25 best New Year cartoons

The best foreign New Year cartoons

1. Pluto's Christmas tree

USA, 1952.
Animated comedy.
Duration: 7 minutes.
IMDb: 7, 7.

Mickey Mouse and Pluto the dog go to the Christmas tree. The little mouse does not suspect that, together with the felled tree, there were two impudent chipmunks in the house. And the faithful Pluto is ready at all costs to protect the holiday from enemy encroachments.

An instructive cartoon reminds young and adult viewers that a holiday is not a time for enmity. And the traditional Christmas songs Jingle Bells and Deck the Halls add a festive charm to the animations.

2. Snowman

Great Britain, 1982.
Animated fairy tale.
Duration: 26 minutes.
IMDb: 8, 2.

An adult man recalls how he once made a snowman in childhood, and exactly at midnight the snowman magically came to life. This was the beginning of the most extraordinary Christmas adventure in the storyteller's life.

The short story The Snowman, based on the book of the same name by Raymond Briggs, has become an integral part of British Christmas culture. Also, thanks to the cartoon, the song Walking In The Air has become very popular. It is also curious that the narrator is voiced by none other than David Bowie himself.

3. Mickey's Christmas Carol

USA, 1983.
Animated fairy tale.
Duration: 26 minutes.
IMDb: 8, 0.

On Christmas Eve, everyone is happily looking forward to the holiday, and only the niggard Ebenezer Scrooge never stops thinking about money. But everything changes thanks to magic: the hero is visited by the three Spirits of Christmas, thanks to which Ebenezer gains his sight and radically changes his life.

A special Christmas edition features the iconic Disney characters from Charles Dickens' classic novel A Christmas Carol. The role of Ebenezer Scrooge, as you might guess, went to Scrooge McDuck, Bob Cratchit's employee to Mickey Mouse, and Jacob Marley to Goofy.

4. The Nightmare Before Christmas

USA, 1993.
Animated musical tale.
Duration: 76 minutes.
IMDb: 8, 0.

Jack Skellington, an inhabitant of the gloomy town of Halloween, is enchanted by the spirit of Christmas. The hero falls in love with this holiday so much that he decides that he can replace Santa Claus.

Witty dialogue and dark humor made the film, directed by Henry Celick and produced by Tim Burton, a cult classic. And thanks to the universal plot, the cartoon can be watched both on Christmas and on Halloween.

5. The Polar Express

USA, 2004.
Animated fairy tale.
Duration: 100 minutes.
IMDb: 6, 6.

The boy, disillusioned with the existence of Santa Claus, suddenly gets the opportunity to travel by train to a magical land. During the journey, the hero finds new friends and learns a useful lesson about the need to believe in a miracle.

When creating a painting by Robert Zemeckis, ultra-modern computer technologies were used at that time. But first of all, it is a spiritual tale that miracles exist for everyone who knows how to believe.

6. Shrek frost, green nose

USA, 2007.
Animated comedy.
Duration: 27 minutes.
IMDb: 6, 4.

Shrek is about to have the perfect Christmas with his family. Only here's the bad luck: right in the midst of the holiday, uninvited guests appear - Donkey, Puss in Boots and others.

The plot can hardly be called original: the theme of the hero's unsociability and his dislike for noisy companies was raised in every full-length cartoon about Shrek. But fans of the franchise should still see familiar characters in a Christmas setting.

7. Christmas Madagascar

USA, 2009.
Animated comedy.
Duration: 28 minutes.
IMDb: 6, 7.

Through the fault of the Madagascar Four, Santa Claus is wrecked and even temporarily loses his memory. And the heroes have to take on the delivery of gifts. In the process, they will have to face a difficult choice: to save the holiday or return home to New York.

In "Christmas Madagascar" the events take place between the first and second feature films. The creators of the short film wisely disposed of the small screen time, so not only their favorite characters and good jokes await viewers, but also a valuable moral lesson.

8. A Christmas story

USA, 2009.
Animated fairy tale.
Duration: 95 minutes.
IMDb: 6, 8.

