Every once in a while, I’ll nostalgically start a sentence with “Back in the 90s, we used to…” as I’d explain what a floppy disk was, phone booths, and roll-up windows to my kids. Over this winter, we’ve started watching some classic movies and I love seeing what they notice about the movies and how certain things confuse them but they seem normal to me.
Here are the 90s Christmas movies we’ve watched so far this holiday season:
Home Alone
I think we all grew up with Macaulay Culkin as our own representative for the EveryKid of the 90s. All us girls thought he was the cutest in a wholesome boy-next-door kind of way. Boys liked his mischievousness. I personally still root for him, and I loved watching him on American Horror Story for the few episodes he was on.
My kids honestly didn’t react too much to him, maybe since they’ve seen a succession of Disney Channel leads nowadays. They didn’t understand why the parents forgot poor old Kevin. The idea of leaving one of your kids was a total non-starter, and my kids talked about it non-stop the whole movie, to the point that they couldn’t get past it to enjoy the movie.
They didn’t understand what burglars where, especially how initially they were inside of the house and the family didn’t care since they were dressed as police officers. My kids didn’t buy it for a second. They didn’t understand why someone would want to go in the house to take the items. That seemed too risky when compared to cyber criminals.
They also didn’t understand why the family had to fly all the way home to talk to Kevin. “Back in the 90s, you had to put a quarter in the phone, and if you couldn’t get to a pay phone, you couldn’t call home. If the phone lines were down, you couldn’t call.” They looked at me like I had three heads. They loved the boxy shape of the cars, though.
I think the film was ahead of its time, featuring a young child committing violent acts against adults. My eyes were opened to how desensitized I was, but as an adult, I recognize that movie is not something children should emulate.
The Santa Clause
My kids really thought the lead child here was cute and very much gravitated toward him. As children of divorce, they loved the whole story.
Surprisingly, they picked up on the somewhat dated computer-generated effects, such as when Santa was trying to get down a chimney. The practical effects also didn’t quite fit all the time, such as Santa getting fatter. I think we all agreed it brought up the entertainment value, watching something so slapstick that tried to take itself seriously.
They enjoyed checking out the cars and trying to identify the models. I explained how my family had some of those cars “back in the day.” They loved Scott Calvin’s weird phone and pager. “Why would you need a message from someone to tell you to call them?” It really didn’t make sense to me, either.
We all enjoyed the weird clothes from “back in the day.” They especially loved Scott Calvin in his underwear, chasing after Santa.
The Nightmare Before Christmas
For three years, the kids were too afraid to get past the first five minutes of this movie. Last year, my daughter got through the first half and backed out at around the time Oogie Boogie started eating bugs or whatever, capturing people. This year, both were game to watch it. My son fell asleep after about 20 minutes but he still said he liked it, and it wasn’t too scary. We started a three-part harmony for the “This is Halloween” song, and we’ll randomly sing it every so often.
This film has aged really well. The vocabulary is top-notch, so I’ve had to explain and unpack the lyrics whenever the kids try to sing the songs and realize they’re saying “tender lumplings” wrong, which I would do, too. We enjoyed exploring how the mom in Home Alone played Sally back in the day as well.
I had some difficult questions like, “Is the dog dead? How did the dog die?” (referring to Zero). “How did Jack die?” What? Somebody needs to come up with a sequel that answers these burning questions. They understood immediately that Jack was the Pumpkin King and had no reason to try and be something that he wasn’t. This generation seems to have a good sense of authenticity. “Just be you, Jack.”
What are you family’s favorite 90s Christmas movies?
