Home Alone

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I know you’re expecting to see Avatar: The Way of Water this week. The original Avatar is the highest grossing film of all time. The sequel obviously has a lot of hype and expectations. However, if you’ve seen the first film you know its specialty is as a three dimensional film. That being said, I will be in Columbus this weekend for my college graduation! So, I will be finding the biggest and loudest screen to watch it on. So, this week we have our last retro review of the year. In recent weeks we’ve reviewed, Die Hard, Jusrassic World: Dominion (in its rerelease) and A Christmas Story Christmas. In keep with the theme of Christmas films lately we will be looking at another holiday classic. HOME ALONE! The “Home Alone” franchise seemed one sequel with our pint-size hero Kevin (Culkin) and his hijinks when his family keeps forgetting him! Then spinoffs and new renditions with other characters. The first one is a classic. The film was released in 1990 and the premise was a simple one. Kevin McCallister and his family are heading off for a family vacation, but Kevin gets inadvertently left…..How would this film hold up 32 years later?

Onto the film.

We open and learn that the McCallisters are heading to Paris for Christmas! We meet the family and realize early on that Kevin McCallister (Culkin) is often looked over because his siblings are the center of attention. The family is large too. We also get an appearance from John Candy which is always wonderful to see. Kevin is picked on throughout that night and wishes his family would disappear. You see where this is going?

There isn’t a magical spell released with this wise. However, there is a power surge, and the alarm clocks are disabled. The family wakes up late and are in a rush to make their flight. Kevin (Culkin) wakes up late, as my brother Aaron still does to this day, and is elated to see his family is gone! He thinks his wish has come true. We then see an 8-year-old boy living the life. Ordering food, watching movies he shouldn’t be

watching, he’s having a ball. However, the “Wet Bandits” Marv (Stern) and Harry (Pesci) have their eyes set on the house and all of the valuables inside.

Meanwhile, Kevin’s mother Kate (O’Hara) releases too late that Kevin is not with them. How this happens is beyond me but use your imagination here. It works. Once they land in PARIS, they realize that there are no flights back for days. The trek to make it home on that end spins its on tale, meanwhile Kevin begins to make boobytraps to thwart his attackers.

I will say this film does hold up 30 years later. The story is cute and filled with laughter. The cast is top notch, led by the young Macaulay Culkin, with Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern as great foils between themselves and with Kevin. As you sit home wrapping presents, cooking a meal for the holidays or just spending time together I encourage you to put this film on and laugh with Kevin as he thwarts the “bad guys.” This isn’t a masterpiece with such an outlandish plot, but it is a fun, Christmas classic. Next week, we will be back in Pandora with Avatar: The Way of Water. Until then…make sure you set several alarms! 4 stars out of 5

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