The definitive ranking of the Netflix Christmas movies

The holidays are upon us, which means that new Netflix Christmas movies are also waiting for us. We’ve looked at which of the original streaming movies are better than just a Yule-protocol video, but we also have to ask ourselves: Which of the Netflix original Christmas movies is the best of the best?

Is it a Christmas prince or one of his sequels? Is it the animated Klaus? Or maybe the “Santa is Daddy now” hit the Christmas chronicles? The experts at Polygon’s employees have teamed up to find out. We are proud to announce the final ranking of the Christmas movies on Netflix.

No, this movie has nothing to do with the Breaking Bad movie El Camino. Photo: Netflix

14. El Camino Christmas

The nicest thing I can say about El Camino Christmas is that it’s technically a movie. Even Vincent D’Onofrio, who works very well on supporting roles, only gives around 40 percent here. (To be fair, D’Onofrios are 40 percent better than Tim Allen’s 115 percent.) – Emily Heller

Please even more elephants.Photo: Netflix

13th holiday in the wild

I came up with a conspiracy theory in which Holiday in the Wild, a movie that features 80% just footage of Rob Lowe and / or baby elephants, was designed to help rich white ladies donate all their money to elephant sanctuaries. In that case, it’s a brilliant movie. – Uh

Three Christmas princes, a royal baby on the way. Photo: Cos Aelenei / Netflix

12. A Christmas prince: the royal baby

The third movie in the Christmas Prince saga presents both a false Asian ally for the wrong European country of the Christmas prince as well as a magical curse. You see, Aldovia and Penglia signed a treaty of friendship 700 years ago, and every century the kings of the countries renew their agreement in a solemn ceremony. Queen Queen journalist Amber believes the queens should sign as well, but the tradition-conscious Queen Ming of Penglia disagrees. The contract is lost (may it trigger a curse?), So the two queens are bound together about motherhood (Amber is pregnant, hence the subtitle) and other things of the queen, while they wait for them to be located. When the contract is found, of course, the queens also sign it, and then Amber goes to work. Diluted feminism that is just a bit racist? Sound familiar (coughing Holiday in the Wild cough). – Uh

Can we get a wink in the camera? Photo: Netflix

11. The holiday calendar

The magical Christmas realism that warmed our hearts with classics like A Christmas Carol and It’s A Wonderful Life is treated with The Holiday Calendar with Netflix. The plot is wonderfully silly: Abby’s grandfather (played by This Is Us’s grandfather Ron Cephas Jones) gives her a magical advent calendar that predicts the future cryptically. It seems she’s heading towards romance with a handsome, charming single-father, but (spoiler alert!) Abby has instead her pretty, charming best friend. My only complaint is that I wanted more magic. Santa does not even blink at the camera. – Uh

A wedding! For Christmas! Photo: Netflix

10. A Christmas prince: the royal wedding

If you want to watch this movie, you can also watch Jenny Nicholson’s powerful video essay on the dark side of the Christmas prince universe. If you do not want to think about the effects of a fake nation state, you should stick to the original Christmas prince. – Brian David Gilbert

Love blossoms through time. Photo: Netflix / Brooke Palmer

9. The knight before Christmas

In The Knight Before Christmas, a medieval knight is zapped into the present, exactly in the life of the recently single school teacher Vanessa Hudgens. She does not believe in true love or time travel, but her literal knight in shining armor could change that. The beauty of the movie is that no one is mean or trying to fall in love with the protagonists, and the knight is already perfect. He does not have to learn to be considerate or less arrogant, and he has not been turned into an animal for his transgressions. The only part of the film that really has anything to do with Christmas is a subplot. – Karen Han

Cheers on Christmas! Photo: Netflix

8. Holiday Rush

Holiday Rush proves that hiring talented, talented actors can produce generic material. The action is a standard Christmas movie to feel good: Radio DJ and single-father Rush Williams (Romany Malco) lose their job just before Christmas. To make ends meet, he and his four spoiled children move to his aunt Jo, who is played by the incomparable Darlene Love. He and his producer Roxy (Sonequa Martin-Green) decide to buy the radio station where they started broadcasting. Hijinks and romance follow. But Malco and Martin-Green have great chemistry and Darlene Love sings “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”, which is really all you need for a Christmas movie. – Uh

