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Every family that celebrates Christmas likely has those few holiday movies that they watch without fail every year. Maybe you need a little faith in humanity restored via It's a Wonderful Life. Maybe you want to bask in the nostalgic vibes of White Christmas. Maybe you're a little bit more new-school and Elf is your movie of choice (you'd certainly have no shortage of opportunities to catch it on cable). My family's got its own movie traditions, but there's really only one we've managed to watch year after year, and it's not one you might expect.

That movie is Scrooge, the 1970 musical film adaptation of A Christmas Carol. It might not carry the prestige of the '50s version or the nostalgia factor of the Muppets' take on the story, but for my family and I, it's as close to a must-watch as we get. As I've grown and holiday...

This favorite animal film takes a half-step sideways out of the cute animal subgenre: the delightful Mij is no super-otter, just an ordinary playful garden-variety otter, as an Otter oughta be. (cough) Champion mellow English couple Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers have put together a film guaranteed to lower your blood pressure. But see it first before deciding it’s for your kids, as reality is not sugarcoated in its uplifting, but certainly not sentimentalized, view of our place in a world that still has some animals left alive.

Ring of Bright Water

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1969 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 106 min. / Street Date May 21, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Virginia McKenna, Bill Travers, Peter Jeffrey, Jameson Clark, Helena Gloag.

Cinematography: Wolfgang Suschitsky

Film Editor: Reginald Mills

Original Music: Frank Cordell

Written by Jack Couffer and Bill Travers from a book by Gavin Maxwell

Produced by Joseph Strick

Directed by Jack...