‘Tis the season for streaming.
Miracle on 34th Street, The Muppet Christmas Carol,
Every family has its own Christmas movie-watching traditions. Some want time-honored classics like Miracle on 34th Street, others prefer more contemporary favorites like Frozen, and some want to try something new when they gather around for movie night.
Disney+ has enough Christmas viewing options to fit every tradition and taste. The streamer’s Yuletide collection goes beyond the bonafide hits, offering new choices like Noelle with Anna Kendrick and Bill Hader, or Dashing Through the Snow with Ludacris and Lil Rel Howery. So, if you haven’t updated your family’s holiday watchlists in a while, now’s the time.
Here are the 20 best Christmas movies streaming on Disney+ right now.
Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
Natalie Wood, Edmund Gwenn in Miracle on 34th Street
This movie set (and perfected) the template for the “jaded adults rediscover their faith in Christmas” trope. Doris Walker (Maureen O’Hara) is a Macy’s executive who hires a conspicuously authentic department store Santa (Edmund Gwenn). Doris is practical, independent, and has no time for frivolities — and she’s passed those qualities onto her daughter Susan (Natalie Wood). But their attitude is tested when their Santa stand-in claims to be the real deal.
Miracle on 34th Street is a classic for a reason, and despite its gooey warmth, the film’s handling of human belief and behavior still rings true nearly 80 years later.
Where to watch Miracle on 34th Street: Disney+
Director: George Seaton
Cast: Maureen O’Hara, Edmund Gwenn, Natalie Wood, John Payne, Gene Lockhart
Home Alone (1990)
Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone
Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) couldn’t be happier when he gets the house to himself, having been accidentally left behind by his family frantically leaving for a holiday in Paris. Little does he know a pair of burglars have been casing the place; little do they know an 8-year-old prankster is lying in wait.
If nothing else, Home Alone is a showcase for the myriad ways a child can booby-trap a house using everyday items. But it’s also a sincere Christmas movie about the importance of family, and how easy it is to take it for granted.
Where to watch Home Alone: Disney+
EW grade: B (read the review)
Director: Chris Columbus
Cast: Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Catherine O’Hara, Daniel Stern, John Heard
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
The Nightmare Before Christmas isn’t just a Halloween movie or a Christmas movie — it’s both, and that’s part of what makes this stop-motion classic so great. When Halloween Town’s Jack Skellington accidentally discovers Christmas, he and his cohorts do the natural thing: kidnap Santa, of course! Jack’s well-intentioned scheme comes from the awe of discovery — and the magic of what a perfect Christmas looks, feels, and sounds like.
The film’s visual design is a perfect marriage of good and ghoulish tidings, while Danny Elfman belts out his catchiest bangers since Oingo Boingo’s heyday.
Where to watch The Nightmare Before Christmas: Disney+
Director: Henry Selick
Cast: Chris Sarandon, Catherine O’Hara, Danny Elfman, William Hickey, Glenn Shadix, Ken Page
One Magic Christmas (1985)
One Magic Christmas is one of the best Christmas movies you’ve never heard of. Ginnie (Mary Steenburgen) is a struggling mom who’s lost her holiday spirit and Gideon (Harry Dean Stanton) is the angel tasked with helping her get it back, which involves using her daughter Abbie (Elisabeth Harnois) as a go-between.
There are shades of A Christmas Carol and It’s a Wonderful Life, with notions of choice, fate, and chance — what could be, what might have been — guided by a supernatural conduit. Like those films, this one is surprisingly dark but finds its spirit just in time.
Where to watch One Magic Christmas: Disney+
Director: Phillip Borsos
Cast: Mary Steenburgen, Harry Dean Stanton, Gary Basaraba, Elisabeth Harnois, Arthur Hill, Elias Koteas
Dashing Through the Snow (2023)
Dashing Through the Snow follows a familiar formula. A disgruntled social worker named Eddie (Ludacris), whose Christmas spirit was snuffed out too soon, meets someone claiming to be Santa and has to reckon with his jaded, grown-up sensibilities.
