burglars (double his size).
Every scene in the movie is funnier than the one before and the franchise has four more films to offer — Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Home Alone 3, Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House and Home Alone: The Holiday Heist.
Trivia: Earlier last year, post the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney, CEO Bob Iger announced a new Home Alone film. In fact, Kevin McCallister, the iconic actor from the original series, was also supposed to make an appearance in the film. However, due to COVID-19, filming had to be postponed.
The Holiday
If you are craving some rom-com, your search ends here. Long before a certain life-switch movie became popular, 21st century Hollywood offered a home-exchange film. Starring Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz, The Holiday is about two women who decide to switch houses (and continents) to escape their heartbreaks.
Although the film received mixed reviews, we highly recommend you watch it. Like most other romantic-comedies, The Holiday promises a happy ending as well (and not one where the damsel-in-distress goes back to the cheating boyfriend!).
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Based on The Chronicles of Narnia, a fantasy series by CS Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was co-produced by Walden Media and Walt Disney Pictures.
The movie is set during World War II where four children discover a wardrobe and enter the fantasy world of Narnia. But, trouble awaits! Narnia is under a curse and an eternal winter — a perfect set up for Christmas!
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
What’s more magical than Christmas? Hogwarts!
While we would love to recommend the entire Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s (or Sorcerer’s) Stone has a special charm to it.
Based on JK Rowling’s novel of the same name, the film is based on the first book of the best-selling fantasy series. Harry Potter has just discovered he is a wizard and joins Hogwarts -- the beginning of all things magical!
Watch (or re-watch) as ‘The Boy who Lives’ begins his life in the wizarding world.
Baby’s Day Out
A serious dose of laughter peppered with a healthy dose of cuteness. Released in 1994, Baby’s Day Out centres on the kidnapping of an infant by three not-so-smart criminals.
While the trio successfully grabs the baby, it is difficult to say who is holding who hostage as the baby sets off on his own adventures across Chicago leading his kidnappers on a hilarious chase.
Trivia: Twin brothers Adam Robert and Jacob Joseph Worton played the role of baby Bink in the movie. Late actor Verne Jay Troyer played Bink’s stunt double.
While these are just five movies that you can start with, here are a few more recommendations that we have for you:
- Elf
- Night at the Museum
- The Nutcracker and the Four Realms
- Christmas with the Kranks
- Bridget Jones’s Diary
- Wonder
- Letters to Juliet
- A Christmas Story
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas
- The Polar Express
- The Christmas Chronicles
- The Princess Switch
- Holiday in the Wild
Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta