Christmas Movie Review: Home Alone

First published in Sin Newspaper on 14 Nov 2011


Home Alone is a film we all remember from our childhood. Watching Macaulay Culkin play the role of Kevin, and outsmart a couple of nasty burglars made us all, at some stage in our childhood, feel like we could beat up adults.

The film tells the far-fetched story of Kevin, an eight-year-old kid, who is left behind when his very large family go on a Christmas holiday to France. Once she realises she’s left her baby behind, Kevin’s mother tries desperately to get back to him as soon as possible.

Image: Google Images

Meanwhile, Kevin has adventures of his own. He eats whatever he wants, watches whatever he wants on television, and just generally has a ball. As well as all of this, he has two burglars to contend with. The “wet bandits,” Harry and Marv are breaking into as many houses as possible in this rich neighbourhood, but when they reach Kevin’s house, they’re in for a surprise. Still, they don’t give up, and go through quite a lot just to rob that one house.

Any ordinary kid would call the police, but there’s no fun in that, and Kevin certainly comes up with better ideas. He outwit’s the burglars in numerous ways, which is the real draw for children - an eight-year-old who can conquer the adults.

Fun as the film is, it contains quite a lot of violence, and to be quite honest, I’m surprised the two burglars were alive at the end of it. They trip down stairs, get burnt, hit with very heavy objects, step on sharp things (strategically placed by Kevin), and go through many other forms of pain while navigating a large obstacle course of traps.

Naturally, Kevin is reunited with his family, but don’t worry, there are two sequels of Kevin’s adventures. This is definitely a “don’t-try-this-at-home” kind of film, but I’m sure we can all see the appeal for children.

“Keep the change… You filthy animal!”

14 Nov 2011

by Jessica Thompson