Home Alone

Now we get into the classics because over the next few days, I will be looking at a franchise that everyone saw at a young age. What franchise you ask? The “Home Alone” franchise. This is one of the first movies I saw as a kid, since we own the first two on VHS. Let’s start off with the very first “Home Alone,” released in 1990.

This is the story of a family that is traveling to Paris for Christmas. The previous night, the youngest, Kevin, gets into a huge argument with the family, and he wishes they all disappear. The next morning, the family wakes up late and have to rush to get out of the house to get to the airport so they won’t miss their flight. In the rush, they forget Kevin at home. Caryn James of the New York Times describes Kevin as “a wide-eyed, savvy child who responds to being the picked-on youngest of five by asking wistfully, "Why do I always get treated like scum?"” When he wakes up alone at home, he finds out that his wish came true. No one can forget that memorable moment when Kevin looks into the camera with the smile and says, “I made my family disappear!” Kevin has the potential to be the overemotional child or the obnoxious little adult that you have seen so many times on screen, but he is neither of them. Famous child star Macaulay Culkin plays Kevin and he is a totally loveable, up-to-the-minute child.

Kevin’s believable; smart-mouth attitude is typical of the film’s creators, who in the past created the suburban neighborhood Kevin’s family lives in with mixed results. The film was written and produced by the late John Hughes (who made other classics, including “16 Candles” and “Uncle Buck”), and was directed by the great Chris Columbus.

The first half of the movie is flat and unsurprising as its premise suggests. The phone is out of order, the neighbors are away, Kevin eats junk food and accidentally sets his brother, Buzz’s (played by Devin Ratray) spider loose. This is your typical comedic moments that kids would probably laugh at. It makes you wonder how Kevin can order pizza when the phone is out of order. Then there is the part where it shows how loveable Kevin’s parents (John Heard plays the father and Catherine O’Hara plays the mother) are when they misplace Kevin during their rush to the airport.

However, in the second half, the plot becomes crazier. Kevin now becomes a daredevil and the comedy is just out there. Kevin’s house is now the next target for two of the most ridiculous burglars that you have ever seen on screen. When Kevin finds that out, he sets up these traps in the house so he can catch the burglars.

Occasional scenes show Kevin’s parents trying to schedule a return flight so they can get Kevin. For the final few distances, the mother hitches a ride with a band leader, played by the late and great John Candy, which James says is, “a sure sign of maternal devotion bordering on martyrdom.” Kevin is taking care of himself just fine, treating every child’s fantasy of being the man of the house and being the hero of this story.

He uses a VHS tape for the sound effects of the gunshots and covers the floor with toy trucks for the robbers to trip on. He covers the front stairs with ice and the back stairs with tar. As the burglars, Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern are complete and total idiots, and that’s where they are funny. They don’t just slip on the ice, they somersault over it. When Pesci’s hair gets burnt, he jumps head first into the snow to thaw out the fire. Caryn James says, “All that's missing from these cartoon scenes are stars flashing around the crooks' dazed heads.”

With a carefree and ironic of a comedy this is, it needs a timeless message to top off this Christmas classic. For Kevin, it arrives when he runs from the burglars and hides in the church, where the carolers sing Christmas songs and he meets his scary looking neighbor, played by Roberts Blossom, who is shown earlier shoveling his driveway and is called by Buzz as “The South Bend Shovel Slayer.” Obviously Kevin has to go to one of the mall Santa’s, played by Ken Hudson Campbell. Both of them teach each other how important your family is, which is really sentimental, and thankfully not overplayed. The ending isn’t either with Kevin wishing his family was back, and he gets his wish.

In the end, “Home Alone” does have its sweet side. It’s a side that is appreciated by the kind of kids who think about Santa’s passport. I give this a solid 10, it’s one of the best and one of my favorite Christmas movies.

But how do the sequels fair out? Find out tomorrow when I look at the first sequel in my 25 days of Christmas reviews.