This Santa — “Nick,” technically — is played by Lil Rel Howery, whose quick-witted energy is so infectious that he’s equally believable as a brilliant con artist and the real St. Nick. The movie nods to various Christmas classics, namely Miracle on 34th Street, but with an action-oriented approach that ups the ante.
Where to watch Dashing Through the Snow: Disney+
Director: Tim Story
Cast: Chris Bridges, Lil Rel Howery, Teyonah Parris, Madison Skye Validum, Oscar Nunez
The Santa Clause (1994)
It’s hard to believe it’s been three decades since Tim Allen’s Scott Calvin accidentally killed Santa and found the so-called “Santa Clause” that installs an immediate replacement. (Who says a punny origin story can’t be the basis for an entire franchise?)
The Santa Clause makes the most of its premise, composing an absurdist comedy out of our reluctant hero’s fated transformation into a jolly Kris Kringle. It also plays out the Christmas movie hits — repairing your fractured relationships, placing family above materialistic success, and helping stubborn, cynical adults believe in magic again.
Where to watch The Santa Clause: Disney+
Director: John Pasquin
Cast: Tim Allen, Wendy Crewson, Eric Lloyd, Judge Reinhold, David Krumholtz, Peter Boyle
The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
In taking the reins of his father’s legacy, Brian Henson not only created a Christmas classic, but one of the best adaptations of a story told too many times to count. A grizzled Ebenezer Scrooge alongside the Muppets is a fine combo on paper, but Michael Caine’s absolute sincerity in the role seals the deal. He approaches each scene, and each puppet costar, with a gravitas worthy of Dickens.
Taking the drama seriously gives Henson’s Muppeteers room to have fun, keeping the story’s message intact while indulging the musical Muppet shenanigans we’ve loved for decades.
Where to watch The Muppet Christmas Carol: Disney+
Director: Brian Henson
Cast: Michael Caine, Frank Oz, Steve Whitmire, Dave Goelz, Jerry Nelson
Jingle All the Way (1996)
To redeem himself for his beleaguered wife and neglected son, workaholic Howard (Arnold Schwarzenegger) braves the pre-Christmas toy sales to get his kid a coveted Turbo Man action figure.
Arnold has fought some formidable foes in his career, but hordes of desperate parents doing last-minute holiday shopping are, strangely, among the most stressful. There’s a clever self-awareness to the way Jingle All the Way puts a mild-mannered, suburban Schwarzenegger into action-hero mode. His comic timing and gift for physical comedy (and delivering physical punishment) are put to great use here. It’s a Christmas movie that’s better than it has any right to be.
Where to watch Jingle All the Way: Disney+
Director: Brian Levant
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sinbad, Phil Hartman, Rita Wilson, Jake Lloyd
A Christmas Carol (2009)
Jim Carrey puts his extraordinary physical chops to motion-capture use as a CGI Ebenezer Scrooge in Robert Zemeckis’ adaptation. But he doesn’t stop at Scrooge; Carrey also plays all three ghosts — Christmas Past, Present, and Future — who visit the old grouch and warn him to change his miserly ways.
Zemeckis’ experimentation with animated techniques and technology gives this movie a distinct look and feel. There’s a dreamlike, storybook charm to Dickens’ world, and Carrey is an inimitable vessel for this approach to the story.
Where to watch A Christmas Carol: Disney+
EW grade: A (read the review)
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Cast: Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Bob Hoskins, Colin Firth, Robin Wright, Cary Elwes
Frozen (2013)
Is Frozen a Christmas movie? Let’s see: winter wonderland, Scandinavian backdrop, a talking snowman, sassy reindeer… yep, it checks the boxes. This modern Disney classic follows two royal sisters — Elsa, whose great and terrible powers are revealed to the masses; and Anna, who only wants the best for her sister and her kingdom, which is on the verge of a coup. Love and family are the centerpieces of most Christmas celebrations, and Frozen embodies both — with a handful of showstopping numbers to boot.
