A classic that doesn't lose gas

Rating: 8/10 (5 January 2017)

This has become one of my favorite Christmas films over the years.
This is a classic that has everything to please children and adults: with a killer mix of adventure, comedy, melodrama and embedded moral. The main thing, to me, is that the Christmas spirit is there, so the rest just clicks into the puzzle easily. The movie is predictable, of course, but that is part of the charm you expect from a Christmas story, unless you are watching an horror movie or a proper adult comedy.
I loved Macauly Culkin when he was a child. He is brilliant in this movie. He fuses with his character in a way that is difficult to separate the two, showing the great actor he was even at that age. The Good Son would would highlight his maturity as actor, so he is not a pretty face here. Macauly and his character Kevin looks angelical but is far from being an angel; he has a good heart, has an insight into what is good and bad, is ready to be advised by wise people; at the same time, Kevin is also creatively ruthless with the baddies because, well, they brought it upon them and deserve it.
Despite Kevin being alone, this is a choral movie. It wouldn't have been the success it was if it wasn't because the performances of Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern, who are brilliant as the mischievous yet naive baddies. Daniel Stern is especially funny, and has one of the best on-screen yells in movie history. I don't want to forget John Candy's secondary role in this movie, who is deadpan funny in one of those garrulous characters that were one of his trademarks. Roberts Blossom is also great as the lonely grumpy old neighbor. The rest of actors were believable in their respective characters as well.
Home Alone warms my heart and cheers me up every time.