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Top 10 Christmas Movies | 2020 Christmas Movies

January 5, 2021 Cassandra Morgan
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I watched something like 86 Christmas movies this year. There are another 4 movies that I haven’t watched yet. That means there were ninety Christmas movies released between Hallmark, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, Lifetime, Hulu, and Netflix. That is absolutely bonkers, isn’t it? So here are my top 10 Christmas movies released in 2020.

Honorary Mention: Dance Dreams: Hot Chocolate Nutcracker - Since this isn’t really a Christmas movie, I didn’t want to put it in the top 10. However, it is definitely worth watching.

10. Spotlight on Christmas - A very cute actress-comes-home story
9. The Angel Tree - How to give back to your community without making it about yourself
8. Merry Liddle Christmas Wedding - When the sequel is better than the original
7. Cranberry Christmas - Proof that marriage is work and sometimes people don’t really want what they think they want
6. Love, Lights & Hanukkah! - Family is family, even if you’ve never met them before and they were raised in a different religion
5. Just Another Christmas - Foreign Christmas films can be better than American Christmas films
4. The Christmas Setup - The best movie from Lifetime, where the main couple is gay
3. The Christmas House - The movie with the gay secondary couple that broke Hallmark
2. Jingle Jangle - A Christmas musical extravaganza
1. Holly & Ivy - The best movie from Hallmark that shows a community stepping up to care for two children

There you have it. My top 10 Christmas movies of 2020. Let me know if you loved or hated any of the movies on my list. Keep an eye out later this week for my 10 worst list. I’m sure everyone is looking forward to it.

In Movies Tags Christmas movies, Christmas 2020, Best Christmas Movies 2020, Dance Dreams: Hot Chocolate Nutcracker, Spotlight on Christmas, The Angel Tree, Merry Liddle Christmas Wedding, Cranberry Christmas, Love Lights Hanukkah!, Just Another Christmas, The Christmas Setup, The Christmas House, Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey, Holly & Ivy
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Jingle Jangle | 2020 Christmas Movies

November 19, 2020 Cassandra Morgan
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When I was trying to decide where to start my Christmas movie festival, I remembered the hype around one of Netflix’s new movies - Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey. Granted, all of the hype I heard was about the color of the cast’s skins rather than the content of the show. So, knowing little more than this was “a Christmas movie with black people!” (Ugh, I hated typing that line….), I clicked on my Netflix and got to watching.

Jingle Jangle is the story of Jeronicus Jangle, an amazing inventor. Everyone loves his toys and creations. Jeronicus’ greatest invention is a sentient doll named Don Juan Diego. When Don Juan finds out that he is about to become a mass produced toy, he convinces Jeronicus’ apprentice, Gustafson, to steal Jeronicus’ Book of Ideas to become a master inventor himself. Gustafson quickly becomes a top toymaker whole Jeronicus’ life falls apart. After losing most of his business, Jeronicus’ wife dies. His heartbreak causes him to turn on his beloved daughter, Jessica, and he sends her away. Jessica grows up and has a daughter of her own, Journey. Journey, a brilliant inventor of her own, tricks her mother into sending her to spend time with her grandfather. But can Journey get through to an inverted heartbroken old man?

I’m not really sure where to start the review. Do I talk about the gorgeous steampunk visuals? Or do I talk about the awesome musical numbers? Or do I just jump into how freaking talented the cast is? OK. OK. Breathe.

The whole movie is set in this sort of 1930s-ish steampunk world. Everyone wears brightly colored suits and dresses and they all seem very happy with gadgets and gizmos a-plenty. The visuals are seriously gorgeous. Since the movie is framed as a book that a grandmother is reading to her grandchildren, when the story needs to move a little faster, we get steampunk doll versions of the characters acting out the scene. I love it so much.

Then we have the musical numbers. Thanks to songs from John Legend and Philip Lawrence (his songwriting team has written for Bruno Mars, CeeLo Green, Adele….the list goes on) and the musical talents of the cast, the score is just as beautiful as the visuals. The songs have a little more soul to them than most Christmas songs, which is a lovely change to the usually bland stuff we hear these days. And I seriously didn’t know that Forest Whitaker (old Jeronicus) and Keegan-Michael Key (adult Gustafson) could sing. They were very impressive. (Though not nearly as impressive as Lisa Davina Phillip as Ms. Johnston. I think I could listen to that woman sing for hours.)

And now the cast….I think maybe the casting directors found the most talented people in the entire world. (OK, maybe that is exaggerating a little…) A lot of the characters have two actors - a younger version and an older version. Justin Cornwell plays Jeronicus as a young man and Forest Whitaker plays him as an old man. So this might get a bit convoluted but stick with me.

Justin Cornwell does a lot of heavy lifting with the first song of the movie, “This Day.” It sets the entire tone of the movie and it does it well. My husband was so impressed that he actually came over to watch the movie with me. (He never watches these Christmas movies with me.) I already mentioned Forest Whitaker and Keegan-Michael Key. We also have Anika Noni Rose (better known as Tiana in Disney’s The Princess and The Frog) as adult Jessica, Ricky Martin as Don Juan Diego, and newcomer Madalen Mills as Journey. Mills absolutely blows everyone away as Journey. She has this amazing song “Square Root of Possible” that I was a little hesitant about at first…..but she nailed it.

To be honest, the only parts of the movie that I didn’t like were minor. Don Juan Diego was annoying. I understand the role the character plays in the movie…I just didn’t like him. But I suppose you aren’t supposed to like the villian. And I would have liked for them to do a little more with Edison, Journey’s friend and Jeronicus’s assistant. It was like he was around when the plot needed to move forward but then his mom would call him home when things actually started happening. I would have liked him to have spent a little more time becoming part of Journey’s family rather than an outsider who occasionally shows up.

Jingle Jangle is a great movie. While I know that Netflix will take it off the service after the holiday season, I wish they would leave it up so I can watch it again and again throughout the year. I mean, the Christmas part of the movie is so small that it doesn’t really matter. This movie is about the characters and their story…not Christmas. What are you waiting for? Go watch this NOW!

In Movies Tags Christmas movie, Jolly Journey of Christmas Joy, Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey, Jingle Jangle, Forest Whitaker, Keegan-Michael Key, Ricky Martin, Madalen Mills, Anika Noni Rose, Justin Cornwell, Lisa Davina Phillip, Phylicia Rashad, Netflix, musical, John Legend, Christmas musical, must see Christmas movie
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