I hope you came through Christmas Eve safe and sound and above all with a good feeling. Christmas Day has arrived and it’s time to give you a few more film suggestions – maybe for tonight or Boxing Day? This time we’re watching Amazon Prime Video.
It was definitely more difficult to find suitable films for the holidays on Amazon’s streaming platform. Disney+ or Netflix are better positioned there. However, if you do a search on Prime Video, with a little patience you can also find some nice flicks for the holidays. I’ll say it again in advance: My film tips for Christmas are of course subjective and are also limited to what can actually be found in the Amazon Prime Video catalogue.
You are of course welcome to make additions in the comments. Maybe you discovered gems in Prime Video that I missed? But let’s get straight to my list.
Merry Christmas
The film “Merry Christmas”, originally “A Christmas Story”, is relatively unknown in Germany, but in the United States it is one of the greatest Christmas classics of all. The work from 1983 is about the little boy Ralph, who in 1940 longs to find an airgun under the Christmas tree and can’t shake the thought. However, neither his mother, his teachers nor a Santa Claus actor in a department store think much of this wish.
“Merry Christmas” is a fairly innocent comedy that hardly contains any major conflicts and draws more attention to how small wishes can trigger big feelings and how childhood experiences, big or small, shape our entire lives. Maybe it was the lack of a great spectacle that initially let this film go under with meager reviews, until it became a classic over the years and also resulted in numerous remakes and sequels.
However, the original is the most worth seeing and so I can only recommend “Merry Christmas” as a feel-good Christmas film. After all, almost everyone knows that from their childhood: That one gift that you really wanted to have…
Merry Christmas
Thank God Amazon has retained the rights to “Beautiful Christmas Presents”, otherwise it would become increasingly difficult to compile a list of interesting Christmas films there. The 1989 film is based on the screenplay by John Hughes (“A Ticket for Two”), who has always known how to bring heart to quirky stories. Although this Christmas film met with mixed reviews in the 1980s, it is now one of the holiday classics not only in the USA.
I think the film, starring Chevy Chase as the unnerved father of a family, portrays with a great deal of irony the inflated expectations that families often have at Christmas. Chaos and visits from unwelcome relatives and neighbors are the focus here. Incidentally, this ensures that “Beautiful Christmas Presents” are also worth seeing for those who don’t like Christmas because of their rough slapstick humor.
The Grinch
In an emergency, the devil eats flies: I prefer the animated short film from the 1960s or the real film with Jim Carrey, but with the somewhat meager range of Christmas films on Amazon Prime Video, the CGI animated film “The Grinch” is from the year In 2018 it is indeed one of the more worth seeing Christmas films. In the original sound, Benedict Cumberbatch (“Sherlock”) speaks the main character here, in the German dubbing Otto Waalkes does the job routinely. The basic story still revolves around the fact that the green fiend Grinch hates Christmas and consequently wants to spoil it for others too.
However, Illumination Entertainment poured sugar water over the fabric so that no corners and edges were left. Right from the start, the main character seems more like a lovable oddball and accordingly goes through too little development. Here then also silliness and fast-paced action interludes dominate before a message, as you can still find it in the original or even in the film with Jim Carrey. For kids, however, the film “The Grinch” is solid entertainment, which may then also arouse curiosity about other implementations.
Actually love
Unfortunately, “Love Actually” is only available in German on Amazon Prime Video, which prevents me, as a fan of the original soundtrack of this British romantic comedy, from watching the film there. Those who can live with the German soundtrack will get a romantic Christmas film with a great soundtrack and a creative narrative structure. Because the plot jumps back and forth between different individual stories, which are relatively loosely linked in the end. Of course, the all-star cast of Alan Rickman, Hugh Grant, Colin Firth and more helps too. Bill Nighy will definitely be remembered as a worn-out rock star.
A friend originally “forced” me to watch this film and in the end I’m glad I gave in. I don’t like many romantic comedies, but Love Actually is one of that select group.
ET – The Extra-Terrestrial
Some will throw up their hands over their heads: “ET – The Extra-Terrestrial” isn’t a Christmas movie, is it? You’re basically right, but the 1980s charm and heart of this classic made me put it on this list instead of some run-of-the-mill flick. Because to be honest: the selection of Christmas films worth seeing (!) on Amazon Prime Video is very small compared to Disney+ or Netflix. Especially since the fairytale atmosphere and the heartwarming friendship between the little boy Elliott and the alien make ET one of the best family films.
Most readers should be familiar with the story: Young Elliott meets a strange alien who is taking shelter on his parents’ property. Their loneliness brings them together as Elliott’s family has been abandoned by his father and ET’s wish is to “phone home” and get back to his own world. But the government is also after ET…
For kids and adults alike, ET The Extra-Terrestrial is top-notch. So if you have some time with your family over the holidays and don’t want to watch the clichéd Christmas film XY, then you will also find a contemplative mood here.
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