Christmas movies are always tough to nail right. Sometimes they're too cheesy or too serious. The timeless ones are timeless for unknown reasons because they can still be too serious or too cheesy. A Christmas Story was basically unknown until TBS decided to run it endlessly on Christmas, turning it into a modern classic. A new challenger has entered the arena this year: 8-Bit Christmas.
I checked it out this past weekend and this will be my spoiler-free thoughts. This movie stars Neil-Patrick Harris narrating a story to his daughter about his adventures in 1987 to get a Nintendo (which we call did and STILL call the NES). It's told in lengthy flashbacks and invokes many parallels to A Christmas Story. A boy wants something so bad for Christmas, he will go to the ends of the earth to get it.
With shades of “A Christmas Story,” Doyle’s story is about a starstruck child obsessed with getting only one thing for Christmas despite every adult in his life telling him that it is a bad idea; however, instead of desiring a Red Ryder BB-gun like Ralphie Parker, Jake Doyle wanted a Nintendo gaming system.
Noah Domangue writing ay The Nicholls Worth
The sets and scenes are very 80's and remind me of those years. Little nods to how things are different are funny jokes such as the daughter asking if everyone wore a helmet when riding their bikes. Of course NPH emphatically tries to lie & say we all did. The story is fun and has some of the adventuring feel found within the first season of Stranger Things. There is a freewheeling and positive vibe from the kids and how they band together to get an NES.
8-Bit Christmas is a fun movie to check out, given something new that isn't a pure reboot is hard to find these days. It doesn't have any harsh language or violence, so it's a good one to watch with the kids. Even better, it's streaming at home so you can stay home and watch from the comfort of your couch. I had fun with it and may revisit it in the coming years as another good Christmas movie to have in the rotation.