In one night, the life of the grumpy niggard Ebenezer Scrooge is transformed by the Spirits of Christmas. They come to open the rich man's eyes to the erroneousness of his former life and make him change for the better.

Thanks to Zemeckis' favorite motion capture technology, already used in the "Polar Express", viewers can easily recognize their favorite artists in computer characters: Jim Carrey, Colin Firth, Gary Oldman and Bob Hoskins. True, many of the visual solutions of the cartoon look too gloomy and may seriously frighten children. But this instructive tale will enchant and delight adults.

9. Kung Fu Panda: Holiday Edition

USA, 2010.
Animated comedy.
Duration: 21 minutes.
IMDb: 6, 8.

Every year Po and his father organize a noisy and cheerful party for the people in their village. But suddenly it turns out that the hero is obliged to organize a luxurious celebration in the Jade Palace. Poor Poe is torn between the duties of a Dragon Warrior and family tradition, but in the end he makes the right decision.

The creators took great care of the traditions of ancient China, so Santa Claus, a festive fir tree and other attributes of Western Christmas will not be found in the cartoon. Instead, Po and his friends celebrate a certain winter holiday (perhaps referring to Dongji - the day of the winter solstice), but this does not make the short film less fabulous and magical.

10. Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury

USA, 2011.
Animated comedy.
Duration: 22 minutes.
IMDb: 7, 6.

The action takes place some time after the events of the first full-length cartoon. The Vikings are preparing to celebrate the traditional winter holiday - Snogltog. But suddenly the dragons, whom everyone managed to tame and love, fly away from the island. And Hiccup is taken to figure out what's the matter.

A short film from the creators of the How to Train Your Dragon franchise will tell more about these fabulous creatures and their way of life, will definitely create a festive mood and in between times remind you that you need to be able to let go of those you love.

11. The Secret Service of Santa Claus

UK, USA, 2011.
Animated fairy tale.
Duration: 97 minutes.
IMDb: 7, 1.

The acting Santa prepares to retire, but the well-oiled delivery system crashes. It turns out that one child never received a gift. And the youngest son of Santa, the good-natured idiot Arthur, unexpectedly takes up the case.

This Christmas cartoon from the studio Aardman, who presented the audience with Wallace and Gromit, reveals the veil of mystery over how Santa Claus manages to deliver gifts to all children on Earth in just one night. And he does it with excellent humor.

12. Keepers of dreams

USA, 2012.
Animated fantasy tale.
Duration: 97 minutes.
IMDb: 7, 3.

The mysterious Dream Keepers - the charismatic Nick Northerner, the economic Tooth Fairy, the stern Easter Bunny and the silent Sandman - team up to thwart the plans of the villain Kromeshnik. But first, the heroes have to win over to their side Ice Jack - the mischievous spirit of winter, who does not remember anything about his past.

Although Christmas itself does not appear in the film, Keepers of Dreams is full of magic and festive mood. And thanks to the imagination of the creators, good old legends and folklore characters look very fresh and interesting.

13. Snow Adventures of Solan and Ludwig

Norway, 2013.
Animated fairy tale.
Duration: 76 minutes.
IMDb: 6, 8.

The inhabitants of the Norwegian town of Flocklipa are exhausted in anticipation of a real winter. Most of all, the lack of snow grieves the editor of a local newspaper, hungry for sensational headlines. The malicious journalist first asks the mechanic Rheodor to collect a snow cannon, and then kidnaps it in order to fill up the entire town with snow. The inventor's friends - Solan the gander and Ludwig the hedgehog - have to save the day.

The Russian viewer has hardly heard of Solana and Ludwig, but in Norway everyone knows these characters. "Snow Adventures" strongly resembles "Wallace and Gromit", and the puppet animation makes this cartoon extremely soulful and charming.

14. Olaf and the Cold Adventure

USA, 2017.
Musical tale.
Duration: 21 minutes.
IMDb: 5, 3.

