| Written by Paul D. Race for Family Christmas OnlineTM |
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Downloadable Family Christmas Movies, from Family Christmas OnlineTMThis page contains links to movies we've enjoyed watching together as a family that Amazon also offers as a download. Note: Many of our favorite Christmas Movies are not available this way, and I'd rather have the physical DVD if I could. But downloading can "bail you out" if you're stuck in the house or a hotel room some night, equipped with high-speed internet, in the mood for a family-friendly Christmas movie, and nothing worth watching is on network or cable. (Actually that last bit doesn't require much imagination, does it?) Video on Demand allows you to download the movie and watch it on your computer in Widescreen format. Some of the videos offer a rent or a purchase option.
A Charlie Brown Christmas (Download)The first and best animated Peanuts special avoided the cliches and cutesiness that had long plagued animated made-for-TV Christmas specials. The scriptwriters had several years worth of Peanuts strips to mine for humorous bits, but the overall story arc was entirely new. Even the "background" music is "bittersweet" - jazz chords, minor keys, and lyrics that should be cheerful set to melodies that verge on melancholy. Today it's hard to remember that this special "broke all the rules" and set a new standard that still seems fresh almost two generations later. It's also interesting that at the climax of the movie, "a little child leads them," literally, as Linus steps in to remind Charley Brown what the season is all about. (Spoiler alert: it doesn't have anything to do with Santa Claus or any of the other things that "resolve" the question "what is the true meaning of Christmas" in 99.9% of the movies and TV specials made).
How the Grinch Stole Christmas!/Horton Hears a Who (Download) This is the original Grinch movie, the cartoon made in the 1970s with none other than Boris Karlof as the narrator and famous animator Chuck Jones as director. This is such a remarkable and influential movie that most folks have trouble remembering that it was made to fill a half-hour television slot and is only 26 minutes long (today, with all the added commercials, they could get away with 18 minutes, of course).
To give you your money's worth, this version adds an animated version of Horton Hears a Who and two unnamed "bonus features." Amazon says this brings the total running time to 79 minutes. Jim Carey in How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Download)
This full-length hollywood movie stars Jim Carey in a role that is actually suited to his over-the-top outrageous antics. A great supporting cast, witty direction, and inspired sets and costumes bring the Who village, their culture, and their nemesis to life. Some have accused the show of including themes which were never in the book (mostly: Christmas is too commercial). But those themes are resolved in a way that keeps with the spirit of the original book and cartoon, so I don't mind so much. And the show is clever, beginning to end.
Every movie that comes out with Christmas in the title (or the description) is hailed as a classic, but I think this will stand the test of time. Note: If you have time to order and wait for the DVD, click here.
Randy Travis, Christmas on the Pecos (Download)The Amazon page says that this video includes ". . . one of music's biggest stars singing holiday favorites both touching and toe-tapping in a warm, natural setting you'll want to visit over and over again!"
Sadly, I don't know much about this, but I do know that Randy is careful to be involved only with quality projects, and he has a reverence toward Christmas and a respect for most folks' Christmas traditions that will guarantee a thoughtful and musical presentation.
A Christmas Story (Download)Speaking of childhood, I was a small child in the 1950s, not the 1940s, but many of the adventures, hopes and dreams of Ralphie (Peter Billingsly) were reminiscent of my own childhood. Gifts you got you didn't want, gifts you wanted you couldn't get, bullies, overcoats you couldn't move in, Christmas plans gone horribly awry, but somehow not ruining the holiday. What really makes this movie work, besides the humor, the great cast, and witty script, is how your own memories "fill in the gaps" as you watch young Ralphie attempt to negotiate the universal hazards of pre-adolescence.
Here's a present-day story from southeast Ohio that relates: an aging grandmother and grandfather I know recently had no one to visit with on Christmas evening, since the children and grandchildren had already visited and gone off to visit the "other sides" of their repective families. So they figured they'd go into town and find a place to eat. The only restaurant open was a Mexican restaurant run by real Mexicans - the sort of place that couple would ordinarily avoid for gastronomic reasons. The help that night couldn't speak English, and "Ma and Pa" couldn't speak Spanish, so they just pointed at things that they thought looked edible. Their hosts were so gracious and the food was so good, that the next Christmas they made a point of eating there again, and it looks like a whole new tradition may be established. If you don't know how this relates to this movie, you NEED to see the movie now. Note: On the other hand, if you have time to order and wait for the DVD, click here. Kelsey Grammer's A Christmas Carol (Download)Kelsey Grammer, long the grumpy communicator of television show fame, takes on the role of the ultimate grump, in a faithful, if not totally inspired adaptation. Yes, I'll be honest, the Patrick Stewart and the Muppet/Michael Caine products both outshine this one in their own way, but neither of them is currently available for instant download, and that's what this page is about. Still, if you're snowed in, have high-speed internet, and want to watch A Christmas Carol, and be reminded of Dickens' original characters and message, this is a good way to go. (For a listing of most of the Christmas Carol movies worth watching, check out our Christmas Carol Multimedia Links page.)
Red Skelton Christmas Classics (Download)Red Skelton's Freddy the Freeloader spoke; that's one distinction between him and Chaplin's Little Tramp. But Freddie could also be an inspired pantomimer capable of juxtaposing humor and pathos in what, on the surface, seems to be a simple comedy skit. That skill, and many more, made Red Skelton's Christmas shows memorable, and worth watching many years later.
In fact, I still remember two of these skits from my childhood, and that was a VERY long time ago. Note: If you have time to order and wait for the DVD, click here. Polar Express (Download)The book The Polar Express tells a simple story of a boy who boards a magical train that takes him to the North Pole in time to see Santa departing with his sleigh and reindeer on Christmas eve. The movie stays true to the art and spirit of the book. However it introduces many other characters, including other children, and a frenetic conductor voiced and "played" by Tom Hanks. The CGI animation is clever and often impressive, and the "story line" stays true to the basic themes of the book. Alan Silvestri's sound track has some very memorable tunes, including the grand theme "It's the Spirit of the Season."
I'm a rail fan, and I do have to confess that the Polar Express train does some things that real trains can't do, but it's fun to watch. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (Download)As may be expected from the title, this movie is neither reverent, nor entirely tasteful, but it is gut-splitting funny. It also gave a generation of folks who like over-the-top outdoor Christmas decorations a "role model": Clark Griswold. This is one of Chevy Chase's funniest films. A great supporting cast includes Randy Quaid as a clueless relation whose attempts to help solve a Griswold family financial crisis make things infinitely worse. Is there a lot of "true Christmas spirit" or "meaning of Christmas" material in this movie? No - the Griswold family muddles through the holidays, each with their own agenda, and no one getting exactly what they think they should get out of Christmas, just like most families. But it avoids the bitterness toward the holiday that some "postmodern" "Christmas comedies" make a point of including.
Here's hoping that YOUR Christmas makes more sense and is more uplifting than the Griswold's. And if you want to decorate like Clark, at least now you have low-voltage LED options that he didn't have. Note: If you have time to order and wait for the DVD, click here. White ChristmasQuestion: What's the most-often recorded Christmas song of all time? Okay, I already gave it away. What movie introduced it? You might be surprised. Holiday Inn was the story of a postwar songe-and-dance team (Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire) at a resort that is only open during holidays. The movie closed with a song that started with a verse about a person in a warm climate lamenting that he wouldn't be seeing snow this Christmas. The verse is all but forgotten, but the chorus "struck a chord" in America's imagination so that two generations later, folks are still asking their weathermen if they will have a "white Christmas" this year.
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