We Ranked Every Single Netflix Original Christmas Movie & You Are Welcome
‘Tis the season to watch a whole load of Christmas movies while stuffing your face with gingerbread and sausage rolls. Luckily, Netflix keeps on releasing its own original Xmas films in a never-ending stream.
Since Netflix Christmas movies have become a genre of their own — following the bonkers success of 2017’s A Christmas Prince — we decided to watch them all (yes, all 20 of them) and rank accordingly. Sadly, this list does not include Netflix’s eight-episode Christmas series Dash and Lily, but imho it’s worth a watch as the holiday miniseries is one of Netflix’s best originals from 2020.
It takes a certain twisted individual to watch so many Christmas movies without going a little insane. I’m not going to confirm or deny that I needed alcohol to get through some of these.
Pray for me.
Our ranking of every Netflix Original Christmas movie:
20. El Camino Christmas
What is this filth? Where are the reindeers? Where are the Xmas trees strategically placed in every shot? Where’s the motherfukin’ Christmas spirit?!? It’s actual blasphemy to even allow the word ‘Christmas’ in the title for this film. It’s just a rather dull cowboy crime spree and tbh, I only got through the first half, even after two glasses of wine.
19. Alien Xmas
This movie sees a young elf mistake an alien for a Christmas gift, before the alien plots to destroy the Earth’s gravity. Not vibing this at all. I like my Christmas movies to be grounded in reality — you know, with flying reindeers, time travel, and fictional countries. This is just too much.
18. A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby
This is BY FAR the worst Christmas Prince movie from the trilogy. The final installment proved that the movie’s creators had truly run out of ideas, as the film was focussed on the disappearance of a sacred treaty, which had to be recovered to prevent an ancient curse being put on Amber and Richard’s unborn child.
17. Christmas Inheritance
I reviewed this movie a few years back, but have absolutely no recollection of it — so that’s not a good start. The gist of it is that some self-entitled party girl has to prove herself to get her inheritance, by being sent to a place called Snow Falls and *gasps!* she then discovers the true meaning of Christmas. It’s definitely watchable but I wouldn’t advise.
16. Operation Christmas Drop
This movie had a lot of promise, as the premise is interesting. Erica, a congressional assistant in Washington travels to a US Air Force base in Guam to investigate whether the military’s annual Christmas charity drop should continue. She learns about the program from Air Force captain Andrew, and of course, they fall in love. This is where the movie becomes painful to watch, as the two leads have zero chemistry so it’s hard to get invested.
15. Holiday In The Wild
I enjoyed this movie, but calling it a Christmas film is a bit of a stretch. It’s a solid rom-com, following recent divorcee Kate (Kristin Davis) who embarks on an African Safari and meets elephant conservationist, Derek (Rob Lowe). It’s nice enough, but lacks Christmas spirit.
14. A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding
I had high hopes for the follow-up to the iconic A Christmas Prince. How could they have gotten it so wrong? Unlike the first film, the sequel takes itself way too seriously. Amber and Richard are preparing for their wedding, but are pulled toward their royal duties after workers in Aldovia go on strike.
13. The Christmas Chronicles 2
The sequel rejoins Kate, who is now a teenager spending family Christmas in Mexico. She runs away with her step-brother and somehow ends up the North Pole and they have to help Santa and Mrs Claus save Christmas from an elf who has gone rogue. It’s a pleasant enough follow-up to the first film, but struggles to recapture the magic.
12. Holiday Rush
A rich New York radio DJ gets fired from his job, so he and his four spoiled kids have to move in with his aunt at Christmas time. In turn, the family learn about the meaning of Christmas, and that it’s not about material possessions, etc etc. It’s a very generic and cheesy Christmas story, but everyone is so likeable that it’s still a fun watch.
11. Christmas on The Square
This movie has it all. Dolly Parton? Tick. Unnecessary musical numbers? Tick. A small town being visited by a Christmas angel? Double tick. It’s a lot of fun. That being said, there’s something missing in this movie. It’s all camp, but lacks substance.
