Few movies stay fresh forever. It's a Wonderful Life is in a very exclusive club

Rating: 10/10 (24 December 2011)

It's hard to review a movie such as this. Everything worth saying about it has already been said. No words truly do it justice. It's one you have to sit down and watch. Every year without failure, millions of people plop down in front of the television to be spellbound by it.
One only needs to refer to its ranking on the IMDb top 250 at #30 to see how well-regarded and beloved this classic is. It's one of those giants in film history that everyone needs to see.
I wasn't introduced to this film by my parents like many were. In fact, I'm the one who instituted the policy that we must watch It's a Wonderful Life every December in my house growing up.
This is the type of film which doesn't age. The themes and morals expressed in the film are the definition of timeless.
I would strongly encourage anyone thinking of viewing this film to watch it in black and white. Some networks have aired the color version and the Blu-ray also contains the colorized version. The colorized version was not what the filmmakers and actors intended. Here's what James Stewart thought of the colorized version: "I tried to look at the colorized version, but I had to switch it off--it made me feel sick." James Stewart and Donna Reed are one of the best on-screen pairings I've ever seen. This isn't just a Christmas movie. It's every bit a romantic drama and explores some dark themes.
Neither the director, Frank Capra, nor James Stewart knew what they had when this film was made. They hadn't discovered all the layers that existed within this movie. It took the viewing audience to find this classic on television for it gain the following it has today.
We found it then and we do again every year.