Esqueceram de Mim

I'm a young adult, and not a huge fan of the kids movies these days. Some people would classify this as a kids movie, but I think it's more of a classic. I grew up seeing this on TV every winter, and it's still one of my favorites. The sequels are awful, as are most sequels...but the original Home Alone is fantastic. I STILL laugh when I watch it. It's really one of those "feel good" movies, the kind that make you want to cuddle up on the couch with family and relax and enjoy it.

If you haven't seen it yet, you're missing out on a great Christmas movie. Heck, it's even great for a rainy day. Watch it, you'll love it! I wish it were on more often!

"Home Alone" is one of the most popular movies from the early 90's. Its success was phenomenal and it also made Macaulay Culkin a superstar.

The plot is quite original and surreal: a child who is home alone and capable of making the bandits's lives miserable? Sure, it's an impossible story, but who cares? Far from being a perfect movie, it is however okay and fun to watch, entertaining and contains slapstick humor too although I don't like some of the language used.

Our story takes place in Chicago at Christmas time, which makes this a Christmas film. In fact, the movie has lots of Christmas decorations, lights, snow and many other details which create the feeling and magic so characteristic of Christmas. To accent the Christmas atmosphere even more, there are a cup of nice Christmas carols such as "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" (performed by Brenda Lee), "You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch", "White Christmas", "Carol of the Bells", "Oh Holly Night" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and some brilliant instrumental musics.

Kevin McCallister is the hero of the story. He's not just any kid, he's a very smart one. He also knows all about the intentions of the "wet bandits" Harry and Marv and prepares them lots of unexpected "surprises". Their lives won't be easy with Kevin defending his house. Sure, they are the villains and as such they get what they deserve, but they do suffer a lot too. We almost feel sorry for them.

The "wet bandits" were nicknamed like that by Marv because their "calling card" (according to him) was to let the water running in every houses they robbed. That said, both "wet bandits" are hilarious. Harry is more cranky, while Marv is the most stupid of the two (although both are stupid) and maybe that's why people tend to sympathize more with him. Marv's stupidity also makes him the funniest of the two. Marv is the typical tall and clumsy guy with no brain, a bit like Averell Dalton from the Lucky Luke comics.

The movie has lots of funny moments. The funniest for me is when Harry and Marv pretend to be Santa Claus and his elf and the way Harry speaks in that scene, followed by the even funnier part when Kevin fires at Harry's pants. Whenever Kevin fools the bandits in a try to make them believe the whole family is at home when Kevin is all alone is funny too. For some reason, I also find funny whenever Kevin screams maniacally (particularly when he says he's not afraid anymore and sees Old Marley and screams out loud.

The scenes which Kevin fools and scares the Little Nero's Pizza boy and Marv with the gangster film "Angels with Filthy Souls" are hilarious, but in the case of the Pizza boy it is unfair for him. There was no need to scare the hell out of him - he was just delivering pizza and wasn't after Kevin.

Old Marley is an interesting character. I always felt sorry for him because of the lies Buzz tells about him. And the man never did anything bad to anyone. Buzz is a jerk and Uncle Frank is even worse. Buzz is mean for Kevin and Uncle Frank openly dislikes Kevin. When Uncle Frank tells Kevin «Look what you did, you little jerk!», Kevin's parents should tell him something like «Frank, stay out of this and shut up!».

The church is magnificent. It's one of the biggest and most beautiful churches I've ever seen in a movie.

Macaulay Culkin is terrific as the clever kid Kevin McCallister. Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern are awesome as the "wet bandits" and Roberts Blossom is great as the character Old Marley. It's also delightful to see John Candy as Gus Polinski, the «Polka King of the Midwest».

"Home Alone" is a hilarious film about a young boy (Macaulay Culkin) who is accidently left home during the Christmas holidays after the rest of his family goes to Europe. At first Culkin loves the situation, but soon he is scared to death when he learns that burglars Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern are targeting his house. However, Culkin is pretty smart for an eight-year-old and he has plans for them when they attack. Chris Columbus' direction is smart and so is the over-achieving screenplay. This film has a little bit of something for everyone and the fact that the backdrop is the Christmas holidays, only makes it that much more special. All the performers do well and in the end the film also does. 4 stars out of 5.

Christmas favourite, every year! Good acting, storyline, funny and heart warming

The overwhelming success of 'Home Alone' (it spawned two sequels), is enough to guarantee that most people will love this story of a family that departs for Paris on the Christmas holidays, mistakenly leaving an eight-year old boy to fend for himself. And fend he does, when burglars threaten to break in unless he can rig enough booby-traps to keep them out.

That's the simple plot in a nutshell. Macaulay Culkin seems to have no problem carrying most of the film with a wide variety of looks, gestures and expressions--but for my money it's Daniel Stern and Joe Pesci who get the main laughs as the bumbling burglars intent on outwitting the kid's traps.

Others in the cast don't have as much to do but do well enough by their roles, particularly Catherine O'Hara and John Heard as the parents who only discover on the plane that Kevin is missing. The laughs are steady, the color photography is great and the slight story is probably every boy's fantasy of what it might be like to be left home alone. Add to that the holiday flavor of Christmas and a pleasant musical score by John Williams and you have the makings of a classic.

The proof is in the pudding--they must have done something right!!