Christmas classics on Prime Video

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.

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.

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.

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.

A famous food writer who cannot cook is forced to host a perfect farmhouse Christmas she does not actually have. Barbara Stanwyck, 1945, on Prime. Screwball, and a good one.

Bing Crosby as a young priest who wins over a parish with music and patience. A 1944 best-picture winner on Prime. Not only a Christmas movie, and still a deeply cozy one.

A war widow, a toy train, and Robert Mitchum refusing to let her stay careful. A 1949 charmer on Prime and Tubi. Short, black-and-white, and very easy to love.

Bing Crosby at an inn that opens for the holidays, and the movie that gave us the song White Christmas. It is on Prime. One musical number has aged badly. Skip past it if you are watching with kids, or choose White Christmas itself for the warmer visit.

A man without a home quietly spends the winter in a mansion, and then the owner shows up. A 1947 comedy on Prime that feels like someone saved you a seat.

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.

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.

Bill Murray is a mean television executive getting the Dickens treatment in real time. Loud, funny, PG-13, and on Prime and Paramount+. The modern Carol for people who like a joke with their ghost.

Old friends pack into one house for Christmas and the secrets come out with the gifts. It is rated R and it earns the feeling. On Prime and Peacock. Have it for a grown-up night.

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.

John McClane just wants to get to his wife's office party, and then the building gets taken. Rated R, full of things exploding, and a Christmas movie if your house says it is. On Hulu and Prime. Not the one for little kids.