Disney+’s Instant Christmas Classic Is 3 Years Old & Just as Great as Ever

December 7, 2025

The nostalgia brought on by rewatching the same old Christmas movies and TV shows every year makes it very tempting to keep revisiting those stories, but in 2022, Disney+ released an instant holiday hit that already feels like it’s always been around. Not only that, but the fact that it’s still so great after three years proves it wasn’t just a success because it was new. Instead, it’ll likely stand the test of time brilliantly. If it doesn’t, future generations will miss out on one of the most festive 40 minutes they could hope for.

Although James Gunn is more recently associated with the DCU, he’s more well-known in the superhero world as the writer/director behind the MCU’s Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy. With the first installment premiering in 2015 and the conclusion arriving in 2023, the Guardians movies contributed massively to the MCU’s golden era, serving as a self-contained saga that only occasionally bled into other Marvel movies. That said, thanks to all the interstellar adventures in the beloved superhero trilogy, it can be easy to forget the quaint but canon Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special that landed on Disney+ the year before Gunn’s big finale.

‘The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special’ Is Perfect Christmas Viewing for Superhero Fans

The Guardians didn’t just appear in the trilogy that bore their name, as they also crossed over into 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War and 2019’s Avengers: Endgame. Although Gunn worked closely with the Russo Brothers on both movies to ensure his characters acted authentically, he has since voiced concerns about certain writing decisions made during that time. However, Gunn was back in full control for the 2022 holiday special, which is set after Endgame, but before 2023’s third and final Guardians movie. Although it’s part of the main continuity, The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special feels tonally different, but not so much that it sticks out as unusual.

Gunn’s approach to the special was to dial up the comedy aspects of his franchise-within-a-franchise, while also highlighting the story’s heartfelt emotion and scaling back overly dramatic or high-octane moments. The result of his reworked formula is a short film that has one foot in the cozy Christmas-vibes camp and the other still firmly planted in the authentic Guardians of the Galaxy camp. James Gunn’s talent for choosing the right song for the right scene is still on display, only he narrows his catalog to songs commonly (and uncommonly) heard at Christmastime, as well as a smattering of fantastic original songs that fit right in on the same soundtrack.

The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special has a rating of 94% on Rotten Tomatoes.

By the time the special is over, it’s almost impossible not to be filled with the same sort of Christmas cheer as one might experience as a child, and the heightened sci-fi reality in which the story takes place does nothing to hinder the representation of various holiday traditions (even when viewed through the eyes of aliens). Now that GOTG is concluded, it’s understandable if the festive special doesn’t feel quite as relevant, but thankfully, it’s just as enjoyable as when it dropped on Disney+ in 2022. There is, of course, still a chance it will fall out of favor in the years to come, but given how immensely Christmassy the special is, it’s fairly safe to say it will be revisited around the holidays for a very long time.

The ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Christmas Short Works Just Fine as a Standalone Viewing Experience

It Has a TV-14 Rating

Disney+

The MCU can seem like quite an intimidating franchise at first glance, but although all the movies and TV shows do combine to tell a much larger story, some installments are more important than others. Some entries are largely optional, depending on whom you ask. The Guardians movies are more isolated from the MCU than most, but, as mentioned earlier, they are still connected quite powerfully to the third and fourth Avengers movies. There is even a brief crossover in 2022’s Thor: Love and Thunder. So, if the holiday special required hours of groundwork to be fully understood, it would be far more difficult for Disney+ to push to casual fans who are just looking for something easy to watch at Christmas.

Clearly aware of this, Gunn made the Guardians short film one of the MCU’s less vital installments, both to the cinematic universe at large and, more specifically, to the rest of the GOTG franchise. Conversely, in-depth (or even any) knowledge of the rest of the MCU is on the border of being irrelevant to enjoying the holiday special. It does a fantastic job of setting up its premise early on, introducing the characters in a way that doesn’t seem forced, and the main plot of Kevin Bacon (as himself) being kidnapped serves as an oddly wholesome caper that doesn’t lean on primary MCU events.

Obviously, hardcore MCU fans will get a little more out of the special than casual fans or people who have never seen a Marvel movie in their lives. Still, the Easter eggs and nods to previous storylines are subtle enough that they’re not confusing for less-experienced audiences, but they are fun to spot for those with a long history in the MCU. With Christmas capable of being such a frantic time of year, Gunn’s decision to make The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special so accessible to anyone who ends up watching it was a very thoughtful and logical move, as it can occupy a roomful of people, largely regardless of their Christmas media tastes.