Home Alone

Rating: 8/10 (17 December 2012)

An eight year old boy is left home alone at Christmas when his family leave for a France vacation, not realizing he isn't on the plane with them. Two crooks attempt to rob the family home, and it is up to Kevin to protect the place! Home Alone is one of my all time favourite Christmas movies, I couldn't get enough of it as a kid growing up. There was something powerful as a child seeing another child around the same age face the bad guys and be able to defeat them.
Home Alone is basically about a family that leaves for vacation, but in the rush of getting out on time they forget that young Kevin McCallister was not with them on their way to the airport. So while they take off for Paris, Kevin wakes up to find that he is all alone in this gigantic house. It's all fun and games at first for Kevin, until he discovers that a pair of thieves plan on robbing his house thinking that the place is empty. Whiz kid Kevin sets up a number of booby traps and set ups that severely injure the bandits. Examples include one of the thieves named Harry getting his head set on fire, the other Marv gets hit in the head with an iron. These kind of stunts could kill a person in real life, but the magic of movies allows the bandits to shake it off and continue their mischief.
The acting in Home Alone is top notch! Macaulay Culkin is brilliant as Kevin McCallister, the scared yet empowered young boy who takes on the "Wet Bandits". Those bandits are played by Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern who add so much to the film with their performance. And you get some good screen time from stars such as Catherine O'Hara, John Heard and even John Candy. The traps that Kevin sets are smart and witty, and the location shots are perfect for the tricks he has planned for Harry and Marv.
All in all Home Alone is a classic film not only for Christmastime, but all year round. This should be seen by everyone at least once.
8/10