Home Alone voted most festive Christmas movie

We’ve all got a favourite Christmas movie. There’s the classics from ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ to ‘White Christmas’, the off-beat heart-warming stuff of ‘Elf’ and ‘A Muppet Christmas Carol’… and then there’s ‘Die Hard’ (Yes, it really does count as a Christmas movie).

[Christmas movies kids: Then and now]

We asked you to vote for which film made you feel the most festive in our special Christmas poll, and over 1,500 of you came back with your personal pick of cinematic Chrimbo gifts.

Here’s the Yahoo Movies UK top five most festive films, as voted for by you.

5. The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
How do you improve the archetypal Christmas story? With Muppets, of course. Dickens (played here by Gonzo the Great) guides us through his festive tale of redemption in a felt puppet populated Victorian London. There’s all the brooding gloom and black humour of the classic Christmas short, but also musical numbers… and singing vegetables. Meanwhile, the always brilliant Michael Caine genuinely gives one of the most convincing portrayals of Scrooge ever seen on screen.

4. Elf (2003)
Proof they definitely still make ‘em like they used to… although ‘Elf’ actually turned 10 this year (bet you feel old now). Will Ferrell stars as cotton-headed ninny-muggins Buddy, an Elf who finds out he’s actually human and travels to New York to find his real father. A smash upon release, it’s become a proper cult classic with fan sites and social watch-alongs, regularly ranking it amongst the most-watched moments on Christmas TV. Super quotable, super fun.

3. Miracle On 34th Street (1947)
The movie that put Father Christmas on trial. Edmund Gwenn’s Oscar winning turn as a department store Santa who claims to be the real deal results in climactic courtroom clash. But “wordy” this ‘aint. You’ll go from a cold non-believer to full on festive faith in just 90 glowing minutes – with Natalie Wood’s precocious Susan alongside.

[The dark side of Christmas movies]

The 1994 Mara Wilson/Dickie Attenborough remake is a warm effort, but it’s the sheer black & white class of the original that you voted into our number three spot.

2. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
Frank Capra’s (almost) definitive Christmas classic. George Bailey, Jimmy Stewart’s everyman for the ages, struggles through life trying to do the right thing at the expense of his own humble dreams. When things finally get too much (on Christmas Eve, of course), divine intervention shows George just how bad things would have been without him. The result: a Christmas movie that goes through a lifetime of toughness, to an lip-wobbling epiphany that feels genuinely earned. It could have been ruddy depressing. Instead, it’s a festive masterpiece.

1. Home Alone (1990)
Your favourite festive film. It’s warm, messy and ridiculously violent… just like Christmas should be. Macaulay Culkin’s abandoned eight-year-old Kevin defends his home from a duo of crooks, when his family head off to Paris without him. The slapstick-primed brainless burglars, Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern’s Wet Bandits, basically make it a live-action cartoon (seriously, ‘Tom & Jerry’ is more grounded) - but it’s little Kevin’s realisation of Christmas without his family that gives ‘Home Alone’ some real heart – making this a movie with a modern Chrimbo message. If it can make a rifle-wielding, sociopathic eight-year-old appreciate some time with his relatives, it can do it for you too.

Merry Christmas ya’ filthy animals.

Watch the hilarious "honest trailer" for 'Home Alone' below. You'll never look at it the same way again...