When we asked Lakeview their favorite holiday movies we got a slew of responses, but three came out on top! Those three being  Home Alone, Elf, and The Nightmare Before Christmas. Let’s find out why these movies are so beloved!

Home Alone, which was made in 1990, follows the young troublemaker Kevin McCallister when he gets in a fight with his family, sent to his room, and promptly forgotten about in the scramble to get to the airport. At first he was living large with pizza, dessert, jumping on his parents bed, and making a mess of his house until he learns two burglars are trying to rob the house! He fools them by making it seem like his family were still home which throws off their plans. By this time his mother realizes that Kevin was left behind and tries to fly back home to Chicago but only makes it to Pennsylvania. She joins in a van with a polka band who will be going there too.  Kevin is starting to miss his family so he visits a fake Santa and wishes he had them back. He overhears the Wet Bandits Harry and Marv plotting and quickly begins to booby trap the house.  He holds them off and is sad no one is home for Christmas when the door opens revealing his family had come back home for him. 

So what makes this the favorite Holiday movie of Lakeview? Some people, like Junior Marrisa Rush, like “the suspense and action of it.” 

As for why it’s so loved, the general consensus is the humor, music, action, originality,  and morals.  

The second favorite holiday movie is Elf! Most well known for its lead actor Will Ferrell as the loveable “elf” named Buddy.

Elf was made in 2003 and as previously mentioned follows Buddy the human raised as one of Santa’s elves who learns of his origins and travels back to New York City to meet his father. His purpose is to get his father off the naughty list because of his selfishness. He meets his father, but is dismissed as a Christmas-gram due to his outrageous outfit, so he wanders away and finds a department store and instantly falls in love with one of the workers named Jovie. He learns that Santa is coming to the store the next day so he decorates the whole place, but when he gets there Buddy realizes he is a fraud and promptly beats him up. His father bails him and takes him for a DNA test showing he is actually his son. He then takes him to meet his step-mother who thinks he is too weird. Santa crashes in central park and Buddy finds a new engine and saves the day! The film ends with Buddy writing a book about his life with his new wife Jovie and kid. 

The reason people love this movie is mainly because of Will Ferrell. Freshman Thomas Pavlansky says “Will Ferrell 10/10!”

Freshman Maison Adkins thinks “Will Ferrell is probably one of the funniest actors I have ever seen.”

Others like Senior Amber Givens-Morrow simply love it because “it is a Christmas classic.”

Coming in at third place is The Nightmare Before Christmas. Made by Tim Burton, this film follows the mighty Pumpkin King Jack Skellington and his search for Christmas joy. 

The Nightmare Before Christmas was made in 1993 by Tim Burton and follows a sad Jack Skellington who has grown bored of his job directing Halloween Town, a town full of scary monsters always preparing for Halloween, so he wanders off into the forest and stumbles upon a group of doors that lead to the other holidays, and so he decides to go in the one with the Christmas tree. He falls in love with the wonder and pure joy of Christmas and he comes up with a plot to become Santa. He brings this up with the citizens of Christmas time and eventually convinces them. The only thing left to do is make his suit and kidnap Santa. He sends three kids to get Santa and asks Sally, his love interest,  to make his suit. Santa is left in the company of the awful Oogie Boogie Man. The big night is here and it’s time to deliver Christmas joy, it’s just too bad the people of Halloween Town made awful, scary, and dangerous toys for the kids and they are now terrorizing the world! Things get worse for the misunderstood Jack when the military open fire on his sleigh and shoot him down. Jack survives though and rescues Santa from Oogie so he can save Christmas. Santa forgives Jack and delivers him the Christmas joy he so desperately tried to bring. 

The reason this movie is so well loved is because of the style of it. Due to it being entirely stop motion it is bursting through the seams with charm. That’s why Freshman Grace Johanntges likes it so much saying “I love the artistic elements!” 

Another big reason for its success is because it isn’t aggressively Christmas  like most other Christmas movies. Junior Sophia Hawkins says, “Since it is more a Halloween movie I like it more than other Christmas movies.”     

Do you have any plans to watch your favorite holiday movie this season? If not, consider trying one of these! They are popular for a reason.