{"id":17248,"date":"2015-11-24T00:30:28","date_gmt":"2015-11-24T05:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=17248"},"modified":"2015-11-24T00:44:04","modified_gmt":"2015-11-24T05:44:04","slug":"home-alone-and-its-endearing-adventure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/24\/home-alone-and-its-endearing-adventure\/","title":{"rendered":"“Home Alone” and Its Endearing Adventure"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I was seven when \u201cHome Alone\u201d first arrived in theaters, and oddly enough I don\u2019t remember the first time watching it. I did go to the movies to see it, as we always did, but I do fondly remember one night when my brother and I dragged my dad to see it for a third time. Beside \u201cWho Framed Roger Rabbit!\u201d we\u2019d seen \u201cHome Alone\u201d at least three times in theaters, and we loved it. My dad had worked late, and he picked my brother and me up during one snowy night and we debated on what to see in the theaters. He was anxious to watch \u201cKing Ralph,\u201d but we begged him to let us watch \u201cHome Alone\u201d once again. He obliged and allowed us to watch it yet again, despite entering the theater mid-way through the movie for the final half.<\/p>\n

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But \u201cHome Alone\u201d still retains a lot of its magic and comedy value to this day. Even with Kevin McCallister being relatively petulant and obnoxious in the first half of the film, its fun for kids to watch Kevin live out every fantasy we ever had. He eats what he wants, watches any movie he wants to watch, doesn\u2019t have to share any food, and even gets to play with any toys he wants. And after a while he realizes that sharing those experiences with family is what makes them so much fun. Kevin doesn\u2019t learn a lesson in \u201cLost in New York,\u201d but he at least learns something in the first film about appreciating his flawed family, no matter what.<\/p>\n

\"homealone2\"<\/a>\u201cHome Alone\u201d is admittedly a fairy tale that doesn\u2019t pretend to be anything else but a fairy tale. It relishes in giving Kevin something of a wonderland for a house, and draws the hero in to a clever character who never stresses the fact he might be murdered by two very angry and wounded thieves in the finale of the film. Kevin never goes to the police, but decides to go home and protect it with far fetched booby traps, Marv and Harry are wounded so badly they could have died during Kevin\u2019s antics, and despite knowing a child is home alone and could potentially be hurt, the local police just knock on the McCallisters door for a while and leave. That said, \u201cHome Alone\u201d still keeps its value and maintains its momentum as a young kid sticking it to really awful adults.<\/p>\n

There are no shades of gray about Marv and Harry. They\u2019re petty thugs casing high class neighborhoods and they delight in being slimy spineless thugs. When Kevin finally gives it to them in the finale, there\u2019s no doubt they deserve it, and we have a good time watching him inflict the punishment on them. Pesci and Stern are priceless in their roles as pitch black villains who have no other motivation beyond stealing from houses during Christmas, and inflicting horrible bodily injuries on Kevin when he\u2019s put them through the wringer. \u201cHome Alone\u201d builds up to the slapstick finale well and once Marv and Harry fall in to Kevin\u2019s little traps, it\u2019s still laugh out loud hysterical. Pesci\u2019s screams and cries of pain, along with Stern\u2019s excellent physical stunts and high pitched wails make the ending so worth the wait.<\/p>\n

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But before that, Kevin\u2019s journey from hating his broadly written eccentric family, to appreciating them despite their flaws is entertaining with Macaulay Culkin capturing this character and redeeming him by the time the film reaches the home stretch. I guess because he feels like he wished his family away once and for all, that he has to protect the house himself, as a means of magically bringing them back from where ever they came from. Catherine O\u2019Hara is also excellent as Kevin\u2019s well intentioned mother who thinks she dislikes Kevin, but goes above and beyond to get home to ensure Kevin\u2019s safety, even going so far as to sell her own possessions in an airport.<\/p>\n

I also still enjoy the walk on role by John Candy who plays the leader of a traveling Polka band who offers to drive her back to Kevin free of charge. It\u2019s a wonderfully bittersweet performance, as while their interplay and trading of looks and dialogue are hilarious, Candy\u2019s character also ends up being a rather interesting human being who is also having issues with his family. Kevin\u2019s tale, unlike the sequels, is really about redemption for himself and for his family. It\u2019s possible he figures by the finale that his family is merely somewhere far, rather than magically disappearing, so he takes it upon himself to ensure the house isn\u2019t destroyed or corrupted by Marv and Harry\u2019s thievery.<\/p>\n

The finale is for the most part still where the comedy gold is, prompting some top notch physical slapstick that still makes me giggle. Marv and Harry are much too cocky to take Kevin seriously, and by the time they decide to confront him as a serious threat, he\u2019s already inflicted immense bodily harm on them. My favorite moment is still the scene where Kevin puts his brother’s tarantula on Marv’s face, prompting a deafening high pitched scream and nervous breakdown that is absolutely hysterical. Kevin is saved a lot by his mistakes and his good personality, forming an ally in his once scary next door neighbor, who comes to the rescue when Kevin is finally caught by the “Wet Bandits.” When Kevin\u2019s family finally arrive, he\u2019s proud that the house is basically untouched and in prime condition, thus proving he\u2019s not the complete little monster he was the night before the fateful trip.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s just something so universally appealing about Chris Columbus\u2019 comedy that still speaks to young audiences today. It\u2019s something the sequels never could quite grasp on to, mainly because the movie should have been a one and done comedy. The movie was so much more about the violent punishment inflicted on these criminals. It’s about appreciating loved ones, cherishing the time you have with your family, and realizing Christmas isn’t only about presents. Plus once we hit a sequel, it just stopped being a funny concept. Leaving Kevin home alone once is an accident, leaving him behind a second time (and in New York), while watching other kids be left alone or behind (in the future sequels) is just bad parenting. \u201cHome Alone\u201d still works as a hilarious and novel Christmas film that has retained its classic status for a reason. Yes, it has major nostalgic value attached to it, but it\u2019s also a very good movie worthy of at least one viewing during the holidays.<\/p>\n