Review of Home Alone (1990) by Kai82 — 27 Dec 2020

This movie has become a Christmas classic and is shown every year. It is the story of Kevin who is the youngest son of the McCallister family. When his family wants to spend Christmas in Paris he is forgotten at their home in Chicago because of an unlucky chain of events (They took great care to make the family not look careless or abandoning).

Kevin is now “Home Alone” and enjoys his freedom while his family is on their way back with his now panic fueled mother ahead of the others. There are however 2 burglars who use the holidays for a series of raids on holiday abandoned homes and have picked the McCallister household as target.

This starts the humorous events. Like I already said this is a Christmas comedy and works well. It is part of the writing, humor and actors that are combined creating an enjoyable movie. The story works because it is relatable.

You can understand all characters motivations. Be it Kevin who can do things he would never be allowed before, his family or the burglars. Then there is the humor and slapstick. It has the Tom and Jerry appeal.

The actors are also well chosen. Macaulay Culkin is one of a few child actors that delivers. It is hard at this age and many stars who become legends later on failed earlier as children or even as teens.

The other stars are the 2 thieves Harry played by Joe Pesci who is a legendary actor and Marv played b Daniel Stern who has also a great career. Both fully deliver and improved this movie with their performance.

Special credits to Kevins mother played by Catherine O’Hara. Her journey to get as fast as possible to her son is entertaining and well acted. She is just great and has an awesome carer because of her skills.

I will give credits to the director Chris Columbus and producer / writer John Huges for creating this. Non of the above would have worked without their great work. Then of cause is the music by the legend himself John Williams.

He is probably the Michael Jackson of film-music. Overall it is not hard to see why this became a success. It fully delivers and is the kind of movie you can rewatch once in a while. It became a classic and would be missed if not shown on Christmas.