Where to watch Frozen: Disney+
EW grade: B+ (read the review)
Director: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
Cast: Idina Menzel, Kristen Bell, Jonathan Groff, Santino Fontana, Josh Gad, Alan Tudyk
Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas (1999)
This three-for-one anthology special packages holiday tales featuring some of Disney’s most beloved characters. The first follows Donald Duck and his incorrigible nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie, who make a wish for it to be Christmas every day. The second sees Goofy navigating his son’s crisis of belief in Santa. Finally, Mickey and Minnie star in an adaptation of “The Gift of the Magi.”
Each tale touches on the meaning of Christmas in its own way. Filtering those lessons through popular animated characters somehow enhances them; rather than warmed-over retellings, the old stories are given new life.
Where to watch Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas: Disney+
Director: Alex Mann, Bradley Raymond, Jun Falkenstein, Bill Speers, Toby Shelton
Cast: Wayne Allwine, Jim Cummings, Kelsey Grammer, Bill Farmer, Tony Anselmo, Alan Young, Russi Taylor
While You Were Sleeping (1995)
You might have forgotten that While You Were Sleeping takes place around the holidays. On Christmas morning, Lucy (Sandra Bullock), a lonely token collector, rescues her secret crush Peter (Peter Gallagher) after he’s pushed onto the tracks and knocked out. While he’s comatose, she’s accidentally mistaken for his fiancee and sucked into his quirky, endlessly charming family — including his handsome brother Jack (Bill Pullman). Uh-oh!
Bullock’s warmth and comic awkwardness do the heavy lifting, but While You Were Sleeping is also an ace example of the beautiful, screwy chaos of rom-com plotting.
Where to watch While You Were Sleeping: Disney+
EW grade: N/A (read the review)
Director: Jon Turtletaub
Cast: Sandra Bullock, Bill Pullman, Peter Gallagher, Jack Warden, Peter Boyle, Glynis Johns, Michael Rispoli
Babes in Toyland (1961)
Set in the magical world of Toyland, this adaptation of Victor Herbert’s 1903 opera features Annette Funicello as Mary Contrary, who’s about to marry her love (Tommy Sands) when the dastardly Barnaby (Ray Bolger) complicates things while trying to take over the town. The technicolor production alone makes Babes in Toyland a treasure to behold, but its oddball slapstick comedy pushes it to a different, weirder level than other versions. For many, this film is a fun romp down memory lane for Hollywood’s long-gone tradition of Christmas musicals.
Where to watch Babes in Toyland: Disney+
Director: Jack Donohue
Cast: Ray Bolger, Annette Funicello, Tommy Sands, Ed Wynn
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (2005)
Courtesy of the White Witch (Tilda Swinton), it’s always wintertime in Narnia, a parallel world the Pevensie children enter through an enchanted wardrobe. While not a traditional Christmas movie, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe indulges the kind of imagery — snowy landscapes, sleigh rides, enchanted creatures — that embodies the season’s spirit.
After Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter opened new doors for big-budget fantasy franchises, Narnia took full advantage, offering C.S. Lewis’ classic books a fresh, massive scope.
Where to watch The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe: Disney+
EW grade: B (read the review)
Director: Andrew Adamson
Cast: Anna Popplewell, William Moseley, Georgie Henley, Tilda Swinton, James McAvoy, Liam Neeson, Jim Broadbent
Ernest Saves Christmas (1988)
The second movie about the zany adventures of Ernest P. Worrell (Jim Varney) finds its eccentric cab driver in a fresh holiday predicament: Santa Claus is in his back seat, mired in an existential crisis, having lost his joy for the season. As Ernest bumbles across Orlando to help Santa get his groove back, he causes almost as much mayhem as he solves.
