20th Century Fox, 1994, 113 minutes

A remake of the 1947 holiday classic, this stars Sir Richard Attenborough in the role made famous by Edmund Gwenn. A surprisingly successful re-imagining, this version offers a sometimes hard, contemporary 90s feel despite its crinkly-round-the-edges goodness. Attenborough is not your typical Santa, or Kriss Kringle as many know him; his life experience and acting chops are what the part demands. He brings weight and not an ounce of cynicism to a role that sticks fairly closely to the original. It's New York, the city where everyone is too busy to believe in anything, and store executive Dorey Walker, played by Elizabeth Perkins, has no time for Santa Claus unless he works in the toy department. Mara Wilson plays the daughter who also questions the existence of Santa Claus until Kriss arrives and makes her believe otherwise. Dylan McDermott, who you may know as the handsome, earnest lawyer on the television series The Practice, plays a handsome, earnest lawyer who defends Kriss during an insanity hearing. He also happens to be in love with Ms Walker. Noted British actor Joss Ackland turns in a hiss-worthy performance as the bad-guy rival department store owner out for all he can get. But in the end, it's still Merry Christmas, one and all.

How The Grinch Stole Christmas

Universal Studios, 2000, 105 minutes

This is actor Jim Carrey's second character with green make-up (The Mask being his first), only this time his entire body goes green as he portrays Dr Seuss' fabled Grinch. Carrey's screen persona is so defined that no amount of paint and latex can keep him at bay and director Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind) keeps the pace suitably manic for what is essentially a whimsical comic brought to film. The movie tells how the Grinch came to hate Christmas, with a heart 'two sizes too small' (childhood trauma, naturally), but learns to love it again with the help of Whoville inhabitant Cindy Lou Who, played by a delightfully expressive Taylor Momsen, who just wants to recapture the spirit of Christmas. The production design of a world within a snowflake will dazzle the children and keep them quiet for a few hours, but its candy floss sweetness and eye-popping colour wheel set against Whoville's snowy backdrop may be a bit too much for the adults. Dr Seuss' other beloved character, The Cat In The Hat, has also just been filmed starring Mike Myers in the title role.

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

Warner Studios, 1989, 97 minutes

Satirical magazine National Lampoon has been lending its name to films since the late 70s and this 1989 effort is the third instalment of the Griswold family saga. Disaster-prone dad (Chevy Chase) wants to enjoy Christmas with his family in the comfort of his own home but he discovers just how dangerous the season really is as he searches for Christmas cheer. Chase plays it for physical laughs with a line or two of vulgarity thrown in, so you may have to stuff some cotton wool in the ears of any younger viewers, but scriptwriter John Hughes (who performed similar duties on Miracle On 34th Street) uses all the right Christmas movie cliches. Randy Quaid's red-neck relative almost steals the film but Chase holds it together, and although it gets a little dark at times, it is kept afloat by the gags. The star watchers among you will spot a 16-year-old Juliette Lewis as Chase's daughter.

Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas

Buena Vista, 1993, 76 minutes

A gloriously trippy Christmas film from producer and creator Tim Burton, The Nightmare Before Christmas is a semi-musical stop-motion animation extravaganza with a dash of horror/comedy that uses as part of its narrative the sight of Santa Claus kidnapped, strapped down and tortured. Excellent stuff. Great animation, unusually three-dimensional characters and Danny Elfman's strangely infectious score - and singing voice - give life to this tale of Jack Skellington, the king of Halloweentown. He's bored with Halloween and doing the same thing every year. When he stumbles on Christmastown, his path is set - he'll make over Christmas in his own twisted image. Everything is done with the best intentions, but his minions have other ideas and things go from bad to worse when Oogie Boogie decides to make an example of Santa. Directed by Henry Selick, this is a slick 76-minute film with images that might be a bit intense for younger children, but they'll grow to love it by the time they are older.

Scrooged

Paramount, 1988, 100 minutes

Bill Murray headlines this Richard Donner-helmed slice of anarchic fun. Donner is more noted for his action films and it shows in his somewhat unfocused direction. However, Murray does what he can with a script that veers from laugh out loud to outright tragedy. Still, this does befit Charles Dicken's classic A Christmas Carol and the hard times in which it was written. Murray is delicious in his portrayal of the neglected little boy who becomes the world's meanest television executive, until his old dead mentor shows up on Christmas Eve to warn him that his life lessons are just about to begin. It's all briskly done, with his stops at past, present and future hitting all the right emotional switches. His epiphany, of course, comes during his live television production of A Christmas Carol for his network - just to make sure that you get the point. Lee Majors - inflation seems to have made him the Six Billion Dollar Man now - has a great cameo at the start of the film.

