First things first, the scores we give to Christmas movies are just our opinions.
We try to put a number to our level of enjoyment while watching.
So you may love a Christmas movie that we just don’t like at all. On the other hand, we may totally love a movie you hated.
We love Christmas movies.
We’ve watched hundreds of Christmas movies.
But we know that not every holiday movie is worth our time.
So what follows is an explanation of how we rate movies at Christmas Movies Guide.
1 (Scores: 9-10)
A 1 is a movie we want to watch every year at Christmastime. These are the Christmas movies we love the most.
Everything (or nearly everything) works and these are a joy to watch when you want to get in the Christmas spirit.
This is how we break down Christmas movies we’ve rated a 1:
10 = Perfect
9.5 = Amazing
9.0 = Excellent
2 (Scores: 7 – 8.5)
A 2 is a movie we want to watch every couple of years. We liked these movies, but typically there is a flaw (or a few of them) that knock down our enjoyment.
This is how we break down Christmas movies we’ve rated a 2:
8.5 = Awesome
8 = Wonderful
7.5 = Great
7 = Super
3 (Scores: 5 – 6.5)
A 3 is a movie we’ll try to watch at least every 3 years or so. These Christmas movies typically are watchable – we’d leave them on if there was nothing better to choose from. They’re just lacking that special “Christmas magic” and have done something a little bit naughty.
If given a choice, we probably wouldn’t seek these out year after year, given there are so many better movies and we only have so much time.
This is how we break down Christmas movies we’ve rated a 3:
6.5 = Good
6 = Enjoyable
5.5 = Above Average
5 = Average
N (Scores a 4.5 or lower)
An N is a movie we never plan to watch again. These movies are lumps of coal. They’re bad (usually in many ways).
This is how we break down Christmas movies we’ve rated N:
4.5 = Meh
4 = Below Average
3.5 = Disappointing
3 = Bad
2.5 = Terrible
2 = Embarrassing
1.5 = Frustrating
1 = Pathetic
0.5 = Offensive
0 = Unwatchable
How We Evaluate Christmas Movies
We don’t have a set formula, where we award X/X points and then come up with a final score out of 100.
Really, it’s just about the overall feel we’re left with after the movie fades to black.
That said, we do try to break down movies by looking elements such as:
- Story (plot/theme/conflict/ending)
- Writing
- Dialogue
- Pacing
- Originality
- Chemistry between leads
- Acting
- Characters
- Visuals and sounds
- Feels (or lack of)
- Goofs