Best Christmas Movies #25 to #16

Rick Retro’s Rankings #2: Counting down #25 to #16 All-Time Best Christmas Movies (w/ Retro Reviews up to 2025-01-01)

Rick Retro’s Rankings #2: Counting down #25 to #16 All-Time Best Christmas Movies (feature length, w/ Retro Reviews up to 2025-01-01)

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(Note from Rick Retro, 2026-01-12: These rankings were originally sent out to our early text group before my Substack debut. After re-reviewing these films a year later, some have been Retro-actively regraded and re-ranked, but I present them here as they were graded and ranked on 2024-12-31. The updated rankings through 2026-01-12 can be found here.)

I’ve now reviewed 25 feature-length Christmas movies, well, 24. I just watched #25, You’ve Got Mail, and that review will be posted tomorrow.

Counting down from #25 to #16:

Added in response to a text group question: 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.

#25 D+>

#24 C v

#23 B ^

#22 B ^

#21 B+v

#20 B+>

#19 B+^

#18 B+^

#17 A-v

#16 A >

Coming soon:
Counting down from #15 to #11
Counting down from #10 to #6
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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Originally posted to text group 2024-12-31
Updated to v2.0 post formatting 2026-01-12