Family and kids Christmas

A selfish postman and a quiet toymaker stumble into inventing Christmas, and it is the softest movie Netflix owns. Hand-drawn, a little sad, and the one we put on when the room needs to exhale.

Buddy the elf goes to New York to find his dad and treats the whole city like the North Pole. Will Ferrell, 2003, and it is on Prime and Max. If the room can only agree on one movie, it is often this.

Kevin gets left behind, the house becomes a fortress, and a lot of us still know the soundtrack by heart. On Disney+. The 1990 one, not a remix.

Michael Caine plays Scrooge with a straight face and the Muppets do the rest. It might be the best Christmas movie, and we will not be taking questions. Disney+.

Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, two sisters, and a Vermont inn that needs a miracle and a song. On Prime and Paramount+. If the room wants one classic, this is a very good vote.

A department-store Santa might be the real one, and a little girl is trying to decide what she is allowed to believe. The 1947 film, on Disney+ and Prime. Still the gentlest argument for wonder.

A boy who is starting to doubt gets a train to the North Pole. The motion-capture looks like a dream, the song is stuck in the culture, and Max has it.

Ralphie wants a Red Ryder BB gun, the Old Man battles the furnace, and a lamp shaped like a leg arrives. On Max. You can recite parts of it and still be happy it is on.

Kurt Russell plays Santa like a rock star who lost his sleigh, and two kids have to help him get it back. It is loud in the best way, and it is still on Netflix.

Jack Skellington tries to run Christmas and gets the joy all wrong before he gets it right. Halloween bones, Christmas heart, and it is on Disney+.

Santa's daughter has to find her brother and maybe take the sleigh herself. Anna Kendrick, a bright Disney+ original, good for kids who want a present-day North Pole.

Benedict Cumberbatch voices the Grinch in the 2018 animated one, which is brighter and kinder than you might remember from the trailer. On Peacock. Very easy for kids.

Jim Carrey in the full green makeup, committing completely. The 2000 live-action Grinch, on Peacock. Louder than the cartoon, and a lot of millennials want exactly that.

A boy goes looking for his father and finds the beginning of Christmas instead. It is a storybook movie, a little dark at the edges, and very kind in the middle.

Jim Carrey plays the whole haunting in the motion-capture Carol. It is darker than the Muppet one and very watchable. Prime and Disney+ both have it.

Patrick Stewart plays Scrooge like a man who has been cold for a long time and is tired of it. The 1999 television Carol, included with Prime.

George C. Scott plays Scrooge like a businessman you would not want to owe money. The 1984 version, free on Tubi. A strong, straight Carol.

Alastair Sim's 1951 Scrooge, the one a lot of families still call the real one. Free on Tubi. Black-and-white, and it has the best transformation.

Ralphie is the dad now, and he wants the Christmas he remembers for his own kids. The 2022 sequel, on Max, for people who grew up with the lamp.

A family comes apart over the holidays, and a basset hound narrates the long way back together. New on Netflix this November, from the people who wrote A Dog's Purpose. Have the tissues where you can reach them.

Madea gets dragged into a small-town Christmas and the town does not survive unchanged. Tyler Perry, PG-13, on Prime. You know if Madea is your December person.

Eddie Murphy makes a wish to win the decorating contest and the wish has fine print. A big Prime comedy, PG-13, with enough chaos for a Friday.

The Kranks try to skip Christmas and the neighborhood will not allow it. Broad, sunny, and on Max. A good one when you want the comedy turned up.

Two neighbors go to war over Christmas lights, and the lights are winning. Matthew Broderick and Danny DeVito, on Netflix. Broad on purpose.

A rich woman wants to sell her hometown out from under the Christmas festival, and Dolly is not going to allow it. A musical with a sermon's heart. Sing along or just sit with it.

A workaholic dad wishes for more time and gets Melissa McCarthy as a genie instead. It is a Christmas movie even though the wish is the headline, and Peacock has it.

A fairy godmother in training picks the wrong kind of client and ends up fixing a tired adult life instead of a ball. Isla Fisher, Disney+, and softer than the title sounds.

Kevin and the same two burglars, this time in a toy-store New York. Bigger, louder, and still the sequel people quote. Disney+ again.

A different kid, a different set of crooks, and a remote-control car that does a lot of work. It is the 1997 one. Lower stakes, same Disney+ shelf, fine if the first two are worn out.

Twenty-six minutes, Boris Karloff, and the song. The original TV special, on Peacock. This is the one to watch when dinner is in the oven and you still want the real Grinch.

