Christmas Classic

Rating: 8/10 (4 January 2009)

Having just watched this for the first time in ages and at the cinema for the first time since its release I am reminded of what a fun film this is. It works very well as a feel good Christmas movie and as a live action update of a loony tunes cartoon. My feeling s about this film have not really changed at all in the eighteen years since its release. It is a small idea with a huge pay off. When Kevin (a never bettered Macualay Culkin) is left home alone over Christmas when his family leave for a trip to Paris and accidentally forget him, he is left to fend for himself as a pair of burglars tries to invade his home. For a child actor Culkin does a remarkable job practically carrying the movie on his own, appearing in pretty much every scene. The burglars are fended of in a string of comedy sequences that a very funny and aided no end by Joe Pesci playing the leader of the pair Harry. There is a convenient sub plot where Kevin finds friendship from the unlikely source of the neighbourhood old man all the kids are scared of. All in all this is a movie to be enjoyed at all times and that is guaranteed to make one feel better.