One of the best parts of the holidays are romantic, heartwarming Christmas movies.
Back when I was a child, Hallmark had a monopoly on the genre. However In the past few years Netflix has given them a run for the title by releasing several original Christmas films.
With so many new movies, how can you know which ones are worth watching? Don’t worry, because we’ve watched every single Netflix Christmas movie and ranked them from least to most enjoyable.
Grab your pajamas, light up your Christmas tree, and find a comfy spot next to the fireplace- it’s time to tuck in for a Netflix Christmas movie marathon!
14. The Princess Switch: Switched Again
The first sequel to The Princess Switch, this film takes place one year after the events of the original.
Princess Margaret Delacourt (Vanessa Hudgens) is about to be crowned queen. As her coronation approaches, she longs to reunite with her ex-boyfriend Kevin. Much like the original movie, Margaret decides that the solution to her problem is to switch places with her doppelganger Stacy DeNovo (also Vanessa Hudgens). However, she has another identical ringer: her cousin, Lady Fiona Pembroke (once again, Vanessa Hudgens)- and this one’s evil!
Recommendation: While the third Princess Switch sequel is tolerable, this one is not. Stay far, far away from this movie. If you’re chained up to a wall and forced to watch this movie at gunpoint, make sure you’re not sober. I was sober when I watched this movie, and I regret every moment of it.
13. Father Christmas is Back
Four sisters, their mother, and their significant others gather to celebrate Christmas in their family’s mansion. However, everyone is surprised when their estranged father shows up after being missing for 30 years!
All of the characters in Father Christmas Is Back have a lot of resentment towards their family members and their lives in general. The movie focuses so heavily on their anger and resentment, it completely forgets to showcase any positive traits the audience can connect with. Because of this choice, it’s impossible to care about any of the characters. The only thing I cared about was getting the characters and the movie off my screen.
Recommendation: I sat down to watch this movie 3 times, and turned it off each time because it was torturously boring. You’d be better off watching another movie on this list.
12. A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby
Since the first Christmas Prince movie followed Queen Amber and King Richard’s courtship and the second chronicled their wedding, it’s only natural that the third movie in the series is centered on the birth of their first child.
Recommendation: While I love the first movie in the Christmas Prince series and enjoyed the second, the third goes too far. Unless you want to play a drinking game every time something unnecessarily “Christmas” happens, don’t bother watching it!
11. Christmas Inheritance
Ellen Langford (Eliza Taylor) is the heir to a massive greeting card company. She wants to become the CEO of said company. Only problem is her reputation.
Ellen is well-known in the tabloids as the “Party Heiress.” Desperate to prove she’s serious, she tells her father that she’s willing to do whatever it takes to change his opinion of her. Her dad’s solution is to send her to the charming town of Snow Falls to deliver a Christmas letter to the company’s co-founder. The catch? Ellen isn’t allowed to tell anyone who she is, and is only allowed to bring along $100 in cash- no credit cards.
Not going to lie, Christmas Inheritance was painfully corny. The movie beats you over the head with “Christmas.” It’s a Christmas movie, in a small town! Called “Snow Falls”, which is- surprise- covered in snow! Where the world’s largest holiday greeting card corporation was founded! And the protagonist is a rich girl who learns what the true meaning of love and life is by interacting with “real” small town folks! The majority of the movie takes place at a romantic, perfectly decorated Christmas inn! The major turning point for Eliza’s character development happens at, you guessed it, a Christmas party!
You’d think that it doesn’t get cornier than this. It somehow does.
Recommendation: While Christmas Inheritance is an enjoyable movie, it doesn’t stand out against many of the more entertaining titles on this list. I’d recommend watching most of the other films first.
10. A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding
After getting engaged on New Year’s Eve the year prior, former journalist Amber is excited about her upcoming Christmas wedding to the now King Richard!
Sadly, because it’s a royal wedding, Amber doesn’t have much input. She isn’t allowed to choose her dress, menu, or even wear her own jewelry.
At the same time, King Richard has recently implemented a program called the New Aldovia Initiative meant to revitalize the country’s economy. For some reason, the initiative is failing, so Amber breaks out her investigative journalism skills to unearth a royal conspiracy.
