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Home Alone is a classic phenomenon that is one of the most memorable family films that have ever been made. I can't fully remember whether I saw this film as a very young child or not but when I saw it around November 2007 and after a few rewatches, Home Alone turned out to be a masterpiece that is absolutely hilarious that literally made me cry with laughter. To me, Home Alone is almost a perfect family film because it is filled with magic, witty humour and wacky slapstick. It is a very clumsy story but it is perfect for a family. What I think is so funny about this film is that it's packed with slapstick and wit, it almost becomes like a magic dream. The traps that Kevin sets for Harry and Marv are so dangerous and they hurt themselves so badly like falling down the stairs, falling of buildings, slipping off ladders etc, you could just think "How are they not dead?" That is where this film becomes a slight comical film that does become quite graphic at times.
Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister is one of the most iconic child performances of all time. One thing that is still cool but is rather mindless about this film is that there is no such thing as an 8-year-old being that intelligent who oustmarts two burglars with traps, looks after himself by going shopping, washing his clothes etc. Kevin is a young boy who is the most sensitive and most dis-obedient child in the family but he is really a good kid. When he ends up in a fight with a member of his family, his mother makes him sleep upstairs in the cellar. The next morning, the whole family go on holiday and don't even notice he's not there until they're on the plane half way through their journey. Joe Pesci is absolutely fantastic in this film as crook Harry. He really does seem like the short, fat, slimey, greedy kind of person to in a film like this. Danny DeVito would have done a good job in this film too. David Stern is the other crook who attempts to break into the McCallister house called Marv. Stern is the tall skinny one which is exactly the opposite to Joe Pesci. They are both idiots but Marv is the really stupid one. Harry tries to act smart especially with Kevin but most of the time he fails. I am unsure whether Pesci and Stern perform their own stunts in this film with the traps that they are put under when playing the characters but from what I can see, they do. Another thing that is so good about Kevin's character is because he never tells his family about Harry and Marv because he pretends they never happen because they're both such idiots and pieces of entertainment for him.
Chris Columbus is a fantastic director of family films especially over the 1990s particularly in the 1990s. This was his breakthrough film. He directed the Home Alone sequel and Mrs. Doubtfire. Columbus is a genius for creating such a fantastic masterpiece! I think the best technical quality this film has is the music involved.
Home Alone is a family phenomenon that is better than the sequel but isn't far from that spot. Home Alone is Columbus' finest film. Yes, even better than Mrs. Doubtfire but only just because I do love that film. It is better than the sequel and is probably better than the third and fourth film too. Home Alone is one of my very close favourite comedy and family films. Home Alone is one of the best achieved family classics that have ever come to the screen. It is the second best Christmas film of all time after The Classic Of Classics It's A Wonderful Life. Home Alone is a beautiful, hilariously tearjerking and rather life-teaching film that I recommend to not every family but to every person on Earth.
9/10
