A Handful of Christmas Whimsy
Rick Retro’s Rankings #9: Counting down #10 to #6 All-Time Best Christmas Movies (w/ Retro Reviews up to 2026-01-12)
Rick Retro’s Rankings #9: Counting down #10 to #6 All-Time Best Christmas Movies (feature length, w/ Retro Reviews up to 2026-01-12)
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After completing our 2025 Christmas Tour and finishing the 2025 Christmas Leftovers, I’ve now reviewed 25 feature-length Christmas movies. Since I watched and analyzed all 25 twice in two years, I’ve Retro-actively re-graded and re-ranked a few of them, after this season’s second viewing.
The movies ranked #10-#6 in our updated rankings of All-Time Best Christmas Movies are a wide variety of holiday films from the end of the 20th century, released between 1984 and 1998. Three are Pure Dark Whimsy, one is Dark Whimzy and the outlier is an all-time great romantic comedy. Whimsy is the key here, with an average Whimsy scale reading over these five films of 11, while two of them max out the scale at 13. These are all fantastic films, so check out any of our Retro Reviews you’ve previously missed, and by all means, watch these films if you’ve never seen them!
If you want to see how #10 to #6 were graded and ranked after my 2024 Christmas Tour and 2024 Christmas Leftovers, look here.
Previous Countdowns of the All-Time Best Christmas Movies (feature length, with Retro Reviews up to January 12, 2026):
Counting down from #25 to #16
Counting down from #15 to #11
Counting down from #10 to #6:
I’m ranking the overall quality of movies that are widely regarded as Christmas movies, not how well these movies demonstrate holiday spirit or even fit a Christmas theme.
Reminder: The arrow after a grade indicates if it is in the top third (^), middle third (>), or lower third (v) of works that share the same letter grade.
Also: This post looks much better in your browser than on the Substack app, because the images in the links are not included in the version of the post that the app will show you. Go to rickretro.com in your desktop or mobile browser for the better rendition of this post.
#10 A+v
👍A+ | 📖A+ 👥A- 📽️A+ 🎼A
✝️⚠️0️⃣
#9 A+v
👍A+ | 📖A 👥A 📽️A+ 🎼A+
✝️⛔1️⃣
#8 A+>
👍A+ | 📖A+ 👥A 📽️A+ 🎼A+
✝️❎0️⃣⚠️
#7 A+^
👍A+ | 📖A+ 👥A+ 📽️A 🎼A+
✝️❎0️⃣⚠️
#6 A+>
👍A++ | 📖A+ 👥A+ 📽️A+ 🎼A+
✝️❎1️⃣
Coming soon:
Counting down from #5 to #3
Counting down from #2 to #1
Meanwhile, feel free to debate these rankings or post your own as comments! I especially want to know which rankings you think I got wrong!
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