Eavaeh Tiernan

Despite common debate, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964) is the best movie to watch during Christmas time.

When it’s time for Christmas, the arguably best thing to do is to turn all the lights off, leaving just the Christmas lights illuminating the room, cuddle up on the couch with a hot chocolate in hand, and turn on Christmas movies. In that setting, the best movies to put on have nostalgia. Christmas is a yearly tradition since childhood for many families, so adding a nostalgic movie to that nostalgic time makes everything so much more enjoyable.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is the best movie to emulate that feeling. While each person has different movies that spark their nostalgia, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer creates that old-timey childhood Christmas feeling perfectly. 

Rudolph is a classic Christmas character that everyone who celebrates grew up singing about and loving. As well, the movie was made in 1964, meaning it’s not as high quality as most people are used to. Both of those factors create such a nostalgic feeling of Christmas spirit.

On top of that, the music in the movie is undeniably nostalgic for all who celebrate. Anyone who watches can’t help but reminisce about their childhood memories as they hear the reindeer sing.

What makes this movie unique is that it’s not simply animation, as many movies like that were at the time. Instead, it was done by stop motion. While there have been many renditions of Rudolph movies, what makes this one the best is its distinct stop motion.

The unique look of the characters and their movement really adds a lot to the film. As well, it creates a greater appreciation for the movie, considering the great difficulty stop motion requires.

Many argue that other Christmas movies such as Elf top Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. The most common argument is the theme of togetherness and Christmas cheer those movies bring. While Rudolph still has those themes, it can’t be argued that others have more.

However, the overwhelming Christmas cheer other movies have doesn’t necessarily make them better. The whole point of Christmas cheer and spirit is to spend time with the ones you love. Nobody needs a movie to explain that to them, Christmas spirit can be demonstrated through simple acts.  

Simply turning on Rudolph with loved ones is enough to fill someone with Christmas spirit, no extravagant movie is needed to create that.

While the plot isn’t spectacular, that is expected. When creating this movie, the creators did not aim for a Godfather or Forrest Gump, if those were around at that time. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer aimed to be a heartwarming and classic Christmas movie, and it did just that perfectly. 

For those who celebrate Christmas, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is the absolute best choice of a Christmas movie.