When the nights get darker fast, the blankets come out, and there’s nothing better than settling in with a genuinely great Christmas movie. But with so many festive titles on Netflix (including a bunch of new releases in 2025), figuring out which ones are actually worth your time can feel overwhelming.
To narrow things down, I turned to Rotten Tomatoes’ lists of the best Christmas movies on Netflix and the best holiday flicks of all time, then cross-referenced them with what’s currently available on the streaming service. From there, I selected the highest-rated titles based purely on the scores. While “Alien Xmas” and “Who Killed Santa? A Murderville Murder Mystery” did earn high ratings, they’re really more like short holiday specials than full-length movies, so they didn’t quite fit in this list.
Of course, a high Rotten Tomatoes rating doesn’t guarantee you’ll love it, since holiday viewing can be deeply personal and nostalgia counts for a lot. Still, a strong critical score usually signals quality storytelling and a movie that holds up beyond seasonal hype. Whether you’re watching with family, friends, or just a mug of something warm, these are the Christmas movies critics love most on Netflix.
1. ‘Klaus’ (2019)