Home Alone: The Holiday Heist

"Home Alone: The Holiday Heist" is a Comedy - Family movie in which we watch a young child creating some traps in order to catch a ghost at his new home. Soon enough will find himself protecting both his home and his sister from three art thieves.

I did not enjoy this movie because it used the title "Home Alone" in order to gain reputation but failed to keep it up. The plot was simple and boring without any surprises or something new that we have not watched yet. The direction which was made by Peter Hewitt was not the best and he did not succeed on creating a nice, festive atmosphere in the movie in order to make the audience feel the feeling of Christmas. In addition to this, the use of "Home Alone" was not the best choice as it was compared with the previous movies of the "Home Alone" franchise. All in all, I have to say that "Home Alone: The Holiday Heist" is a below the average comedy movie and I do not recommend it to anyone.

It took me years to watch this one. The first two Home Alone movies are great. I might like the second a little more than the first but it really is a battle for first. I used to hate the third one until I saw part 4 and now it's up to okay. The fourth one was abysmal.

So now we have Holiday Heist as another way to cash in on the franchise. I think I like the story on this one a little bit more but I can't for the life of me figure out why Malcolm McDowell is in this. I guess since it worked for Joe Peschi, it should work for him.

So like this kid who is obsessed with video games moves in with his parents and his sister into a new house. Kid (who's name is Finn) thinks the house is haunted so he sets traps for the ghosts. Meanwhile Malcolm McDowell, Snoop Dogg and some chick are planning to break into the house to steal some painting so naturally this leads to what all Home Alone movies lead to: the traps.

As expected, they are pretty lame. Like Malcolm McDowell gets wrapped like a present, thrown downstairs and end up under a Christmas tree. Poor Malcolm even hangs upside down on Christmas lights. Chick gets stuck in a window. I mean, the traps are better than 4 but that film is so bad that anything can only go up from there.

Now that I can say I watched all the Home Alone movies, I'll pretend the last two doesn't exist. Every now and then on Christmas, I'll watch the third one but the first two is always a Christmas tradition. This one is not.

Bizarre. Simply bizarre. It was the death of the legacy of Home Alone. The cast was disgraceful. I am astounded and can't figure out why in the world would these actors were allowed to act in this movie. I was looking forward to it and am really disappointed. The story itself wasn't that bad. I have to admit that if it was a book and I read it when I was 7 years old, I might have had a good laugh but again we are talking about 'Home Alone' here. Not just any comedy movie series. As a kid I enjoyed all of the 'Home Alone' thoroughly and watched them over and over. Even as a 20 years old I have had a good laugh out of them. This on the other hand, awful.

The Baxters move into their new Maine house for the mother's new job with her boss Mr. Carson (Edward Asner). They don't know the house once belonged to a bootlegger with a rumored valuable missing painting. Older daughter Alexis (Jodelle Ferland) don't like the move. Younger son Finn is always playing his video game. He discovers a walk-in safe in the basement and befriends neighbor Mason who warns him that his house is haunted. Sinclair (Malcolm McDowell), Jessica (Debi Mazar) and idiot safecracker Hughes (Eddie Steeples) are thieves looking to sneak in and steal all the valuables.

There are lots of great actors especially the bumbling villains. I'm actually surprised but I guess that even Malcolm McDowell needs to eat. The lead kid is not good enough and a little too old for an adorable role. It's not all his fault. There is no comparison to the fun of the original. By the time the iconic home-made traps appear, it becomes a sad copy rather than a fun homage. This movie is completely flat with no actual humor. The great actors can't do much other than collecting paychecks.

What can I really say about this film? The kid is stupid (he didn't even know he had to pay at a hardware store) and annoying, the entire plot revolves around ghosts (?) and overall the film was pretty much painful to watch. Luckily I had friends there so we could play MST3K and ridicule the film's stupidity. This film is only really fun if you are drunk or prepared to laugh at it. I would go into a rant about how awful this flick is, but it's so forgettable and ridiculous that I don't have much to say. What I will say, though, is that it at least is a better effort than 4, but it's still a God-awful movie and one that deserves to be quickly forgotten and buried in an unmarked grave.

...Stick with the first three.