Amazon Prime: Best Christmas movies to watch in winter 2016
From caper comedies to theatrical heart-warmers and holiday romances, these films will get you in the mood for Christmas
Christmas is coming, which means it's time for a movie. We've rounded up the best on offer on Amazon Prime, so get out the mulled wine and mince pies and put your feet up for some festive fun.
A Midwinter's Tale
Kenneth Branagh wrote and directed this heart-warming back-stage comedy about a depressed, out-of-work actor who decides to put on a production of Hamlet in a church over the Christmas holidays, despite dire warnings that it will be career suicide. Faced with financial woes and a cast of misfits and oddballs, the troupe nevertheless discovers love, laughter and friendship on the way to opening night. Stars Michael Maloney, Richard Briers and Joan Collins.
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Christmas in Wonderland
This family-friendly Christmas caper follows the adventures of the Saunders family who have moved from Los Angeles to Edmonton in Canada just before Christmas, leaving them short on holiday spirit. But when the three children and their father go shopping at West Edmonton Mall they stumble across a horde of counterfeit cash, and inadvertently help catch the crooks, while also discovering something about Santa along the way.
Paddington
Not technically a Christmas movie, but this charmer is filled with Christmas themes of family, friendship and sharing. Paddington, adapted from Michael Bond's classic children's books, follows the misadventures of an intrepid Peruvian bear, who travels to London in search of a new home. Finding himself lost and alone at Paddington Station, he begins to realise that the big city might be tougher than the jungle, until he meets the kindly Brown family. Stars Hugh Bonneville.
Dating Daisy
This light-hearted romantic comedy for millennials follows two mixed-up twenty-somethings in an on-again/off-again relationship who decide to take a road trip home together for the holidays. Sparks fly and sexual tension mounts, as the pair try to work out what to do with their lives together or separately, with some not-so-welcome advice from their parents.
A Christmas Story
This 1983 US comedy based on a collection of stories by Jean Shepherd called In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash, has become something of a holiday classic in America. It follows the trials of nine-year-old Ralphie Parker as he tries to convince the adults in his life that a model air rifle is the perfect Christmas present for him, despite warnings that he'll shoot someone's eye out. The story also follows the Christmas dreams and struggles of his family members.
The Snow Queen
Billed as the story that inspired the smash-hit Frozen, this 2012 Russian-made 3D animated movie tells the tale of little orphan girl Gerda, who must defeat the evil Snow Queen who has taken over her homeland. The Snow Queen has not only covered the world in ice but also stolen Gerda's parents. When Gerda's brother Kai is also abducted by the polar wind to the Snow Queen's palace, Gerda embarks on a journey with her pet white weasel Luta across the icy lands to rescue him.
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