During the holiday season, many people enjoy watching Christmas movies, and what better to do this Christmas than a Christmas movie marathon? Everyone is stuck inside and has a lot of time on their hands, so what better way to waste it? So here I have picked six well-known Christmas movies and rated them from best to worst.

The first Home Alone is about an 8-year-old boy, Kevin McCallister, who is left home alone, and it’s mainly about what he does while his parents are gone. Kevin first does what all parents never let their kids do: eat all the ice cream and stay up late watching movies. But, after two robbers try to break into his house, he takes action to try to stop them from getting in and taking anything. He makes a lot of booby-traps that any kid could make with all the random things he finds in his house. These plans on how to get the robbers are so elaborate, it’s kind of too much. The larger than life booby-traps do add to the comedy of the movie though. On a rating from one to ten, I’d give Home Alone a 6/10 for all the great comedy, but it’s not a ten for language and for overdoing the booby-traps.

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York is the sequel to Home Alone. It is almost exactly like the first movie, just in a different setting. On a trip to Miami, Kevin gets lost in the airport and follows the wrong people onto a plane headed to New York. He has his dad’s credit card, so he checks into a massive hotel and walks around and has conversations with a toy store owner, a homeless bird lady and for some reason, Donald Trump. Kevin randomly finds his old enemy robbers and hears their plan to rob the toy store, so he devises a new plan to catch them and hand them over to the cops. Though I do feel like this movie is better than Home Alone, it is even less realistic with all the traps he sets that go all over the street, from an abandoned house in renovation, all the way to a park where he is hoping the cops will catch the crooks. The second movie was more enjoyable and entertaining, and some of the traps were really funny. But Kevin is so smart that not only does he catch two crooks, he is also able to get away with all the damage he has done around the city, including a broken window, a demolished house and a huge hole in his dad’s wallet. It’s better than Home Alone, so I’d rate it 7/10. But, this series can be watched all year round because there isn’t really any part that makes it a Christmas movie other than the setting. 

Home Alone 3 is so much better than both the first and second movies. This time, there is a new character, Alex, instead of Kevin, and the plot is a little bit better. First, there is a better reason for why this kid is left home alone: he has chicken pox. His dad is out of town on a business trip, his mom has to go to work for an emergency and his two rude siblings both are in school. His neighbor across the street is supposed to be the emergency contact for if anything goes wrong, but she could care less about little Alex. Alex is a little younger than Kevin was in the first two movies, but is much smarter than him. The movie starts with four Russians in an airport who’ve lost a bag which contained a toy car. The car isn’t important, but it’s the chip they’ve hidden inside that matters most to them. They find out who took their toy car and try to find where it’s at, and realize it’s somewhere on Alex’s street. Alex has to figure out a way to catch these Russians, but somehow they never find him, and the police never believe him. This plotline is a little more realistic and much more comical. The traps are hilarious and much better than in the first two movies. However, it’s still not believable that a child could’ve come up with those traps. I would rate this movie an 8/10 for more comedy and simplicity.

The next movie I want to address is a favorite all over the world, but for some reason as a child I never liked it. Elf always seemed to be a little too much for me, or maybe too little. I never saw enough comedy in it, though the plotline is very heartwarming. Everything in the movie looked old and cheesy, especially with an adult acting like a child. I felt Buddy (Will Ferrel) was filled with the energy of a 4-year-old, and not in a good way. I never liked anything about it except for the one scene where he is eating spaghetti with maple syrup and Pop-Tarts. That scene is so disgusting it’s actually very comical. Other than that, I am disgusted by the entirety of the movie, and would rate it a 2/10.

I can’t pick a specific movie, so I have to choose this entire category. When people hear “Hallmark,” some are filled with joy, and some are filled with hatred. Hallmark movies are always about someone not looking for true love, but always finding it. The plot is always the same, finding true love, which is repetitive and might get boring to some people, but to romance lovers this is the perfect stop for some Christmas miracles. In Hallmark movies, there are many different ways two people can fall in love, and this is the reason why I had to choose the entire category. I would rate this section an 8/10 because I am a romantic and absolutely love the Hallmark season.

Last but not least, we have the greatest treasure of all. The greatest Christmas movie ever to be made. A movie about two parents who decide to vacation in the Carribean and not celebrate because their  daughter is not coming home for Christmas. But, when their daughter decides to come back home, they have to decorate all over again. Yes, I am talking about Christmas with the Kranks. The Kranks decide to skip Christmas to save $6,000 that is usually spent on decorations, lights and their annual Christmas Eve party. Because the entire neighborhood is so obsessed with setting up all the festivities, when they realize the Kranks aren’t celebrating Christmas that year, they decide to try everything in their power to change the Kranks’  mind. When their daughter Blair decides to do a surprise visit to see her parents this Christmas with her new fiancee, the entire neighborhood needs to work together to fix the house and party for her return. I would rate this movie 10/10 because it is my absolute favorite movie to watch at Christmas time.