Richard Curtis returns to his festive roots in an endearingly saccharine animated movie. Here’s our That Christmas review.

The comparisons between Curtis’ latest festive flick and his first are too easy to draw – so I’m going to draw them. With an anthology-ish structure including multiple references to Love Actually, it’s not difficult to see where the inspiration to turn the national treasure’s three Christmas picture-books into a single film came from.

And why not? Curtis’ 2003 directorial outing might have since become the Christmas classic to rule all Christmas classics, but a 15-rating and a healthy smattering of rude bits hardly make it ideal family viewing. Why not launch a spiritual sequel onto Netflix, quickly becoming the home of the modern gooey Christmas movie?

Based on an amalgamation of Curtis and illustrator Rebecca Cobb’s The Empty Stocking, Snow Day and That Christmas, the story follows three...