Tis the season for popcorn, hot chocolate, Santa hats, and snuggling into a blanket while you watch a festive film. So, which one are we all reaching for? According to Disney, it’s a 90s classic.
The media giant has been busy, not checking the list of good girls and boys but rather conducting research into a very important matter: What are Britain’s top 10 rated Christmas movies? Does Hugh Grant and Emma Thompson’s Love Actually take the prize? Bruce Willis’ Die Hard? Perhaps Richard Attenborough’s Miracle on 34th Street?
As it turns out, it’s none of the above. According to the American-founded entertainment company, the top spot and gold medal go to Home Alone – by a significant amount as well. Following the story of 12-year-old Kevin McCallister as he outsmarts bumbling burglars, the 1990 classic has been a much-loved film for years and was the favourite for 28 per cent of voters in the poll.
The film, which starred Macaulay Culkin in the lead role and included performances by Catherine O’Hara, John Heard, and Joe Pesci, became almost as traditional as putting up your Christmas tree or opening an advent calendar door every day in the lead-up to Santa’s arrival.
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Interestingly, though, Home Alone, which won Best Comedy Film at the British Comedy Awards in 1991 and was nominated for Best Motion Picture at the Golden Globes that same year, has a relatively low rating on the film and TV rating site Rotten Tomatoes, coming in at just 66 per cent on the Tomatometer.
According to one critic, the film is a “boorish, ham-fisted, sloppy screen comedy,” while another said the almost two-hour film is like a Christmas present: “nicely packaged and fun to open, but not very useful or tasteful.” However, it did earn plenty of good reviews as well, with many praising it for perfectly capturing the essence of what it’s like being a kid.
Love Actually is Britain’s second favourite Christmas movie, with 17 per cent of those who took part in the poll listing it as a top choice. The 2003 film has a star-studded cast, including Hugh, Emma, Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, and Keira Knightly and follows the lives of eight very different couples as they navigate love in the festive season.
Much like Home Alone, it has mixed reviews from viewers and holds a 64 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. One critic wrote that they think “Love Actually finds believability in the unbelievable”, while another said it is “a cringe 10 for the price of one bulk holiday sale of the most well-worn rom-com tropes.”
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Home Alone 2 and Jim Carrey ‘s 2009 animated film, A Christmas Carol, came in third place with 16 per cent favour of poll users. The movie is one of the countless remakes of Charles Dickens’s timeless classic of the same name and follows the life of Ebenezer Scrooge as he is visited by three Christmas spirits on Christmas Eve.
Elsewhere on the list, Die Hard, and Elf tied, with 15 per cent of poll users listing them as their favourite festive films. They narrowly beat It’s A Wonderful Life and The Snowman, which both landed a 14 per cent favour.
Coming in at tenth place was the 2006 Cameron Diaz, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, and Jack Black iconic classic The Holiday. It was filmed in the small Surrey towns of Godalming and Shere and has inspired many UK Christmas trips—with some even staying in the exact cottage used in the film, which is now available as an Airbnb hire.
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