I've watched three Christmas movies since last night: two new-to-me ones and one I've seen only parts of. I liked all of them, though of course I have criticism about parts of each.
Klaus came out in 2019. It's an animated Santa-origin story that's pretty different from the ones I've seen before. It gets 95% on Rotten Tomatoes. I appreciate its general worldview. It's available on Netflix.
Arthur Christmas is from 2011. It's also animated, this time by Aardman Animation (makers of Wallace and Grommet and Chicken Run), though it's computer-animated rather than using the clay animation they're known for. It also tells the story of the real Santa, only this time in the present day. It has its good parts, and the basic message is fine, but I found the technological trappings of the story a bit hard to take.
The third film was Home Alone. Yes, I've never seen it all the way through, I'm not sure why. At this point, it's worth watching as a time capsule of very-upper-class life in 1990, if nothing else. The conspicuous consumption of a dozen-plus people jetting off to Paris for Christmas, while every one of their neighbors has gone somewhere distant too, was irritating. The portrayal of careless driving as assumed and funny, likewise (and all too common in Hollywood productions). My favorite thing was the little boy Kevin's interaction with his elderly neighbor, whom he fears at first, but finds out is not scary at all. Seeing a child help a grownup just by asking questions that seemed realistic for a child to ask was the best part.
This is a movie-heavy holiday season for me, so there may be more short bits to come.
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