Recommendation: If you’re already a fan of the Christmas Prince movies, this movie might be worth watching. If not, I’d probably skip it.
9. A Boy Called Christmas
A young boy named Nikolas lives in a snowy forest with his father. Since life in their country is pretty bleak, their King issues a quest to all of the country’s inhabitants: find something that brings hope to the kingdom.
Before her death, Nikolas’s mom used to tell him stories about the magical place called Elfhelm. After discovering a map, Nikolas sets out on a quest with his pet mouse to find Elfhelm and restore hope to the kingdom- and himself!
Recommendation: A Boy Called Christmas is sweet and entertaining, if not a little slow-paced. This movie would be a great choice for families with small children or adults looking for a relaxed holiday movie night.
8. Operation Christmas Drop
Congressional aide Erica (Kat Graham) works for hardass Congresswoman Bradford. Congresswomen Bradford is on a mission to shut down at least one US Air Force base to save the government some money, so she tasks Erica to review a specific base in Guam and find a reason to advocate for its closure.
This particular base runs a yearly philanthropic effort called Operation Christmas Drop. Every Christmas Eve, pilots drop large parcels of donated gifts, food, and goods to local islanders. Pilot Andrew (Alexander Ludwig) meets with Erica to try to prevent her from shutting down the base.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Erica and Andrew fall in love over the course of this movie. Despite its predictability, Operation Christmas Drop is a heartwarming film about giving back to others throughout the holidays.
Recommendation: While this is an enjoyable, feel-good film, it’s rather generic. There are other more memorable Netflix holiday films.
7. A California Christmas
Scarily attractive Joseph (Josh Swickard) is a wealthy real estate heir tasked with acquiring a ranch in Northern California to add to his family’s conglomerate. Only problem is, that ranch belongs to scarily attractive Callie (Lauren Swickard), and she doesn’t want to sell!
When Joseph shows up to the ranch to try to work out a deal with Callie, he gets mistaken as the farm’s new ranch hand, Manny. Instead of being honest about his identity, Joseph decides to pretend to be Manny in order to convince Callie to sell the farm and impress his family.
I have to note that there are a lot of bizarre moments relating to the setting of the movie. A California Christmas is set in Petaluma, California, which is described as a “teeny tiny town.” Much of the plot revolves around Petaluma being a world away from San Francisco, the city where Joseph is from.
I live in Petaluma. On the weekend, Petaluma is about 35 minutes away from San Francisco. Even in traffic, Petaluma is only an hour away from downtown San Francisco. Many people live in Petaluma and commute to San Francisco for work- it’s more affordable than paying rent in the city!
Truth be told, the film’s portrayal of Petaluma is hilarious. Every shot of the town is of remote homes on the outskirts of town- never mind that Petaluma is almost entirely suburban! The movie even featured a hospital located in a remote shack-like building. Petaluma actually has one of the largest, best-equipped medical centers in the area!
Recommendation: Despite being silly, A California Christmas is still heartwarming, charming, and definitely worth watching.
6. The Knight Before Christmas
Sir Cole (Josh Whitehouse) is a medieval knight. While competing at his medieval town’s annual Christmas hawking competition, he runs into a mysterious old crone in the woods. The crone sends him on a quest to fulfill his destiny and become a true knight.
His quest? To meet the lovely Brooke, played by the Queen of Netflix Christmas Movies herself, Vanessa Hudgens. Only problem is that Brooke lives in the 21st Century which is leagues away from the medieval village he calls home.
Recommendation: The Knight Before Christmas is romantic and heartwarming. It brings a magical twist to the Netflix Christmas movie formula. Definitely add it to your list!
5. The Princess Switch
Stacy DeNovo (Vanessa Hudgens) is a lonely baker living in Chicago trying to get over a breakup. To cheer her up, her best friend Kevin (Nick Sagar) enters her into a Christmas baking competition in Belgravia.
