The latest re-animated fan favorite franchise that threatens to ruin your childhood is somehow not brought to you by Disney+. No, this time it’s HBO Max potentially bringing the hurt with A Christmas Story Christmas. Will it crush your withered soul?

This sequel brings back an adult Peter Billingsley, returning in his iconic roll these many decades later (I’m not gonna count the years… Christmas is for cheer, not existential dread). It’s the 1970s and he’s married with two kids of his own when he learns his Old Man has passed. He returns to his childhood home, hoping he can give his family a Christmas like his dad would have.

I found vast swaths of this sequel a little iffy. And very predictable. But there’s juuust enough genuine charm and mild-mannered (if wildly exaggerated) humor that I’m giving it a decent score. It was riding a knife’s edge though… there’s some real odd and unrelatable stuff mixed in with some very generic Christmas comedy.

Peter Billingsley is joined by a surprising number of returning actors, including the guy who played the kid who stuck is tongue to a flagpole and the yellow-eyed Skut Farkus. I was kind of impressed they got so many (un)familiar faces back. Ralphie’s mom though is now played by Julie Haggerty (and Darren McGavin – the Old Man himself – passed in 2006 so its understandable they wrote him out).

Somehow, by the end, there was enough Christmas heart that I had to admit I was warmed and feelin’ cozy. This isn’t the best version of a sequel to A Christmas Story, but it puts in the effort.

Score: 75