10. Klaus
This Santa Claus origin story is extremely wholesome and follows a postman who upon arriving in a new town up North, discovers Santa hiding out. With celebs like Rashida Jones and Joan Cusack lending their voices, and some impressive animation, Klaus is a cute Xmas movie to watch with your niece or nephew.
9. The Princess Switch: Switched Again
This sequel would have been rather dull, if it wasn’t for the stroke of genius that was adding a third Vanessa Hudgens character. Joining Stacey, the Chicago baker-turned-Belgravian-princess, along with Margaret, the soon-to-be Queen of Aldovia, a blonde royal named Lady Fiona arrived on the scene.
The second movie has even more princess switching, as this time Fiona decides to try to become Queen by kidnapping Margaret — but, of course, things don’t go to plan. While this movie lacks the heart and the Christmassy vibes of the first film, it’s still entertaining as hell.
8. The Holiday Calendar
This was one of the first Christmas movies to drop on Netflix and it’s still one of the best. It’s not a totally original story but the lead Kat Graham (who also appears in the inferior Operation Christmas Drop) is incredibly charismatic and the love triangle plot is something different. Oh, and there’s a magical calendar that predicts the future, so that’s pretty fun.
7. The Christmas Chronicles
The Christmas Chronicles was much better than I expected. It also stars actual actors that I’ve heard of, so that’s a refreshing departure from most of Netflix’s Chrissy flicks. The movie boasts Kurt Russell as a rather hot Santa (aka Xmas Daddy) who ends up enlisting the help of two children, after they sneak into his sleigh. It’s a bit cheesy for my liking but ideal for families or Christmas film traditionalists.
6. Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey
I loved this film. This Christmas musical follows Jeronicus Jangle, an inventive toymaker who loses his spark after his partner steals his book of inventions. After many years pass, his granddaughter helps him rediscover his passion for toy-making and they come up with an invention to change the toy world. The story is magical. The songs slap. This movie should become a Christmas classic.
5. The Knight Before Christmas
I’m a sucker for a hot man with an accent, which is basically the entire storyline of this film. Hudgens’ second Netflix Christmas movie did not disappoint. In it, she plays school teacher Brooke who stumbles upon medieval knight, Sir Cole, who time-travelled from 1334 to fulfil a quest. More importantly, he’s hot and he has an accent. This movie shouldn’t be as enjoyable as it is, but I found the film super charming and the chemistry between Brooke and Cole is sizzling.
4. Holidate
This isn’t strictly a Christmas movie, more-so a holiday rom-com but it’s actually very good — and way too relatable if you’re single this Christmas. Two strangers Sloan and Jackson (Emma Roberts and Aussie actor Luke Bracey) agree to be each other’s plus-ones for every holiday event for a whole year, so that their relatives stop bugging them about finding a partner.
Eventually, feelings develop between the pair and things get complicated. This is a decent rom-com, there’s actual chemistry between the leads, and Kristin Chenoweth absolutely steals the show as Sloan’s quirky aunt.
3. Let It Snow
This is like Love Actually but for Gen Z, and starring people who I barely recognise. OK, I’m not selling Let It Snow but it’s genuinely delightful — and probably the highest quality Christmas movie Netflix has ever made. The story follows different high school friendship groups whose lives go in different directions as a snowstorm hits their small town. It has some very funny moments and a lot of heart. We stan.
2. A Christmas Prince
I must pay respect to the movie that kickstarted this whole bad Christmas movie craze back in 2017. It really is the most nonsensical film ever made: it’s so bad and confusing you just can’t look away, just like a beautiful, sparkling car crash, covered in tinsel. I still forget what the Prince looks like every second he’s not on screen. That’s an impressive feat. What a masterpiece.
1. The Princess Switch
Hudgens plays two versions of herself, one a bakery owner from Chicago, the other the Duchess of Montenaro. Need I say more? It gets even better as after meeting, the two characters decide to switch places and in turn, fall for each other’s men. This movie is iconic and sets the standard for all of Netflix’s Christmas movies.
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This article has been updated since it was originally published.