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Home Alone (1990)

Home Alone is not just a great movie but its a great Christmas movie. I remember seeing this film in the cinema when it was released back in December 1990. Now 34 years later I get to watch this film on the big screen and like The Dark Knight Trilogy, I see this film followed by Home Alone 2. It was nice to see this film with an audience where a good portion of the audience were not born when this film was released. So the plot is that Kevin McCallister is left home alone by accident as his family go on a Christmas holiday to France meanwhile two burglars are trying to break in and Kevin has to fight them off.

GOOD POINTS

Great Story

It might be rather straightforward by today's standards and there are plot holes and easy ways to have wrapped this story up very quickly but I still think that it's a great story done really well. All aspects of the film make this story seem better than it actually is. This is made obvious by the fact that the rest of them (apart from the second one) have tried to replicate the formula and failed to various degrees. The subplots of Kevin trying to do everyday things and watching them go wrong is funny and nothing seems like it could have been cut out. Everything is relevant.

Funny double act performance from Stern & Pesci

The double act of Pesci and Stern is really good and whilst they don’t come off as the biggest villains ever, the chemistry they have works and it’s weird to think that Joe Pesci could do a character so different from what he would normally do. It’s great we see Pesci in the very first scene pretending to be a cop and its quite unusual to see the villain so early even if we don't see the twist until a couple of scenes in. Watching a sweary Pesci try to act in a PG film is a sight to behold and Daniel Stern isn't just there to make up the numbers, he is the nicer of the two and I think gets the 

Macaulay Culkin is great and I wanted to be him

I saw this when I was seven years old and like most kids that age, I wanted to be Macaulay Culkin. We all had the dream of being left home alone (maybe not whilst my family went on holiday) but watching this film we were watching Culkin living the dream of most kids and he’s great as Kevin. Yes he’s a bit whiny and pouty but when he realises that he has been left home alone it is like he becomes a different person. 

Nice performance from John Candy

I have a thing called ‘the Samuel L. Jackson effect’ which is that no matter how many times I watch Jurassic Park, I forget (briefly) that Jackson is in it. So I apply this to a few other people and it applies to John Candy. Its a lovely role although I would always argue for more John Candy in any film he is in. It’s a role that anyone could have played (that could apply to anyone I know) but Candy brings a personality to a rather small role and the speech he gives in the van to Kate is lovely and heartbreaking.

Traps are funny and feel like they hurt

When I watched the most recent Home Alone film, a complaint I had was that the traps didnt feel like they hurt. That definitely isn't the case with this and even at 41 years old, I find the traps look like they hurt, especially the one that Marv experiences with the micro machines and baubles which make me wince as well as the nail on the step. Also not being a fan of spiders, I always think the spider on Marv’s face whilst not being painful is still horrible.

Lovely heartfelt ending

Some might say that this film is quite smultzy and whilst that might be true, I think that the film has earned it. We have a complete character arc for Kevin as he goes from not valuing his family to wanting them back and I don't mind admitting that the hug between Kevin and his mom does make me teary eyed. Also the fact that a sub character (Marley) reunites with his son and family was also just added to the teariness. The film ending was perfect and nothing would have been better.

There are no bad points

OVERALL

This is a perfect film. Normally I would say that nostalgia is affecting my judgment but that is a small factor to my overall enjoyment of the film. When I went to the cinema to see this again, there were plenty of people who were probably the same age as Kevin and still enjoyed the film. A film can still entertain an audience even 30 years apart if its told well and is fun and that is something that is missing from a lot of films today. They have forgotten how to entertain and think that lecturing and pushing a message counts as entertainment in 2024.


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