Cute... but not much else

Rating: 6/10 (8 October 2005)

This is an odd one; I can't tell you how many times I've seen this film, yet every time is like the first. It just makes no lasting impression, and I'm always left feeling kind of cheated. The real problem here is that the only truly entertaining thing in the film(not the only funny, mind you) are the scenes of Kevin scaring off the burglars and the finale(which I won't write here, in case anyone reading this review hasn't seen the film yet). That's it. The rest of the film, sure, there are funny scenes, lines and such... but no real entertainment. The scenes of Kevin by himself, in the house, doing adult stuff are cute, but once you're over the age of ten, you won't really find them entertaining or funny... maybe you won't even see the charm I'm certain I must have seen in the scenes when I was younger. So what are we left with? Plenty of humor, some of which actually works and a few scenes of entertainment. About ten minutes of actual entertainment scattered over just over 100 minutes of film. That's just not enough. The plot is decent, but derivative and unoriginal. The characters are cardboard cutouts. The acting is fine, but no one is particularly impressive. John Williams' score is pretty good. What really bugs me about this film is the portrayal of violence as fun, and OK as long as it's against criminals. This is a film for children; is it really a good idea to show violence like that? To make it fun... and OK? I recommend this film only to people who are too smart to copy it... and it helps if you have a childish sense of humor. 6/10