Oozing with Christmas

Rating: Null/10 (8 January 2019)

A movie that very much came to define the decade it started. Home Alone is a cheesy, lighthearted, popcorny action-comedy-drama. And a really good Christmas movie to boot. Kinda like Die Hard.
We all know the story, I trust. Kid gets left behind during the holidays and then has to defend his house against a couple of bumbling burglars. Traps are involved. Traps to make the Looney Tunes proud.
And it works, it really works. But I would argue that the reason this film has stayed with people and the reason we still watch it, is because the director Chris Columbus injected in so much Christmas spirit that you'll be stuffed to the brim with it. This is a colourful movie with beautiful sets and enough Christmas lights to provide for an international airfield. It has Christmas songs, Christmas classics on TV. It has a great tree, great morals, and it's just to very Christmassy.
At the center of this is Kevin, played by Macaulay Culkin. A wide-eyes, precocious little brat that manages to pull off the almost impossible feat of acting realistically childlike - you know, like a sociopathic, greedy little monster - but still coming off as sympathetic. And sure, in his heart he's a good kid, but the reason we like him is because he's so cheerfully blood hungry. And because he honestly and purely loves Christmas.
Is it an odd movie when you think about it? Yeah, a bit. Is it a bit painful to watch all those traps as an adult with a working knowledge of physics? Yes, oh very much so. Is it still a ton of fun? Absolutely.