The Santa Clause

Walt Disney, 1994, 97 minutes

This film was a smash hit in 1994, the year when Tim Allen (of Home Improvement fame) took the leap to film from television and walked away with a US$150 million grosser. Divorced toy company executive Scott Calvin has his son over for Christmas but all is not well until Santa Clause is surprised and falls off the roof. Donning the suit after Santa mysteriously disappears, Calvin and his son find themselves taking care of the delivery chores for the night. By putting on the suit, Calvin has unwittingly made a pact to be the next Santa. Now, a hero in his son's eyes, he has to deal with his gradual transformation into the familiar Santa image and the suspicions of his former wife and her psychiatrist boyfriend for the sanity of her son. As always, suspension of disbelief is all you'll need here (and you always believed in Santa, didn't you?) to have a good time. Allen uses his rakish charm to good effect and doesn't allow the sometimes cartoony design and ropey special effects to get in his way. There is, of course, The Santa Clause 2 - The Mrs Clause.

A Little Princess

Warner Brothers, 1995, 97 minutes

This 1995 adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett's novel has been called one of the finest children's films of the 1990s. A Little Princess has the makings of a timeless classic. This is an almost entirely studio-bound production but you would be hard-pressed to see that, with expansive sets and lavish attention to period detail. The story opens in New York just before the first world war, when young Sara (Liesel Matthews) is enrolled in a boarding school while her father goes off to war. Sara's story-telling abilities soon win over her classmates, but she finds an enemy in the strict headmistress, Miss Minchen (Eleanor Bron). However, war has a habit of changing fortunes and news of the death of Sara's father on the front finds Sara moving from the comfort of student quarters to the servants' quarters when she is unable to pay her bills. Resorting to her imagination to cope with her new reality, Sara learns to come through it all with strength and dignity. Visually and emotionally impressive, this is a family film in the truest sense of the word.

White Christmas

Paramount, 1954, 120 minutes

This film is based entirely around Irving Berlin's perennial, Oscar-winning holiday anthem. Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera Ellen play singing and dancing war-time buddies and singing and dancing sisters, respectively, in this amiable musical directed by Hollywood veteran Michael Curtiz (Casablanca, The Adventures of Robin Hood). As proudly proclaimed in the opening credits, this was the first film to be shot in magnificent VistaVision so its place in history is assured. The love story is all formula, but it's the scenery and Technicolour photography, and the song and dance numbers, that matter as the foursome hook up to try to save the struggling ski resort lodge of Crosby and Kaye's former commanding officer. Despite its age, this film is so wholesome you'll have a smile on your face throughout its two-hour running time. And let's face it, Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without Crosby crooning those immortal words: 'I'm dreaming of a white Christmas ...'

Home Alone

20th Century Fox, 1990, 105 minutes

Once it opened, Chris Columbus' film was instantly touted as a Christmas classic and made a star (albeit briefly) of Macaulay Culkin as Kevin, the youngest misfit in a family of misfits who is left behind when the folks all fly to Paris for the Yuletide holidays. Left alone, he must fend for himself and shows himself to be resourceful and self-sufficient until he comes across a couple of bungling burglars, played by Daniel Stern and Joe Pesci, who prey on empty houses during the holiday season. The ensuing battle for turf reveals that one boy's home really is his castle as he uses anything and everything to hand in his fight against the despicable duo. Incredibly violent for a child's film, this will nonetheless enthrall children of all ages as they see grown-ups bashed, boiled, branded, bottled and burned, and still managing to come back for the inevitable sequel. Despite that, the human element is not left out as a mother desperate to get back to her son, Catherine O'Hara, tugs at the heart.

Home Alone 2: Lost In New York

20th Century Fox, 1992, 120 minutes

Everyone returns for more fun, only this time Kevin ends up stuck in New York while his family heads off to Miami. With a little ingenuity and his father's credit card, he checks himself into a hotel and proceeds to wait it out until Wet Bandits Daniel Stern and Joe Pesci spy him on the street and vow revenge while taking care of a little thievery. Thereafter, it's a return to the running house battles as shown in the first film. The violence perpetrated in this movie is a whole new realm above the original, with even more bodily damage inflicted on the hapless duo. It's all done in the name of fun, though, and while you root for Kevin, you can't help but feel sorry for the bandits. Also, New York is as much a character in this film as anybody else and the city during Christmas is a wonderful sight. As a side note, writer John Hughes has been behind this series and two of the films already reviewed above, which would seem to prove that he has an unusual take on what it means to celebrate Christmas.

Home Alone 3

20th Century Fox, 1997, 102 minutes

Macaulay Culkin was too old to play the lovable Kevin in this instalment, but the plot wasn't so it gets recycled with a few added tweaks. Industrial espionage is the thread that all this hangs on and it's getting a bit frayed by now. This time out, Alex (played by Alex Linz) has to prevent some unusually incompetent spies from getting their hands on a top-secret missile control chip. Stand by for more extended beatings and adult humiliation as director Raja Gosnell (Scooby Doo) tries to keep up the pace on this slightly flagging series. Of course, the children will love it and at Christmas that's all that counts. So, happy holidays and merry viewing.