In Belgravia, Stacy has a chance encounter with Lady Margaret, the Duchess of Montenaro (also played by Vanessa Hudgens). Surprise- the Duchess and Stacy look like twins! Due to marry Prince Edward of Belgravia on Christmas Day, Lady Margaret wants one last chance to learn what it’s like to be normal. She convinces Stacy to trade places with her before the wedding.
Recommendation: Despite its ridiculous premise, this movie is as sweet as all of the delicious goodies that Stacy bakes. Out of all the movie’s on this list, it’s my boyfriend’s favorite!
4. Holidate
After experiencing awkward solo Christmases, Sloane (Emma Roberts) and Jackson (Luke Bracey) decide to become each other’s “Holidate”, aka random stranger/friend they bring to every holiday gathering in order to avoid looking single- because apparently that’s a bad thing?
Holidate does a great job of subverting most traditional romantic comedy tropes. Every time it gets close to being a stereotype, the movie inserts a awkwardly hilarious moment to keep the viewer laughing and on their toes.
However, I found it disappointing that Holidate fed so heavily into the narrative that it’s embarrassing to be single during the holidays. There’s nothing wrong with being single. Can society move past this already?
Recommendation: Definitely watch! It’s silly, but it’s also one of the funniest movies on this list.
3. Holiday in the Wild
After her son leaves for college, Kate Conrad (Kristin Davis) tries to reinvigorate her marriage by surprising her husband with a second honeymoon to Africa. Instead, her husband surprises her by asking for a divorce. Devastated, Kate embarks on the trip solo, ends up at an elephant sanctuary, and falls in love with grumpy sanctuary worker Derek (Rob Lowe).
While Holiday in the Wild is very predictable, it’s also an inspiring story of a woman rediscovering herself after her life falls apart. However, Christmas is not as huge of a focus in this movie, so keep that in mind!
Recommendation: I’m not usually a fan of straightforward romance flicks, but this one is a must-see!
2. Love Hard
Natalie Bauer (Nina Dobrev) is a writer who has a column chronicling her online dating mishaps. After giving up on dating in Los Angeles, she decides to expand her match radius to include potential dates around the country.
Luckily for Natalie, she matches with the ruggedly handsome Josh Lin. After weeks of talking, Natalie takes the plunge and surprises him by visiting his family for the holidays.
The big surprise? The Josh Lin Natalie fell for wasn’t the real Josh Lin- Natalie was catfished!
Instead of leaving, Natalie decides to befriend the real Josh Lin and tries to date Tag, the guy whose photo Josh used on the dating app.
As expected in any Netflix Christmas movie, shenanigans ensue.
Much like Holidate, Love Hard does a great job of subverting classic romantic comedy and holiday movie tropes. It’s a truly entertaining movie with few traditionally corny moments; after all, you can’t have a Netflix Christmas movie without corny moments!
Recommendation: If you love to laugh, make sure to include Love Hard on your holiday watch list.
1. A Christmas Prince
Journalist Amber Moore (Rose McIver) gets her first big assignment- to travel to the country of Aldovia and attend a press conference with Aldovia’s soon-to-be king, playboy Prince Richard (Ben Lamb). When the press conference is canceled, Amber pretends to be the young Princess Emily’s tutor in order to get the real scoop on the wild Prince. Instead- you guessed it- they fall in love!
I don’t want to be too hard on this movie because it’s one of my favorites, but it’s just so ridiculous.
The bad guy in The Christmas Prince is Richard’s scheming cousin Simon who badly wants the throne. Of course he is, because that’s the most stereotypical bad guy you could put in a movie like this. The second villain is Prince Richard’s ex-girlfriend Sophia who wants to be queen. Coincidentally, this is the second most obvious villain the writers could have chosen.
And of course Princess Emily scares away all of her tutors because she’s a raging brat, but loves Amber after only two minutes of screen time!
Also, why on earth does Prince Richard’s coronation need to happen on Christmas? They provided some explanation for it, but it was arbitrary and made no sense. Oh, that’s right! Because this movie needs to be about Christmas!
Recommendation: Despite being ridiculously corny and predictable, you can’t skip watching The Christmas Prince. After all, it’s one of the OG Netflix Christmas movies!
