Top 8 Favorite Christmas Films of 2011

Fortune favors me with the opportunity to review films throughout the year and my favorites are often animated features and holiday movies. Among the 2011 releases, my recommendations for holiday family viewing include a number of films to see in the theater or to purchase for gift giving. In my view, all of the following films make life better.

In order of release, these are the Top 8 Films I recommend for viewing over the Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwaanza, secular, and New Year Holidays. All ages.

Puss In Boots (PG)

This is my favorite film of the entire year, over all my other favorites like Inception and Tron:Legacy . The audience laughed so much during Boots - and so did I - that I had to see it twice to hear all the dialogue, and I'm going to see it a few more times. Boots is funnier than the whole Shrek franchise put together.

Antonio Banderas is my favorite male Hispanic actor since Ricardo Montalban. Mr. Bandereas is the star of the film as Puss and I went back and viewed the production number in the Shrek films, These Boots Are Made For Walking, by Puss ala Banderas in order to enjoy more of the character. Kitty Softpaws, voiced by Salma Hayek, is more than enough of a match for Puss and together, they are the humorous and dramatic spine of the animated film. Humpty Dumpty is a two-faced villain and the notorious Jack and Jill of the West (Billy Bob Thornton and Amy Sedaris) are the targets of Puss's sword of justice and stomping boots of disdain.

Speaking of stomping, the dance-fight numbers are hilarious and very well done. They are worth the price of admission by themselves. The musical score is fantastic as well. The film held Box Office reign as Number One through two weekends and slipped only to 3rd on the next weekend.

Kung Fu Panda 2 3D (PG)

This animated movie is actually funnier and more entertaining that the first in the series, but also contains good lessons that are not at all preachy. Jack Black returns as Po the Panda and hopefully, he will return for a third time,as this film leaves an opening in connecting his biological family with his adoptive family. That could be high humor and good fun as well as poignant drama.

The effects in this film draw the eye of both kids and adults. All ages in the screening I attended seemed to enjoy this film very much, with a standing ovation at the conclusion. Thus far, come reports are that it is the forty-ninth highest grossing film of all time Directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson, it is thought to be the top grossing film at the box office directed by a woman through the end of 2011.

In this sequel, Po and his Furious Five must confront the evil Peacock Lord Shen, voiced by Gary Oldman, who does an evilly spectacular job. The peacock ruler is evil, yet complex and sad. However, Shen wants to exterminate the panda population via genocide. These are serious issues, but the magnificent scenery and handling of the story lines allow all ages to benefit from the tale.

Other voice talent includes the wonderful tones of Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogan, Dennis Haysbert, Dustin Hoffman, James Hong, Michelle Yeoh, Lucy Liu, David Cross and others. If they'd thrown in Antonio Banderes, It would have taken a week if repeat viewings to drag me from the theater!

Happy Feet Two (PG)

We are a part of the Rhythm Nation...

I am delighted that this film starts with Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation , danced and sung by a great waddle of penguins. With all the injustice and strife in our current world, I was wondering where the passion, commitment, and action for change in the generation of Rhythm Nation had gone. By the end of the film that combines animation with live action, all species are working together, so at least we have positive change for our example in animation.

The film is a bit heavy on comically combining a) superstition, b) mistakenly attributing god-like powers to a bird/person, and c) evolution, by twisting the three together into a kind of knot. By the end of the film, we hear that an individual of a species will actually decide to mutate and change the world. Well, don't get stuck in the knot, but enjoy the show. The funniest characters are Bill Krill and Will Krill, voiced by Brad Pitt and Matt Damon. I believe the krill could support a spinoff, as did the penguins and lemurs of Madagascar .

I want to see the Rhythm Nation number again!

Arthur Christmas (PG)

I think that after the first run season in complete, Arthur Christmas will become a classic that will be shown annually alongside A Christmas Story . In a story of competition between three generations of Santa Claus, notions of the why and how of gift giving clarify and rise to the top. Can you imagine a 136-year-old man and his over-70 son fighting over delivering gifts to the world? How about an antique wooden sleigh and a single aged reindeer pitted against a spaceship from a famous science fiction TV series, stretched a little and painted red?

Arthur, played by James MacAvoy, is the youngest son of the current Santa and a bit of an accident-prone young man. Elder son is voiced by Hugh Laurie, who only sometimes sounds like Dr. House as he fulfills his toyshop command center commando role. I laughed from beginning to end during this film. At the same time, it speaks to important questions - Who's to say how old is old and that the older cannot be happy? Why should anyone receive a gift and who should give it?

Hugo

This incredible film has been advertised with at least two trailers that highlight completely different facets of the story. You'd think it was two different films, but it's all one well constructed feature to enjoy many more times than once.

The inspiration for the animated film is the true story of the earthy-20th Century Georges Melies, who had a set of automatons and a shop in the Paris railway system. The story was first made into novel from in 2007 by Brian Selznik and won the Caldecott Medal in 2008 for its illustrations.This is Martin Scorses's first 3D movie, one full of effects as well as captivating storylines, and produced by companies owned by Graham King and Johnny Depp, who also has a voice part in the film.

Hugo Cabret (voiced by Asa Butterfield) in a young orphan living in the 1930s Parisian railway system in a kind of Dickensian tale. A strange young girl (Chloe Grace Moretz) helps him to unlock the operations of a discarded automaton. A toy shop owner (Sir Ben Kingsley) is George Melies. Other star voices are those of Sacha Baron Cohen, Sir Christopher Lee, Jude Law, Helen McCrory, and Ray Winstone.

We Bought a Zoo

Based on a true story, see my book review at this link at Best Films and Books of 2011.

War Horse

The author of the 1982 children's book of this name interviewed UK veterans of WWI in Devon, England. He learned that the Great War cost England dearly in the lives of working horses and men. At his own charity farm (Farms For City Children), author Michael Morpurgo witnessed how a stutter ing child spoke without stutter to a horse.Mr. Morpurgo put his experiences and interview together into an astounding book which became a play and finally a 2011 film.

The book is written in a horse's voice, while the screenplay has a human narration. It took the author from 1982 to 2011, almost 30 years, to find the correct writers for a screenplay and to place the story finally on the big screen in theaters.

The War Horse of the film is one of the fortunate 62,000 to return to the UK after the war, although the rest of the one million UK horses sent, died. The author calculates that 10,000,000 horses died in World War One from participating nations, along with 886,000 men from the UK.

The Muppets (PG)

Many are overjoyed to see the return of The Muppets to theaters in a new film. We've missed the usual characters -- The old men in the balcony, Statler and Waldorf, all always a particular hoot.

Those of us that miss the Muppet Show are set for a new series of films beginning with this one in 2011. Will the Muppet Theater be saved by Jason Segal and Amy Adams as they raise $10,000,000? (Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland did it many times in the old Andy Hardy series.).

Jason Segal seems to overact a bit in this one, even in the film clips and poster pictures, so just try to ignore that. About three dozen cameo appearances by big stars will make you forget any glitches. New Muppet characters are interesting, Piggy is still a diva, and Kermit is still bein' green.

Gonzo (now a famous plumber) and his chickens, Swedish Chef, Dr. Honeydew and Beaker, Pepe the Prawn; Animal, Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem...They all make viewers feel that they have come home.