The Muppet Christmas Carol
The best Carol on film, and it is not close.
Festive Factor 96 out of 100: Christmas at its heart.Christmas films by year
The best 90s Christmas films
Every Christmas film from the 1990s that we have scored, best Festive Factor first.
At a glance
We have scored 22 Christmas films from the 1990s. The highest by Festive Factor: The Muppet Christmas Carol (96), The Santa Clause (90) and Home Alone (88). Certificates: 5 U, 7 PG, 1 12, 1 12A, 3 15, 4 18 and 1 with no UK certificate listed.
Ranked by Festive Factor
Highest ratified score first. A film still waiting for its ratified score comes after them.
The Santa Clause
A surprisingly cold premise handled warmly: a man is conscripted by a contract he never read, and the film…
Festive Factor 90 out of 100: Christmas at its heart.
Home Alone
The premise is a child's daydream — the empty house, the freedom, the shopping — and the film is smart…
Festive Factor 88 out of 100: Christmas at its heart.
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
The same film again in a bigger city, which works better than it has any right to.
Festive Factor 83 out of 100: Christmas at its heart.
Miracle on 34th Street
A careful remake that knows it stands in the shadow of the black-and-white classic and mostly stays out of…
Festive Factor 81 out of 100: Christmas at its heart.
Jingle All the Way
A film about the specific horror of Christmas Eve shopping, which is a better subject than it usually gets…
Festive Factor 74 out of 100: A different kind of Christmas.
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Half a Halloween film wearing a Santa suit, and better for the tension.
Festive Factor 65 out of 100: A different kind of Christmas.
Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas
A cheap sequel with a better idea than most expensive ones: what if the grumpy host simply bans Christmas?
Festive Factor 59 out of 100: A different kind of Christmas.
The Ref
Made for anyone who has sat through a family Christmas dinner and needed a lie-down afterwards.
Festive Factor 57 out of 100: A different kind of Christmas.
Batman Returns
Tim Burton made a Christmas film and hid it inside a superhero sequel.
Festive Factor 47 out of 100: A different kind of Christmas.
Eyes Wide Shut
Kubrick's last film uses Christmas the way a grand hotel uses a lobby tree: it is in almost every room and…
Festive Factor 44 out of 100: A different kind of Christmas.
While You Were Sleeping
A romcom that happens to open at Christmas, and that first stretch is as warm as the genre gets.
Festive Factor 36 out of 100: A different kind of Christmas.
Die Hard 2
The sequel moves the Christmas Eve siege to a snowbound airport and turns the volume up.
Festive Factor 36 out of 100: A different kind of Christmas.
Edward Scissorhands
A Christmas film mostly in its last act and its framing, and for a lot of viewers that is enough.
Festive Factor 34 out of 100: A different kind of Christmas.
Jack Frost
A grief film wearing a snowman costume, and braver about it than its reputation suggests.
Festive Factor 33 out of 100: A different kind of Christmas.
Santa Claws
A shot-on-video slasher from John Russo, co-writer of Night of the Living Dead, in which the obsessive…
Festive Factor 33 out of 100: A different kind of Christmas.
The Long Kiss Goodnight
Shane Black treats Christmas the way he usually does, as the cosy life somebody is about to lose.
Festive Factor 31 out of 100: A different kind of Christmas.
Father Christmas
Raymond Briggs's Father Christmas is a tired old man who grumbles at the weather, the post and the chimneys…
Festive Factor 28 out of 100: A different kind of Christmas.
Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: Initiation
The fourth Silent Night, Deadly Night drops the killer Santa entirely and puts a coven of witches and a…
Festive Factor 21 out of 100: A different kind of Christmas.
Jack Frost
Not the Michael Keaton one, and mixing the two up would make for a very strange family evening.
Festive Factor 16 out of 100: A different kind of Christmas.
Home Alone 3
Barely a Christmas film at all.
Festive Factor 10 out of 100: A different kind of Christmas.
Hardware
A Christmas film only on the calendar.
Festive Factor 10 out of 100: A different kind of Christmas.Swipe for more films →