In the old days, you'd usually run out to a movie and see your friends the day before Thanksgiving -- now you log into one of a myriad of streaming services and find out "hey, that 'thing' is now available, let's check it out." While I tend to give these "service originals" 10 minutes before turning them off, 8-BIT CHRISTMAS isn't at all bad -- this HBO Max/New Line Cinema original is an adaptation of Kevin Jakubowski's book about growing up in the '80s and the author's presumed grade-school alter-ego conspiring with his friends to find a Nintendo Entertainment System by any means possible.
This movie, though, actually isn't awash in nostalgia as you might expect. The movie completely understands the nature of what the NES meant to kids back in the era, but does a nice job integrating it into a timeless, family-oriented story that has a really sincere, moving payoff. Neil Patrick Harris reminds you what a fine serious actor he can be as he narrates the film and appears in bookending sequences as the older version of our protagonist, and Steve Zahn is also solid as the boy's father. The kids are mostly likeable and the film moves at a good clip, and is enhanced by a pleasant score by Joseph Trapanese.
8 BIT CHRISTMAS does seem a little too generic and "smooth" for its own good -- whether it's because of the COVID-era shooting in Toronto, the movie has a processed, digital sheen that doesn't feel "lived in." Jakubowski's own screenplay also mimics Jean Shepherd's A CHRISTMAS STORY a little too much for its own good also, incorporating the same rhythms in the narration and types of episodic happenings that marked that (far) superior Christmas classic.
Still, even if it ends up being little more than a decent, PG-rated Hallmark movie, 8-BIT CHRISTMAS is easy-going viewing for the holidays, and compared to most of what's out there, it's worth a click or two.
