Christmas shows the whole family to enjoy

There’s no better way to spend your free time over the Christmas holidays than snuggled up on the sofa with a mountain of chocolate and a cheesy festive film. Here are some of our favourites to take you into the new year.

The Nightmare Before Christmas

If you’re still missing the horrors of Halloween, you can get the best of both worlds with The Nightmare Before Christmas. A stop-motion animated musical produced and conceived by Tim Burton and directed by Henry Selick, it tells the story of Jack Skellington, the King of Halloween Town, who stumbles through a portal to the land of Christmas and decides to change his humdrum routine by celebrating the cheery holiday instead.

The Muppet Christmas Carol

Probably one of the best Christmas films ever made, The Muppet Christmas Carol was produced by Jim Henson Productions and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. A puppet-filled retelling of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, it stars Michael Caine as Ebenezer Scrooge, alongside staple Muppet performers Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, Jerry Nelson and Frank Oz portraying various roles, such as Kermit the Frog as Bob Cratchit.

How The Grinch Stole Christmas

There may be a new Grinch movie hitting the cinemas this month, but that doesn’t mean you should forget about the 2000 Jim Carrey classic. Based on what was originally a children's picture book, the film features many new additions, including information about the backstory of the miserable title character, and the upgrading of sweet little Cindy Lou Who to a main character.

Still wholly focused on The Grinch himself, the film follows his life as he goes from a grumpy Christmas-hating loner to a kinder-hearted creature thanks to the help of the festive natives of Whoville.

Shrek

Okay, so it’s not technically a Christmas film, but it gets shown on TV enough during the festive season that it deserves a shout-out. Starring the iconic voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and John Lithgow as the lead characters, Shrek showcases some hilarious parodies of other films that have been adapted from fairytale storylines, especially Disney classics.

The plot follows Shrek as he finds his swamp overrun by fairy tale creatures who have been banished by the corrupt Lord Farquaad. Shrek makes a deal with Farquaad to regain control of his swamp in return for rescuing the punchy Princess Fiona, with hilarious results.

Oliver!

Another one that’s not necessarily a Christmas film but definitely graces our small screens every 25th December, Oliver! is an iconic British movie from 1968 based on the popular stage musical of the same name.

Following the protagonist of the Dickensian novel Oliver Twist, this music-filled flick is set in London in the 1800s and follows the eponymous orphan as he passes through the lives of rich noblemen and petty thieves alike.