A Christmas Classic

Rating: 9/10 (8 December 2014)

It's that time of year again, the time of year when it is acceptable to binge on Christmas films. The first one I watched this year was Home Alone. It is a classic for me, certainly a child hood favourite!
The story is a very simple one; Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) is accidentally left at Home over the Christmas as his whole family fly to Paris. They board the plane without realising that they have left one of their Children home alone! Two small time robbers are also in the area, looking to break into houses, they target the McCallister household as they believe they are all away for the Christmas holidays. It is now up to Kevin to protect his house from the burglars by setting up traps and playing pranks, some of which are absolutely brilliant!
The two Robbers; Marv & Harry, played by Daniel Stern & Joe Pesci, give fantastic performances. They portray the classic dumb & dumber routine. Harry thinks he is the brains and sees himself as the leader & Marv plays the really stupid, gullible one who falls for much more simple traps. The on screen chemistry between these two and the relationship they have is fantastic, it comes across very realistic and hilarious.
Macaulay Culkin was 9 or 10 when Home Alone was filmed and given such a big role with this much screen time must have been a big challenge but he walked it and gave a very convincing performance. The Home Alone films are pretty much all he has been known for, which is a shame really, he had a few other films but none are as well-known and successful as these.
Of course this isn't the most realistic films and it does have massive plot holes and ridiculous scenarios, but who cares. It's fun! It's Christmassy & It's got great characters with some truly hilarious moments.
Overall, Home Alone is a very fun movie; I have the relation to it as it was always on at Christmas when I was a child. But even if this isn't the case, I'm sure many adults who are new to this will love it just the same as us who have fond memories of watching it as a child!
8/10