Time to drive to the snowfall. Photo: Netflix

7th Christmas inheritance

Christmas Inheritance was overshadowed by The Christmas Prince (both premiered in 2017), which is unfortunate because Christmas Inheritance governs. Netflix’s attempt to reach the peak of form – the Hallmark Christmas movie – sets the tone. It’s a classic “Big City Grinch meets Christmas Hunk” story: Ellen is a rich heir to a “gift shop” who has to hand over a Christmas card to her father’s retired business partner in the village of Snow Falls (one of the most beautiful names of Christmas cities ever). without spending any money or letting anyone in Snow Falls know who she is. Even though she has a common fiancé at home, Ellen falls in love with Snow Falls’ good-natured but scruffy host, played by Obvious Child’s Jake Lacy, after teaching her how to demonstrate basic human empathy. Also Andie MacDowell is there !! – Uh

What does Christmas say like a little pig? Photo: Netflix / Steve Wilkie

6. Let it snow

Let It Snow is an ensemble piece about a group of teenagers in rural Illinois who meet in the local waffle house for a kegger. Dora is the discoverer and Sabrina the teenage witch and Joan Cusack, played by Ted Kaczynski. Aside from all the jokes, it’s a thoroughly modern version of upscale Hallmark classics like “The Holiday and Love Actually.” The star of the show here is actor Liv Hewson, whose portrayal of the in love Dorrie adds a heartwarming, peculiar action to the Netflix vacation pantheon. -CH

Unfortunately I love that. Photo: Michael Gibson / Netflix

5. The Christmas chronicles

The Christmas chronicles imagine a world in which Santa Claus is not just a happy, happy old elf. Sure, he has gray hair and a beard on his skinny chin, but Kurt Russell’s portrayal of Santa Claus is much more masculine. He is hip, borderline bold and full of almost unpleasant sexuality. That does not stop him from helping siblings Kate and Teddy Pierce, who lost their heroic father a few years ago, to rediscover the magic of the season. – Charlie Hall

That’s right, it’s Christmas and there will be a prince. Photo: Netflix

4. A Christmas prince

An American journalist who wanted to write a hit about a foreign prince accidentally falls in love with him, but this is going to be wild: it’s Christmas time, too. Even if you have not seen this movie yet, you can probably predict every important action point. That does not make it bad. It makes it easy to digest. -BDG

Who is who? Photo: Netflix

3. The princess switch

In a Christmas turn of The Prince and The Pauper, Vanessa Hudgens proves her acting skills by playing both an American baker and the duchess of a country whose inhabitants seem to speak with such a casual British accent. -BDG

An animated version of Santa.Photo: Netflix

2. Klaus

Klaus, the first feature animation from Netflix, extends the boundaries of traditional animation. Due to the volumetric lighting and texture, the film feels like a picture book. Klaus, a Santa Claus story rooted in reality, follows a spoiled postal worker named Jesper, who is sent to the deserted city of Smerensberg in the north to set up a post office. When he arrives, the city is involved in a bitter feud – they barely talk to each other, let alone letters. Jesper joins lonely lumberjack Klaus and launches a toy delivery system. Klaus is warm and cheerful, and the lush art style really makes him feel like a cozy cup of cocoa on a cold day. – Petrana Radulovic

A very “Murray” Christmas. Got it? Like “Merry Christmas”, but it’s Bill Murray? Photo: Netflix

1. Very Murray Christmas

A Very Murray Christmas is like a Christmas party with close friends when these friends are incredibly famous, rich and talented. Here are just a few of the guests of the glistening, snowy Manhattan Hotel: George Clooney, Miley Cyrus, Maya Rudolph, Amy Poehler and Jason Schwartzman. Small roles are filled by great talents, such as Jenny Lewis, who serves drinks, and David Johansen, who runs the bar. The film also reunites Bill Murray with the director of Lost in Translation, Sophia Coppola. After weeks of festivities with friends, A Very Murray Christmas is the cinematic ibuprofen. -Chris Plante