Elf
Elf does the difficult thing: it is sincere without being sickly, and it holds up on the fifteenth watch.
Festive Factor 90 out of 100: Christmas at its heart.Christmas films by year
The best 2000s Christmas films
Every Christmas film from the 2000s that we have scored, best Festive Factor first.
At a glance
We have scored 27 Christmas films from the 2000s. The highest by Festive Factor: Elf (90), Fred Claus (88) and How the Grinch Stole Christmas (88). Certificates: 5 U, 8 PG, 1 12, 2 12A, 7 15, 2 18 and 2 with no UK certificate listed.
Ranked by Festive Factor
Highest ratified score first. A film still waiting for its ratified score comes after them.
Fred Claus
A broad studio comedy that spends most of its running time on a sibling grudge and only occasionally on…
Festive Factor 88 out of 100: Christmas at its heart.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Ron Howard's take is louder and ruder than the book it comes from, and stretching a slim story to feature…
Festive Factor 88 out of 100: Christmas at its heart.
Nativity!
Largely improvised, frequently shambolic, and far warmer than it has any business being.
Festive Factor 87 out of 100: Christmas at its heart.
The Polar Express
The animation divides people — the faces sit in a valley some find eerie and others never notice — and where…
Festive Factor 87 out of 100: Christmas at its heart.
A Christmas Carol
The Dickens that goes hardest on the ghost story.
Festive Factor 87 out of 100: Christmas at its heart.
The Santa Clause 2
A sequel that knows its premise is thinner and leans on the silliness instead.
Festive Factor 84 out of 100: Christmas at its heart.
Love Actually
We take the position that it is three good films, two passable ones, and a couple that have aged into…
Festive Factor 83 out of 100: Christmas at its heart.
Christmas with the Kranks
A film about skipping Christmas that cannot wait to get back to it, and that is both the charm and the…
Festive Factor 81 out of 100: Christmas at its heart.
Deck the Halls
A decorating feud stretched to feature length, and the stretch shows.
Festive Factor 75 out of 100: A different kind of Christmas.
Hogfather
Festive by analogue, and a better seasonal film than plenty of the real thing.
Festive Factor 68 out of 100: A different kind of Christmas.
The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause
The third Santa Clause film has the busiest North Pole yet: a pregnant Mrs Claus, in-laws who must be told…
Festive Factor 67 out of 100: A different kind of Christmas.
Bad Santa
The meanest Christmas film anyone has made with a straight face, and funnier than a plot this bleak should…
Festive Factor 66 out of 100: A different kind of Christmas.
Santa's Slay
A slasher with a cracker-joke sense of humour, and it knows exactly how daft it is.
Festive Factor 57 out of 100: A different kind of Christmas.
The Family Stone
A family homecoming that happens to fall at Christmas, and Thanksgiving could have carried it with very…
Festive Factor 56 out of 100: A different kind of Christmas.
Four Christmases
A good premise let down by two leads who rarely seem to be in the same film.
Festive Factor 54 out of 100: A different kind of Christmas.
The Holiday
A cottage fantasy first and a romance second, and it knows it.
Festive Factor 52 out of 100: A different kind of Christmas.
Black Christmas
A remake that trades the original's slow, creeping dread for gore, and loses most of what made Bob Clark's…
Festive Factor 44 out of 100: A different kind of Christmas.
Home Alone 4
A made-for-television sequel shot in South Africa with every familiar role recast, and it shows.
Festive Factor 41 out of 100: A different kind of Christmas.
Eight Crazy Nights
A Hanukkah film in a Christmas coat, and a crude one.
Festive Factor 36 out of 100: A different kind of Christmas.
Deadly Little Christmas
A micro-budget slasher that borrows the shape of Halloween almost scene for scene, then moves it to December…
Festive Factor 34 out of 100: A different kind of Christmas.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Shane Black's first film as director counts as Christmas mainly because the calendar says so.
Festive Factor 31 out of 100: A different kind of Christmas.
Bridget Jones's Diary
A Christmas film only at the edges.
Festive Factor 24 out of 100: A different kind of Christmas.
In Bruges
Christmassy only by accident of the calendar.
Festive Factor 24 out of 100: A different kind of Christmas.
Calvaire
Calvaire is a Christmas film only in the bleakest sense.
Festive Factor 23 out of 100: A different kind of Christmas.
Wind Chill
Two students who barely know each other share a lift home for Christmas, take a detour, and spend the night…
Festive Factor 15 out of 100: A different kind of Christmas.
Silent Night, Zombie Night
Zombies overrun Los Angeles a week before Christmas, and the holiday barely gets a look in: a few lights and…
Festive Factor 11 out of 100: A different kind of Christmas.Swipe for more films →