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As I have gotten older, Christmas just isn’t a fun time for me anymore. I’m sure you think that sounds depressing and you’re right. I want to love Christmas. I want to love this capitalistic and kind of tacky season. I want to me my sister, basically.
I decided this year to watch 5 Christmas films that I haven’t seen before, to see if I have an epiphany like Scrooge or my heart grows two sizes bigger.
For each film I’ll be giving my star rating and also my “Christmas Spirit” rating, and these could potentially be very different.
Klaus (2019)
“When Jesper distinguishes himself as the Postal Academy’s worst student, he is sent to Smeerensburg, a small village located on an icy island above the Arctic Circle, where grumpy inhabitants barely exchange words, let alone letters. Jesper is about to give up and abandon his duty as a postman when he meets local teacher Alva and Klaus, a mysterious carpenter who lives alone in a cabin full of handmade toys.”
Klaus (2019) directed by Sergio Pablos • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd
Klaus is a very heartwarming film, with lots of fun humour. After having watched the film, I saw someone’s review say that Jesper is Kuzco (from Emperor’s New Groove) and that is an intellectual right there! Jesper is a spoilt brat and I loved the montage at the start where he’s at the academy as it’s a great marker to see how much growth he goes through by the end of the film.
All the characters were fun, but for the most part we don’t really know much about anyone apart from Jesper and Klaus (and maybe Alva to some extent). The former’s backstory was one we see a lot, but it’s impactful none-the-less. However, I will say the ending was unexpected and felt a little too gentle/slow in comparison to the rest of the film.
Overall, it’s a super sweet film and the animation is very beautiful. In terms of Christmas spirit, maybe I’m more of a scrooge right now (to be fair this is my first Christmas film of the year) but it hasn’t made me excited for the holiday season. I enjoyed the film as there were moments that made me feel very warm and I enjoyed the community, but I wasn’t completely invested.
my rating: ⭐⭐⭐.5
Christmas Spirit Rating:
The Grinch (2018)
“It was the heist before Christmas.
The Grinch hatches a scheme to ruin Christmas when the residents of Whoville plan their annual holiday celebration.”
The Grinch (2018) directed by Yarrow Cheney, Scott Mosier • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd
The Grinch is fine for what it is. The animation was cute and colourful for Whoville, as expected. The problem was that the plot wasn’t very engaging and I found myself getting bored, especially in the second half.
To be honest, the backstory doesn’t make much sense. It has distinguishable points which children can easily pick up on and I suppose that’s the most important thing as it is a kid’s film. It has a strong moral, but the Grinch in this doesn’t come off as mean so there isn’t much character development. He’s just sad and easily allows himself to forgive the Who’s and embrace their Christmas joy. His relationship with Max was incredibly cute.
The voice acting was fine, with Kenan Thompson as Bricklebaum being the standout! Benedict Cumberbatch as the Grinch was actually really enjoyable, but the main problem was the narrator being Pharrell Williams. He has a nice voice, but it’s gentle and doesn’t match the tone of the film.
Overall, this was a cute film in the moment, but it’s not memorable. I’m giving it a solid 3 for increasing my Christmas spirit because Whoville reminds me of all the lights that are out at the moment, especially the ones around the Christmas market in the city near me, and visually it gives a lot of warm Christmassy feelings.
my rating: ⭐⭐.5
Christmas Spirit Rating:
Click and Collect (2018)
“To save his daughter’s Christmas, Andrew goes on a road trip with Dev, his neighbour from hell, to buy an elusive Sparklehoof the Unicorn Princess.”
Click & Collect (2018) directed by Ben Palmer • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd
Click & Collect is a short film, with a run time of just under an hour.
This was super wholesome and the humour is very British. There were ridiculous moments, but it had so much heart.
During those car journey’s I could just feel myself being Andrew (Stephen Merchant) and so it was fun for me to go on the same emotional journey of realising that there is more to Dev (Asim Chaudhry) and that his love for Christmas (while still annoying) is endearing.
I’m not sure if it’s because of the British humour, the relatable perception of Christmas and/or the setting, but I found myself getting into the Christmas spirit with this one! I was so invested in these two men finding a plastic unicorn toy!
my rating: ⭐⭐⭐.5
Christmas Spirit Rating:
A Christmas Prince (2017)
“She’s looking for a scoop. He’s looking for a queen.
When a reporter goes undercover as a nanny to get the inside scoop on a playboy prince, she gets tangled in some royal intrigue and ends up finding love – but will she be able to keep up her lie?”
A Christmas Prince (2017) directed by Alex Zamm • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd
There are loads of ‘hallmark’ style Christmas films on Netflix, and I thought I would give the super popular A Christmas Prince a watch. I love a commoner/royal pairing and it looked cute.
And it was cute. There was barely a plot and I was more invested in the sisterly friendship between our main protagonist Amber (Rose McIver) and Princess Emily (Honor Kneafsey) than the romance. The romance is threadbare and isn’t based on much. But I still got those warm fuzzy emotions. What can I say? I love tropes 😂
The acting was what you would imagine in a Hallmark style film, but Rose McIver was great and felt like one of the only natural actors in the film. And she even made the often cringe-inducing dialogue work as well.
Overall, a lot of the plot doesn’t make sense, there was the lamest coronation ever (I live in England so I know what I’m talking about!), for some reason this mainland European country speaks English and they all sound British and overall, it’s pretty generic. However, I had fun and that’s what matters. I will say though, it didn’t give me any Christmas feelings… The winter setting was pretty, but maybe I don’t watch enough of these films for it to give me that Christmas nostalgia.
my rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Christmas Spirit Rating:
A Nonsense Christmas with Sabrina Carpenter (2024)
“Pop star Sabrina Carpenter jingles all the bells in this old-school variety music special full of holiday hits, unexpected duets and comedic cameos.”
Christmas is known for specials and musical variety programmes. I grew up watching a lot of Morecambe and Wise at Christmas (my parents grew up watching them so passed the tradition down, I’m not old 😂).
I went into this not knowing much about Sabrina Carpenter. I’m not even sure that I’ve listened to a full song of hers. However, Netflix was pushing it on my home screen and it looked fun and it was! Sabrina is incredibly talented and I enjoyed how she was able to match her vocals with all the different guests to compliment their voices in the duets.
It was nice to hear some classics (and Wham!), but I’m not sure if some of the absolute Christmas bangers that we have in the UK are known in America. A lot of the songs were more sultry, which is on brand for Sabrina.
Some of the sketches were a little awkward as they were either for a younger audience and/or the humour was a bit forced. I did give this an extra half star though because I love an outtake reel and it was super cute. I didn’t watch it all in one go, so it was kind of nice to sprinkle within different activities, one of which was wrapping presents which made me feel a bit more festive as I’m not great at that task!
my rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Christmas Spirit Rating:
Final Thoughts
I tried to watch a range of films, for different ages, but I don’t think I chose a strong set for this challenge. I will do this next year and hopefully, I will be able to curate a more successful list.
I think it’s rather telling that a film about a grumpy Brit filled me with the most Christmas cozy cheer…
My overall star rating for this post was 3.1⭐, which isn’t terrible but not great either. And my Christmas Spirit rating is also 3🎄. Thankfully, the rating here is a bit skewed because I had two high ratings of 4 and then some low ones. So not too bad when you look at it individually.
So, am I filled with Christmas joy? Not really…
Happy Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Thanks for reading!
I hope you’re having a lovely day and staying safe ♥
DramaRambles 🌸 