The holiday season has come again, as familiar titles like Elf and The Polar Express rejoin the best Christmas movies on Hulu. Both of those films are now two decades old, and they rank among the perennial favorites of the season. While it would be easy to recommend those flicks, or even a dark horse holiday standard like Die Hard, our choice for the one Hulu movie that you have to watch in December is the 1994 remake of Miracle on 34th Street.
Director and writer George Seaton’s original Miracle on 34th Street from 1947 is widely regarded as one of the greatest Christmas movies ever made. And while that film is a part of the 20th Century Studios movie library, it’s not available on Hulu this year. You’ll have to go to Disney+, Peacock, or Paramount+ if you’re sticking to that version. By contrast, the 1994 version of Miracle on 34th Street hasn’t garnered the same critical recognition despite being a very charming update of the original.
The Breakfast Club‘s John Hughes — a Hollywood legend in his own right — wrote the updated script for this film, which has a more serious tone than the original. Director Les Mayfield pulled off the Herculean feat of delivering a movie that stands as a holiday classic on its own. Now, it’s time to share the reasons why you should watch Miracle on 34th Street this month.
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Richard Attenborough was a natural Santa
Veteran film actor Richard Attenborough was coming off his role as John Hammond in the first Jurassic Park when he was cast as Kris Kringle in the remake of Miracle on 34th Street. Edmund Gwenn won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his turn as Kris Kringle in the original film, so Attenborough really had his work cut out for him. Thankfully, Attenborough was up for the challenge and he made it look easy.
Attenborough’s Kris Kringle wasn’t quite as feisty as Gwenn’s, but the former brought a lot of warmth to his role. Kris is a department store Santa who is so steadfast in his belief that he’s the real Santa that some of the people around him think he’s insane. But the children and the families that Kris interacts with completely buy into him as Santa because he has a gift for saying the right things, even if he’s not following the company line by directing them to buy toys from his store. It really seems like there’s a twinkle in Attenborough’s eye when he’s playing Kris as Santa, and there’s a genuine quality to his performance that lights up the screen.
Mara Wilson has a star-making turn
By 1994, Mara Wilson had already made her feature film debut as the youngest child of Robin Williams’ character in Mrs. Doubtfire. Miracle on 34th Street gave Wilson an even bigger spotlight, and a greater challenge by having her step into the role previously portrayed by Hollywood icon Natalie Wood in the first film. Wilson plays Susan Porter, a young girl who doesn’t believe in Santa. Kris makes it his personal mission to convince Susan otherwise, and she gives him some pretty tall tasks to pull off in order to win her over.
The bond that emerges between Susan and Kris gives the story a lot of its heart. She may not fully believe in Santa, but Susan firmly believes in Kris. Wilson also holds her own during her scenes with Attenborough, which demonstrated her ability to handle starring roles.
It gives viewers a reason to believe in Santa Claus
Every version of Miracle on 34th Street comes down to a trial that forces Kris to prove that he’s Santa in a court of law or else he’ll be locked away in an asylum for the mentally ill. In this version of the film, it falls to Bryan Bedford (Dylan McDermott) to defend Kris in court, even though the woman he loves — and Susan’s mother — Dorey Walker (Elizabeth Perkins) is not convinced that Kris isn’t crazy.
By this point in the movie, most of the audience usually believes that Kris really is Santa. But it’s a lot harder to convince a judge. However, the idea that Kris is Santa isn’t about him putting on a red suit and flying with his reindeer all over the world on Christmas Eve. It’s about the kindness and generosity that he represents, and he brings out those qualities in other people. That’s the real miracle in this story.
There may not be any more Miracles on 34th Street
Considering that Miracle on 34th Street was remade for television three times before the 1994 film, it’s kind of overdue for another adaptation. But that may never happen because there’s been a greater societal shift between 1994 and 2024 than there was between 1947 and 1994. Department stores like Macy’s — or the fictional Cole’s in the remake — are largely a dying breed. And while there are still stores that bring out men to play Santa at Christmas time, almost everyone does the majority of their shopping online.
Given all of those changes in the way people spend their time and money, any modern remake of Miracle on 34th Street would have to be radically updated. That runs the risk of losing the heart of the original story, especially since films like the Amazon-produced Christmas movie Red One are so soulless that both versions of Kris Kringle would be very cranky about that flick. That’s why it’s important to revisit stories like Miracle on 34th Street that remind us that the holiday season is supposed to be about love, kindness, generosity, and hope. Those qualities are always in short supply, but they don’t have to be. We, collectively, can always try to be better regardless of the holiday season.
Watch Miracle on 34th Street on Hulu.