A humorous and heartfelt look back at the adventures of childhood starring Neil Patrick Harris (A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Matrix Resurrections, The Smurfs films) . Set in suburban Chicago in the late 1980s, the story centers on ten‐year‐old Jake Doyle’s herculean quest to get the latest and greatest video game system for Christmas.

For more in-depth thoughts on 8-Bit Christmas, please see my colleague Mike Vaughn’s review from its original streaming release here.

Video Quality

8-Bit Christmas comes to DVD with a 480p transfer that is perfectly acceptable for the format. This DVD offers up a fair amount of detail in the costumes and within the production design. The cinematography of the film provides a slightly softer nostalgic look, but it is not represented to the best of its ability in this lesser format. Colors are the prime aspect of the experience, especially in the bright daytime scenes that serve as the primary setting for the film. Skin tones look consistent and there are some facial details present in close-ups. Compression artifacts are present without being too much of a nuisance. Black levels are not the strongest with a fair amount of blocking in the shadows. This presentation is fine for DVD, but this movie really would have shined with a proper Blu-Ray release. Despite the less-than-perfect quality, the film itself is worth checking out.

Audio Quality

The DVD comes with a Dolby Digital 5.1 Audio track that sounds pleasant within its lossy limitations. The film is primarily dialogue driven, but you are provided with some environmental sounds that give the track some life. Elements such as background chatter at school or in the mall, not to mention various nature sounds, add a dynamic touch to the proceedings. Dialogue is presented faithfully and comes through clearly without ever being stepped on by any music or sound effects. Directionality is rendered precisely so that sounds originate from all the natural spots. There are kinetic moments when the sound pans across the room in a way that makes an impression. A true lossless track would be a better experience, but most will not find major fault with this presentation. The disc also includes optional English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles provided.

Special Features

8-Bit Miracles: A three-minute featurette in which the cast and creative team discuss the themes of the film and the general sense of warmth that emanates from this story and how it resonates with others.

Character Series: Very quick flashes of character moments from the film which do not really add much to the overall package.

- Adult Jake Doyle (0:22)

- Young Jake Doyle (0:21)

- Mikey Trotter (0:21)

- Hodges Twins (0:21)

- Evan Olsen (0:21)

- Jeff Farmer (0:21)

Final Thoughts

8-Bit Christmas feels very familiar to anyone who has seen A Christmas Story, but it is an enjoyable approximation of that story for a newer generation. The young performers do a fine job of endearing you to these characters, and there is enough absurd and over-the-top humor to keep you chuckling at the misadventures. Some of the updates to the structure improve the journey, but for sheer volume of laughs you cannot beat A Christmas Story. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has released a DVD that is solid enough for the format, but this really deserved a Blu-Ray to shine. If you do not want to wear out the classics but still want that general holiday warmth, this mostly does the trick. Recommended

8-Bit Christmas is currently available to purchase on DVD and Digital.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the DVD.

Disclaimer: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.