Who played the best (and worst) Santa Claus in the movies?

Father Christmas or Santa is known all over the world and has been depicted by some great actors over the years. However, as our list shows, not all Santas are jolly, child-loving characters full of Christmas cheer. Some Santas are naughty in character and some are just played by actors that may well wind up on the naughty list themselves...

What we love about this one is that you get the whole back story of Father Christmas, from his lowly beginnings as a woodcutter to an exhausted old man who can see how the commercialization of Christmas is destroying its true meaning. A Santa with a past... 9/10.

Is there honestly a more perfect Santa? Attenborough captures the magic of Father Christmas and shines in a role that seems to be made for him. As close as you can get to the perfect Christmas movie. 10/10.

Image: Screenshot / Miracle on 34th Street / Twentieth Century Fox

The title says it all really: The total opposite of what we would expect from Santa Claus. But like all good Christmas films, there is a moral. With this gem, you get a Santa movie with a Christmas Carol vibe. For a great plot U-turn... 9/10.

Image: Screenshot / Bad Santa / Columbia Pictures

Again, this is probably one of the best-known on-screen Santas. And he isn't your traditional Santa. After an accident causes the death of Father Christmas, toy exec Scott Calvin has the job of Santa thrust upon him. But like all good Christmas films, he embraces the challenge and loses his Scrooge-like attitude. This Santa was so good that they made a sequel. 10/10<

Poor old Sandy Claws goes through a rough ride at the hands of the locals of Halloween Town. Kidnapped while giving his naughty and nice list a check-over, Jack saves the day and Santa Claus is safe. We wanted more from this story, especially since it was based on a Gothic poem by Tim Burton. 5/10.

When a store Santa gets drunk and brings shame to the name of Father Christmas, Kris Kringle takes it personally and does the job himself. Edmund Gwenn’s Santa ignores the store’s priority to sell junk and instead goes about directing shoppers to rival stores. Gwenn is brilliant as Father Christmas. 9/10.

This Santa is a more grouchy kind of a Father Christmas, complaining that "there’s just no Christmas spirit anymore." Yet, he's no less loveable, and after meeting Buddy again (The Human Elf) his feelings change and he has a renewed sense of Christmas cheer. This kind of Santa was needed to balance out his energetic buddy so we think it worked. 7/10.

Image: Screenshot / Elf / Warner Bros

Mall Santa gets roped into an argument with Buddy and ends up in a fight. Wanda, the manager at Gimbels, has to break it up, and a whole roomful of kids now have some serious emotional damage. Not a great Santa at all... 1/10.

Image: Screenshot / Elf / Warner Bros

With the help of a young girl who worries about her family, Santa has to save Christmas. Kurt Russell's Father Christmas is slightly more rock and roll than your traditional jolly 'ho ho ho' Santa. In fact, he clearly states: "I don't go ho ho ho; that's a myth." Oh, and this Santa also has marriage problems. As a wholesome Santa, we cannot grant him more than 4/10.

Image: Screenshot / Christmas Chronicles / Netflix

Harbour's rough and drunk Santa turns vigilante to foil a band of mercenaries trying to steal $300m. This has to be the Santa with the highest body count, but we suppose those are the dangers of being on the naughty list. 6/10.

Image: Screenshot / Violent Night / Universal

Broadbent looks like a classic wizard-type Santa with his little round glasses and big tummy. Although his sanity is sometimes questionable, Broadbent's Santa is wise and has magical green dust that makes his sleigh fly. He also has an elf sidekick who does all of his dirty work. At the end of the movie, Santa actually has some good, grandfatherly advice, saying that sometimes adults are not as grown-up on the inside as they look on the outside... A solid 8/10.

Image: Screenshot / Get Santa / Warner Bros

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