Princess Anne and Queen Elsa grew up knowing no Christmas family traditions. Wanting to give his friends a real Christmas miracle, the cheerful snowman Olaf, along with the reindeer Sven, sets out in search of the best holiday customs in the kingdom.

Before watching Olaf and the Cold Adventure, you should definitely see the full-length cartoon Frozen. Otherwise, much in the plot will be incomprehensible - for example, why Elsa has so many gloves.

15. The Grinch

USA, 2018.
Animated comedy tale.
Duration: 85 minutes.
IMDb: 6, 3.

The gloomy Grinch hates holidays and fun, but in neighboring Ktocity they adore Christmas and traditionally celebrate it on a grand scale. Unsurprisingly, the closer Christmas Eve gets, the worse the green grumbler's mood gets.

In the new film adaptation, the cult hero of Dr. Seuss acquired a new backstory that quite plausibly explains all the features of his bad character. By the way, if possible, watch the cartoon in the original for the sake of the voice of Benedict Cumberbatch, who voiced the main character.

The best Soviet New Year cartoons

1. When the trees are lit

USSR, 1950.
Animated fairy tale.
Duration: 20 minutes.
IMDb: 7, 5.

Santa Claus is in a hurry to the city to wish the children a Happy New Year. But here's the trouble: the teddy bear and the wadded bunny fall out through the hole in the bag and remain in the forest. And before getting to their future owners, the heroes have to go through many adventures.

Throughout its 70-year history, the painting by Mstislav Pashchenko has been repeatedly restored, tinted and even re-voiced, but has not lost the main thing - the naive charm of the previous era. Nowadays, the cartoon is deservedly considered a timeless classic of animation.

2. The night before Christmas

USSR, 1951.
Animated fairy tale.
Duration: 51 minutes.
IMDb: 7, 1.

The skilled blacksmith Vakula dreams of marrying the beautiful Oksana, but she sets a condition - to bring her the slippers worn by the queen. The task seems impossible, but evil spirits suddenly come to the aid of the protagonist.

The advantages of this work can be enumerated for a very long time: the classic plot of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol, the magical music of Rimsky-Korsakov, magnificent animation and perfectly conveyed national Ukrainian flavor.

3. Snowman-mailer

USSR, 1955.
Animated fairy tale.
Duration: 19 minutes.
IMDb: 7, 5.

On New Year's Eve, the guys write a letter to Santa Claus asking him to send them a Christmas tree for the holiday. At night, the snowman they put together magically comes to life and, together with a puppy named Druzhok, sets off on a journey to deliver a message to the addressee. But it turns out to be difficult to do this: harmful forest animals are trying in every possible way to interfere with the heroes.

Both children and adults will be happy to watch this cartoon. The first will like the delightful bright animation and the ingenuous, but kind plot, and the second will be interested to hear the voice of the honored actor Georgy Vitsin, who voiced the snowman.

4. Santa Claus and summer

USSR, 1969.
Animated comedy.
Duration: 19 minutes.
IMDb: 7, 5.

Having accidentally learned about the existence of summer, Grandfather Frost decides to get into the city and look at an unknown phenomenon of nature with his own eyes. True, it turns out that the unsuspecting old man is in danger - summer heat and heat.

For director Valentin Karavaev, the cartoon "Santa Claus and Summer" became his graduation thesis. It must be said that the future director of stories about the prodigal parrot greatly rethought the traditional image of Santa Claus: instead of a majestic wizard, viewers see a comical and vulnerable old man. And of course, speaking about this cutest cartoon, one cannot fail to mention the perky "Song of the Summer", which is remembered for a long time.

5. Twelve months

USSR, 1956.
Animated fairy tale.
Duration: 56 minutes.
IMDb: 7, 5.

The capricious and lazy young queen promises to shower gold on the one who brings a basket of snowdrops to the palace - despite the fact that there is a fierce frost outside. Having learned about the award, one greedy peasant woman sends her kind and meek stepdaughter to the forest.