A college kid has to get home for Christmas or lose the car, and the country between him and the dinner table does not cooperate. A 1998 Disney comedy. Jonathan Taylor Thomas, if that name just warmed you.

The 1979 Rankin/Bass winter tale, about an hour, with the old stop-motion charm. On Prime. Not the 1998 Michael Keaton one, which we could not confirm on a service this week.

A toymaker who stopped believing gets a second chance, and the whole thing is a musical with gears and glitter. Put it on when you want Christmas to feel handmade.

Scrooge McDuck, twenty-four minutes, and a surprisingly complete Carol. Disney+ has it for the night you want the story and you also want to be in bed soon.

Richard Attenborough is Kris Kringle in the remake, and the department store is still on trial. It landed on Hulu. A good one if the 1947 film feels too old for the room and you still want the belief.

Santa gets kidnapped and Dwayne Johnson has to get him back before Christmas morning. Big, silly, PG-13, and on Prime because Amazon made it. A blockbuster, not a lullaby.

A direct-to-video Richie Rich Christmas from 1998, which is exactly the time capsule it sounds like. On Disney+ and Prime. Kids who like a silly rich-kid plot will be fine. Adults may feel the decade.

Rudolph has a New Year's errand, which is how you keep the Christmas special feeling going one more night. About fifty minutes, on Prime.

An angel, played by Cary Grant, arrives to help a bishop who has forgotten why he wanted the cathedral. Christmas, romance, and a very light touch. On Prime and Tubi.

The kids are older, the North Pole is in trouble, and Kurt Russell's Santa has a score to settle. A bigger, brighter sequel for the night the first one was not enough.

Tim Allen's workaholic dad puts on the suit and the job starts to stick. The 1994 movie that made a generation believe the beard comes with paperwork. On Disney+.

Santa has to get married or lose the job, which is a very specific HR problem. The sequel is sillier and still on Disney+ with the first.

Jack Frost wants the workshop, and the family has to survive a visit from the in-laws. The third one is the broadest. Kids who already love the first two will not mind.

A kid tries to glue his parents back together by forcing Christmas to happen in the wrong season. Danny DeVito is in the mess, which tells you the tone.

Two kids scheme to get their divorced parents back together by Christmas. A 1991 family movie on Paramount+. Pure 90s wish fulfillment, in a nice way.

A little girl in Limerick wants one thing for Christmas and learns what the people around her need first. A half-hour, hand-drawn, and quiet enough to watch with cocoa still hot.

Angela is a bit older and the wish is bigger. Another short visit to the same kind streets, for the night you do not want a two-hour movie.

The 2001 Barbie Nutcracker, which was a first ballet for a lot of kids who never made it to the theater. On Netflix and Prime. Tutus welcome.

A soft 2020 Christmas movie, and it is everywhere we checked: Netflix, Prime, Paramount+, Peacock, and Tubi. When a title is this easy to find, the couch wins.

Bodies get swapped across a whole family right before Christmas, and everybody has to live somebody else's day. Jennifer Garner sells the joke, and kids will follow it.

The Muppet theater is about to be lost at Christmas, and the gang puts on a show to save it. On Peacock. If you want the Muppets and Disney+ is busy with the Carol.

The Nativity as a musical, young and bright, with songs that follow you into the kitchen. On Prime and Hulu. A good one when you want the story and you also want a chorus.

Ben Stiller inherits four wild boys and a farm at Christmas and has no idea what he is doing. Scruffy, PG-13, and surprisingly warm. On Hulu.

The Herdmans, the roughest kids in town, take over the church Christmas pageant, and the pageant survives by becoming more honest. Judy Greer holds the congregation together. The 2024 film, newly on Netflix.

A boy finds out his family is closer to Santa than anybody let on, and December gets complicated in a lovely way. Netflix carries it. The original title is Dutch. The feeling is universal.

A later Frosty, about an hour, for kids who want the hat and the magic without a long sit. On Peacock.

Mary and Joseph on the road to Bethlehem, told straight, with Keisha Castle-Hughes. On Prime. A quiet one for Christmas Eve when you want the story itself.

The Moses story as a musical, painted like a cathedral and sung like a prayer. Still one of the most beautiful animated films we know, and Netflix has it.

The first Christmas, told mostly by the donkey who gets pulled into it. A bright, kid-friendly faith movie on Peacock. Animals do a lot of the preaching, which helps.