Best Recent Family Films for Christmas

At the request of the KBZ community, and for our final film list of 2024, we’ll be reviewing the Best Recent Family Films for Christmas. This list will cover holiday films from 2020 – 2024 set during Christmas that the entire family can enjoy together.

For our rankings we’re going to use some criteria to help define and refine our list. First, the film must be set during the Christmas holidays or include an element of Christmas such as Santa Claus.

Second, we’re going to focus on live action films only so animated Christmas films won’t be part of this list. There are a few films we’ll consider that have some animated sequences such as The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022) and The Velveteen Rabbit (2023), but for the most part, these are live action films. However, we will provide a list of recent animated Christmas films below if you’re specifically looking for films for younger children.

Third, we’re going to rank these holiday films by how likely kids and adults will enjoy the film together. Films such as A Loud House Christmas (2021) will likely be enjoyed much more by children whereas most Hallmark Christmas films are family-friendly but don’t have fantasy or comedy elements appealing to kids.

And fourth, we had to follow our rule for all of KBZ’s film listings where we only list films that have a 4.0/10 or higher rating and were released from 2020 – 2024.

Our complete list of Christmas Movies features over 838+ films from 1946 – 2024. This collection features almost every film from every genre set during Christmas and other end of the year holidays. Also, as we’re always updating our collections and will be releasing additional articles of great Christmas films, subscribe to our newsletter for our latest updates as we post them.

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Recent Animated Christmas Films for Kids

Netflix: Mighty Express: A Mighty Christmas (2020), Super Monsters: Santa’s Super Monster Helpers (2020), A Trash Truck Christmas (2020), Robin Robin (2021), Scrooge: A Christmas Carol (2022), The Boss Baby: Christmas Bonus (2022), The Bad Guys: A Very Bad Holiday (2023), That Christmas (2024)

Disney+: Once Upon A Snowman (2020), The Lego Star Wars Holiday Special (2020), Diary of a Wimpy Kid Christmas (2023)

Prime Video: Trolls Holiday in Harmony (2021), Mickey and Minnie Wish Upon a Christmas (2021), Shaun the Sheep: The Flight Before Christmas (2021), Snoopy Presents: For Auld Lang Syne (2021), Santaman (2022), The Nutcracker and The Magic Flute (2022), Tom and Jerry’s Snowman’s Land (2022), Mickey Saves Christmas (2022), Reindeer in Here (2022), Glisten and the Merry Mission (2023), Urkel Saves Santa: The Movie! (2023), Merry Little Batman (2023), Mog’s Christmas (2023), The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland (2024), Steal the Naughty List (2024), Thomas & Friends: The Christmas Letter Express (2024), Mickey and the Very Many Christmases (2024)