She accidentally meets 12 wizards there - Brothers-Months - and tells them about her misfortune. As a result, the girl returns from the winter thicket with a whole basket of flowers, but now the wayward queen wants to know where the snowdrops still grow in the snowy forest.

As soon as it was born, Samuil Yakovlevich Marshak's play "Twelve Months" became almost the most popular Soviet New Year story. Walt Disney himself wanted to film this magical story, but wartime prevented his plans. As a result, in 1956, a Soviet cartoon was released, drawn in a classic manner and dubbed by talented actors, including Erast Garin and Georgy Vitsin.

6. Nutcracker

USSR, 1973.
Animated musical tale.
Duration: 27 minutes.
IMDb: 7, 6.

A hardworking servant girl finds an abandoned nutcracker who was nearly broken during the New Year's holiday. Suddenly, the toy comes to life and tells a new friend about its past. It turns out that the wooden soldier was once the prince of a fairy land, until an evil enchantment was imposed on the kingdom and its inhabitants. And now the heroes have to fight the insidious Mouse King and return the prince to his true appearance.

In the kind cartoon of 1973, the Nutcracker ballet merged with the art of animation. The classic plot was significantly reworked, introducing the motive of social inequality: the main character from the daughter of aristocrats turned into a servant.

But the magical atmosphere has remained the same, and the imagination of the authors amazes: at the beginning of the cartoon, the heroine dances with a broom to the "Russian Dance" from Tchaikovsky's ballet "Swan Lake". And to the sounds of "Waltz of Flowers", lovers fly into the heavens like the heroes of another Soviet fairy tale cartoon - "Cinderella".

7. Well, wait! (Issue 8)

USSR, 1974.
Animated comedy.
Duration: 9 minutes.
IMDb: 8, 6.

Even on New Year's Eve, the Wolf does not abandon his vain attempts to catch the Hare. The next chase takes place in the building where the merry New Year's holiday is taking place.

The legendary "Song of Santa Claus and Snow Maiden" was written specifically for the New Year edition. Moreover, this is the case when the video sequence is in no way inferior to the music, because the best part of this scene is the Wolf in the completely inappropriate role of a fairy-tale girl-beauty.

8. How a hedgehog and a bear cub celebrated the New Year

USSR, Ukrainian SSR, 1975.
Animated fairy tale.
Duration: 7 minutes.
IMDb: 7, 0.

On New Year's Eve, it turns out that there is no holiday tree in the Hedgehog's house. Together with his best friend Teddy bear, the hero goes to the winter forest, but the search for the tree does not lead to anything. And then the friends find a clever way out of the situation.

This short New Year story, permeated with poetry and lyricism, was created by the director Alla Gracheva. She also directed many more beautiful cartoons, including the beloved Dandelion - Fat Cheeks.

9. Last year's snow fell

USSR, 1983.
An absurd animated comedy.
Duration: 19 minutes.
IMDb: 8, 4.

One cunning, lazy and greedy peasant is sent by his wife to the forest for a Christmas tree, but the hero fails to complete the task. Instead, he gets himself into trouble over and over again.

For a long time, director Alexander Tatarsky was not allowed to start work on the cartoon. Instead, he was offered to film something about pioneers collecting scrap metal. In the end, the director went for a trick and announced that he wanted to make a film about Lenin. And only then did the officials agree to the initial scenario, if only not to touch upon the forbidden topic.

10. Winter in Prostokvashino

USSR, 1984.
Animated comedy.
Duration: 15 minutes.
IMDb: 8, 4.

Uncle Fyodor's family decides to celebrate the New Year in Prostokvashino, but without a mother who has to sing at the New Year's "Blue Light". Meanwhile, things in the village are not going very well due to the fact that Sharik and Matroskin had a falling out and stopped talking to each other.

The last cartoon from the trilogy about Prostokvashino has long turned into an invariable attribute of the holiday, and the song "If there was no winter" is adored by everyone, young and old. By the way, Edward Uspensky spied the famous scene of the quarrel between Matroskin and Sharik in real life, when he lived in a village near Pereslavl-Zalessky.