12 Films At Christmas - 3 & 4

Robert Zemeckis directed A Christmas Carol about which I was complimentary the other day. Animated Christmas films are obviously up his street because he is also responsible for The Polar Express which we have also now enjoyed. It has enough jeopardy and darkness to lift it out of the saccharine. There is a particularly well realised scene where a discarded rail ticket blows in the wind - highly reminiscent of the feather we follow at the opening of Forrest Gump. You can't call it a rip-off because Gump is, of course, another Zemeckis film. Good but not great. 6.5/10.

Our next film is though definitely great and, which is more, an example of that great bar room debating canard - sequels better than the originals. It's a close call but I'd put Toy Story 2 just ahead of Toy Story. Mind you, if you asked me again tomorrow I might have changed my mind. And what about Toy Story 3, the film that proves to Godfather Part III and Return of the Jedi, that momentum can be maintained. 8.5/10.