49 lines
4.7 KiB
Plaintext
49 lines
4.7 KiB
Plaintext
at first glance , it appears that the home alone movies are brainless slapstick intended for those with minds of 8-year olds .
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that's true of home alone 2 and i'd bet money that it's true of home alone 3 ( opening soon ) .
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but home alone actually has a lot going for it , and the cartoon slapstick doesn't get in the way .
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the mcalisters , all 15 of them , are going to france for the holidays .
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four adults and eleven kids are spending the night together before heading to the airport en masse .
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the littlest kid , kevin , is the victim of the older kids' cruelty .
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kevin's patience runs out when he learns that his plain-cheese pizza has already been eaten , and he's going to have to starve .
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he attacks his big bully brother buzz , who had been teasing him .
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the fight disrupts the already-chaotic dinner , spilling milk and soft drinks all over the table , a few cousins , and an uncle .
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the knee-jerk reaction is for everyone to blame kevin .
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nobody came to his rescue when he was being teased , but they all point their fingers when he fights back .
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the ultimate punishment comes from mom ( catherine o'hara ) who sends him up to the spare bedroom in the attic for the night .
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on his way up the stairs , he tells her that " families suck " and that he hopes never to see any of his family again .
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that night the power goes out , knocking out the alarm clocks , so the mcalisters wake up in a big hurry to get to the airport .
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in a surprisingly plausible setup , kevin is mistakenly accounted for , and the family heads off without him .
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it's interesting that , in a subtle way , his parents never noticed him missing because of their deliberate desire to separate themselves from their children .
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first they delegate the headcount to an older sibling , and second , they put all the kids in coach while they fly first class .
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they're two-thirds of the way across the atlantic before they realize they are missing a child .
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meanwhile , kevin believes that somehow his wish has come true .
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he's finally rid of his family !
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life is a dream come true .
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he can jump on the beds , watch r-rated movies , eat gobs of ice cream and potato chips , and dig through his big brother's secret box .
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slowly , the novelty wears off and he settles into the mundane .
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he grooms himself , he does the laundry , he goes shopping ( " i bought some milk , eggs , and fabric softener " ) .
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he also starts to miss his family , not just for their company , but for the security they bring .
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the furnace in the basement is a scary monster , the old man next door is a snow-shovel murderer , and two crooks are trying to break into his house .
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macaulay culkin is cute but he isn't much of an actor .
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still , we can see that kevin's character grows , thanks to some good direction and editing .
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for example , acting has little to do with the emotional impact of the scene where kevin searches out a seasonal santa at night , just as " santa " is getting in his car .
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kevin asks the man to pass on his request - he wants his family back - to the real santa .
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he learned how to deal with the furnace .
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you turn on the lights and it's not so scary anymore .
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he goes to a church one evening and there he sees the snow-shovel murderer , who actually turns out to be a nice man .
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they talk about their fears and kevin learns that age alone does not make you less afraid .
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finally , in the last 20 minutes , kevin confronts his last fear - the bandits , head on ( literally ) .
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this last act is full of violent comedic slapstick , and after the movie's genuine dramatic setup , it is dessert .
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it's a lot of fun , and it doesn't overwhelm the rest of the movie .
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on the whole , home alone is a great holiday movie .
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john williams' original score has the sound and feel of holiday music without the disadvantage of being overplayed at the malls , and the christmas setting can put you in the mood for those family gatherings .
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but it does have its flaws .
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the smallest problem is that culkin doesn't act very well .
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as i said before , he is cute , but repeated viewings reveal more about how columbus covered himself than about culkin's insight into his character .
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the biggest problem is that during the cartoony coda , the villains threaten kevin's life about five times .
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instead of " i'm gonna get that kid " they say " i'm gonna kill that kid . "
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some might argue that the tone is the same , but i strongly disagree .
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mixing comedy with specific and viable threats of murder is a sociopathic faux-pas .
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i'll probably never see home alone 3 , and i wish i had skipped home alone 2 , but i do enjoy home alone almost every year .
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don't let your impressions of the others detract from the original , which has much more to offer than cartoon slapstick .
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