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The Christmas musical has become an integral part of the festive experience. With Christmas around the corner, television channels and streaming platforms have been booming with vibrant, warm Christmas films that celebrate the spirit of the holiday. While comedies and family films are central to the festival, musicals capture the merry spirit of Christmas and promote a fun family viewing experience.
While musicals such as Sound of Music and Mary Poppins are generally very popular around the holiday season, when audiences around the world are looking for stories with a lighter tone, some Christmas musicals such as The Polar Express are specifically meant for Christmas as they explore everything that the occasion stands for.
Over the years, all genres have had to adapt themselves to being suitable for the season, considering the kind of booming viewership at this time of the year.
Christmas musicals like The Polar Express, Scrooge, and three others to watch during the holiday season
1) The Polar Christmas (2004)
The Polar Express is one of the finest Christmas films that offers a deeply cinematic experience disguised as a holiday film. The film expresses some truly profound themes and philosophies in simple yet intriguing ways. The narrative explores themes of privilege, curiosity, friendship, and festive spirit with an exaggerated imagination of what a trip to the North Pole would look like.
The story plays around with Christmas myths, ranging from Santa Claus and the elves to the light that the holiday brings with it. The Christmas musical uses motion-capture technology to make animated characters look real enough to relate to while also being animated enough to retain a magical and mythical vibe.
When this Christmas musical was released in 2004, critics were disappointed with the allegedly poor graphics and production. However, The Polar Express has, over the years, become a holiday favorite among audiences across the globe, children and adults alike. The Polar Express is streaming on HBO Max.
2) The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Inspired by a story by Tim Burton, The Nightmare Before Christmas is a Christmas musical fantasy. The film, like most of Burton's works, touches on goth and horror genres while maintaining a fantasy vibe.
The story follows Jack Skellington from Halloween Town. Jack ends up enchanted by the charm of Christmas Town and is drawn towards Christmas. His obsession with Christmas grows and ends with him abducting Santa Claus. The Nightmare Before Christmas is one of the many movies that reinterprets Santa Claus and the role he plays during the festival.
The Santa Clause and The Year Without a Santa Claus are some other Christmas films that go deeper into the myth of Santa. The Nightmare Before Christmas, however, is artistically sound and manages to qualify as a horror film too, and is just musical enough to fascinate. The Christmas musical is streaming on Disney+.
3) Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)
Another Christmas musical, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, is a film made for television. It first aired in 1964 on NBC and was a 55-minute special that followed the story of Rudolph, a reindeer. As the age-old myth goes, Rudolph is one of Santa's many reindeer who ride his sleigh. Rudolph has a red nose and is made fun of by the other reindeer.
The film, however, takes a much merrier approach and simply follows young Rudolph as he goes about his life. A Holly Jolly Christmas, Silver and Gold, and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer are among the most popular songs from the film that also went on to become popular Christmas songs on their own. The musical then began being telecast repeatedly during the holiday season every year.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is streaming on YouTube.
4) Scrooge (1970)
Since Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol was published, many different cinematic interpretations have retold the tale of humanity and warmth during the festive season. While other cinematic retellings focus on being much darker, Scrooge attempts to keep things lighter and gives out the message of happiness and merriment in a fun manner.
This Christmas musical, of course, follows Ebenezer Scrooge, a man who does not believe in or experience the happiness of the holiday season. He is resistant to any kind of merriment around him. However, a strange experience on the eve of Christmas one year changes his attitude towards life and changes his course after that. A 2009 Disney film was also made based on the story, but isn't as much of a musical.
5) The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974)
Another television special, A Year Without Santa Claus, follows a tired old Santa who feels sick and unwanted. He decides not to go around giving gifts that year and stays home. The other elves decide to go around and find people who still believe and live with hope. They try to get Santa to understand that there are still children who believe in him and get him back to work.
This Christmas musical boasts some heartwarming songs, including the most popular Here Comes Santa Claus, Blue Christmas, and Sleigh Ride. A sequel to the special was produced in 2008. The film went on to become widely popular and began to be watched by people for years to come during the holiday season.
These are some of the most popular and critically acclaimed Christmas musicals that explore the spirit of Christmas.
