With the Christmas Break looming, many students are getting rarely-seen free time. A good way to spend this time is enjoying a holiday film. Here are some top films this holiday season:

Charlie Brown’s Christmas Tales is an animated movie, running 18 minutes long. Made up of several short tales about each character, it manages to convey holiday joy with each story. It includes many Peanuts characters, so if you’re interested in seeing them, go ahead. However, the voice acting was average. And many of the tales lacked a central conflict to tie them up, leaving me with a disgruntled “so what?” feeling.  Its final score is 6/10. I liked it but felt there are better movies you could watch, for example…

A fresh take on one of the Christmas Classics, Christmas Carol the Movie opens on Dickens reading his story about Ebenezer Scrooge, with a mouse in the background. From there, it tells the traditional tale via animation. The movie features Simon Callow as the protagonist and Nicholas Cage in a supporting role. It’s well animated, with picturesque backgrounds, and painstakingly drawn with many specific details in each scene. The story itself is a variation on the Dickens tale. Each of the ghosts slowly transforms Scrooge from a scrooge to a jolly person who gives to beggars and says “Happy Christmas.” There’s a lot of symbolism with the ghosts, and the story’s theme is one of “be a better person.” I recommend this movie as well as the version by Dickens. 8/10, would watch again.

Christmas is the time of year when many a holiday film are released. Wading through them to find the real gems becomes a full-time job. They vary spectacularly in quality, from the Star Wars Holiday Special (1978), to classics like A Nightmare before Christmas and Miracle on 34th Street. Be sure to check out the inevitable swarm of holiday-themed movies this season.