The title indicates how this all turns out, but what matters is the manic, slapstick journey, which gets more mileage out of Ernest’s schtick than any other movie in the franchise.
Where to watch Ernest Saves Christmas: Disney+
Director: John Cherry
Cast: Jim Varney, Douglas Seale, Noelle Parker, Oliver Clark, Gailard Sartain
The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018)
This mashup of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker ballet and E.T.A. Hoffman’s The Nutcracker and the Mouse King follows young Clara (Mackenzie Foy), who travels to a parallel world to unlock the secrets of a magical bejeweled egg left by her deceased mother. When she gets there, she discovers her mom was once the queen of the Fourth Realm, and is greeted as an heiress by the conspicuously friendly Sugar Plum Fairy (Keira Knightley) and the realm’s other regents.
This candy-colored fantasia is a treat to behold, and Knightley’s sugary-sweet heel turn is the cherry on top.
Where to watch The Nutcracker and the Four Realms: Disney+
Director: Lasse Hallström, Joe Johnston
Cast: Mackenzie Foy, Keira Knightley, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman, Richard E. Grant
Godmothered (2020)
Filled with Disney Easter eggs referencing everything from Cinderella to Sleeping Beauty, Godmothered extends the Christmas spirit canon to the enchanted Motherland, where fairy godmothers are created and work their magic for humans. Alas, people have stopped believing in fairy godmothers, forcing the Motherland to transfer its workers into the Tooth Fairy realm. The youngest godmother (Jillian Bell) decides to give it one last go by intruding on the life of a single mother (Isla Fisher).
The movie is both a nifty modern twist on fairy tales and a fun odd couple comedy, anchored by two endearing performances.
Where to watch Godmothered: Disney+
Director: Sharon Maguire
Cast: Jillian Bell, Isla Fisher, Jane Curtin, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, June Squibb
Noelle (2019)
The North Pole’s succession plan is a surprisingly frequent topic of cinematic study. Case in point: Noelle, a fresh take on Santa lore revolving around Noelle Kringle (Anna Kendrick), the big guy’s daughter, who shares her father’s passion for the season. Sadly, tradition says her less-enthusiastic brother Nick (Bill Hader) will inherit the Santa gig. Then, in a seemingly deliberate attempt to avoid his unwanted destiny, Nick goes missing. Needless to say, Noelle has to take matters into her own hands. What follows is an eccentric family-friendly comedy anchored by Kendrick’s reliably charming performance.
Where to watch Noelle: Disney+
Director: Marc Lawrence
Cast: Anna Kendrick, Bill Hader, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Julie Hagerty, Billy Eichner, Shirley MacLaine
The Search for Santa Paws (2010)
After the death of Mr. Hucklebuckle, one of Santa’s (Richard Riehle) good friends and longtime believers, the North Pole’s head elf Eli (Danny Woodburn) decides to animate a stuffed dog to cheer his boss up. It works like a charm, and Paws becomes Santa’s new best friend. The two trek to New York City to help Mr. Hucklebuckle’s grandchildren, but along the way, Paws discovers an orphanage of kids who need help.
This is squarely in younger audience territory, but for family viewing over the holidays, that means it’s a perfect choice.
Where to watch The Search for Santa Paws: Disney+
Director: Robert Vince
Cast: Kaitlyn Maher, Richard Riehle, Danny Woodburn, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Madison Pettis
The Naughty Nine (2023)
How do you cope with being on Santa’s naughty list? Journey to the North Pole and hack the program, of course! In this Christmas caper, fifth-grader Andy (Winslow Fegley) assembles a group of talented youngsters to game Santa’s system and prove that naughty is in the eye of the beholder. Featuring Danny Glover as Santa Claus, The Naughty Nine is a mischievous shot in the arm for family Christmas movies.
Where to watch The Naughty Nine: Disney+
Director: Alberto Belli
Cast: Winslow Fegley, Camila Rodriguez, Danny Glover, Derek Theler
