8-bit Christmas

***8-bit Christmas*** is a 2021 American Christmas family comedy film directed by Michael Dowse from a screenplay written by Kevin Jakubowski, taking place in the 1980s, the film follows a young boy named John Doyle, a kid who wants to get a *mh:awesomegames:Nintendo Entertainment System* as a Christmas gift before being unaccepted to get one, who as a result, causes him to get one before it leaves shelves.

## Plot

In 1980s Chicago, a 10-year-old embarks on a quest to get the latest and greatest video game system for Christmas.

## Why It Rocks

1. The idea of a kid that wants to get such an amazing Nintendo console as a Christmas gift before being unaccepted to have one due to his parents believing that "videos games are bad" and going on a quest to get one is pretty cool and interesting, as it's an actually original idea for a plot.
2. Great acting as usual from Neil Patrick Harris, who narrates the film to his daughters the same also goes to Winslow Fegley, who does a decent job as a young child in the 80s.
3. The film does a realistic job at depicting kids in the 80s, as the child actors actually behave like a real child from the 80s, being wacky, funny and hyperactive, which is what a kid in the 80s would normally be.
4. Surprisingly great visual effects for a digital-only film, such as the scene where the NES gets unveiled and when the NES talks inside Jake's imagination, which looks surprisingly realistic.
5. It is a huge love letter towards Nintendo gamers that used to get the NES back in Christmas during the 80s, and is also nostalgic to them too.
6. It has a nice moral where you shouldn't focus on presents and that Christmas is all about being part of a family.
7. Some funny moments, such as the scene where Jake thinks he finally got his NES, only for it to be a random educational toy his uncle sent from Japan.

## Bad Qualities

1. At times, the film feels more like a huge commercial for Nintendo rather than being a plot of a novel.
2. There are some characters that are extremely unlikeable, such as the Keane family and John Doyle, Jake's father, who always believes that "video games are bad" and is basically this movie's version of Susan Heffley from Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
	* Ironically, Steve Zahn, the actor for John, also acted as Frank Heffley in the live-action Diary of a Wimpy Kid film.
3. Some gross-out humor is used in the film, such as the scene when Jake tries to get his braces back, only for it to get covered in dirt once he slides and the scene where one kid farts during a scout ceremony.
4. In one scene, Jake was trying to go back to the back, but slipped by the ice and dropped the NES into the ground and crushed by the bus, which it looked like they copied from Christmas with the Kranks

## Reception

*8-Bit Christmas* received generally positive reviews from critics and audiences alike with praise for its humor, directing, Jakubowski's writing, casting and nostalgia tone but criticized it's atrocious product placement. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 82% based on 28 reviews, with an average rating of 6.9/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "For viewers seeking an undemanding and sweetly nostalgic ode to yuletide seasons past, *8-Bit Christmas* boots up without a glitch.". Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 66 out of 100 based on five critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews", while the user score, which is ranged out of 10, is ranked on 6.7, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

## Trivia

* Despite having an exclusive premiere on the service, the film has not been designated as an official "Max Original".