Customer Reviews

Home Alone

5 star:		(213)
4 star:		(52)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

On November 21st, 2006, 20th Century Fox released Home Alone - Family Fun Edition. This DVD edition is the long awaited special edition to one of cinemas most adored Christmas films. This edition offers a hefty amount of extra goodies...such as over 30 minutes of deleted scenes, on the set featurettes, new interviews, and a brand new commentary track featuring director Chris Columbus & Macaulay Culkin. I have to say unlike most commentary tracks, this one is actully very informative and very fun. Macaulay and Chris seem to have so much fun watching the film. This edition like the first one is presented in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1. I read somewhere that the video and audio is updated too, I cannot confirm if it is or not but I read that. If you own the previous edition of this film, it is definately worth your money to update to this. The special features alone warrant a double dip. Also for the hold outs not wanting to buy the film til it got a special edition, well here it is. I would recommend this edition to anyone wanting to own this classic film on DVD.

Finally Fox studios came to their senses to re-release a childhood classic. Now this re-release does have a substanial amount of bonus features including 4 behind the scenes feature, deleted scenes, 3 trailers, and some trivia games but the icing on the cake is the Christopher Columbus and Macaulay Culkin Commentary. Its good to know that Macaulay Culkin being the highest paid child star back then in the early 90's and still to this date, he is humble enough to go back to his childhood memories. Deff worth the upgrade if you own the previous release..a true classic...

This movie was a favorite amongst many when it first came out in 1990, and more than a decade later, this movie *still* remains a classic, and will continue to be a classic for many more years to come.

The story is simple, really: young Kevin (Macaulay Culkin) is the underdog of the family; always getting picked on by his older siblings, and feeling like an outcast. One day, he gets into it with his older brother, and Kevin ends up being punished. During his punishment, he wishes that he could spend a christmas by himself without any of his family members. Wouldn't you know it - due to his family's carelessness, they accidently leave Kevin home on their way to the airport (to fly to Paris for Christmas vacation.)

And from there, the fun begins. While Kevin is home by himself, two bumbling, nincompoop burglars (played by Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern) known as the "Wet Bandits," set their sites on Kevin's house. When Kevin figures this out, he sets the house up with all sorts of tricks and traps, to out-maneuver these two clowns. And it's *hilarious* (listening to Daniel Stern's agonized wails -- as if he were castrated -- leaves me gasping for breath!) Anytime I watch this movie, these scenes in general have a way of bringing out the devilishly-maniacal, mischievous kid in me (and no doubt, many other viewers as well.) Of course, the movie isn't all about brash, goofy slapstick; there are some moving moments scattered throughout the film (particularly when Kevin befriends an old man - who is feared throughout the neighborhood - who teaches Kevin a few things about life, as well as receiving a little bit of advice from young Kevin along the way.)

Home Alone, Home Alone 2, and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation are the Christmas comedies I find myself coming back to most. Indeed, all three of these films are classics that should be watched around the holidays, or *any* time of the year, for some non-stop entertainment & laughs, as well as some heartwarming sentiment beneath it all.

I purchased what was labeled a Widescreen (16x9 aspect ratio )DVD of Home Alone.
What I received was a 4x3 version with the top and bottom of the frame chopped off.
I was able to verify this with my 4x3 VHS tape version of Home Alone. The transfer to DVD was so poor it had barely a sharper picture than my VHS.

It's a shame such a fine film should be butchered for what is otherwise a decent medium.
It's bad enough that the left and right side of the frame is chopped off for the 4x3 version and most widescreen versions with an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, but to further cut off the top and bottom is a disgrace.

The first edition of this dvd was ok but lacked in the special features area and dvd quality. Thankfully the Family Fun edition has been released and the quality is excellent. This new edition has 5.1 sound and the picture quality is so much more crisper. This dvd is loaded with special features. It's hard to believe that Home Alone came out more than 16 years ago and has stood the test of time and is destined to be a holiday classic. Great fun movie...

This is a review of the Blu-Ray disc. Since Amazon does not specifically provide rating stars for PQ and AQ, I am writing this at the top, as some of the reviews here, were ported over from the SD.

PQ-3/5-sad to say, Fox has skimped again. There is significant noise and grain in this film, and the picture is murky. The film was tested on an upper end 42" Plasma and BD30K player. I've seen older movies look better than this. The sound was a 4/5. The poor quality of the transfer merits a rent, not a buy.

The film itself was clever given Kevin's ingenious use of toys and every-day household items to overcome the burglars. It's also endearing, as he is only 8, and already "grown up" in many ways (grocery shopping, discussion with older man in church, and his interactions with his family). I felt the first 3/4 of the movie was not very engaging, or particularly funny, unfortunately. The last 15 minutes were the most entertaining, and the arrival of the rest of the family were heartfelt. Overall a nice holiday themed movie, but nothing outstanding here.

Home Alone is truly an entertaining Christmas movie to watch during the holiday season. Macaulay Culkin plays the character of the mischievous Kevin McAllister so well in that he brings life to the movie and is just downright funny when he complains about his family.

Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern are also quite comical as the "wet bandits" and bring a great sense of goofiness to the film.

Overall, this movie is still funny to this day and it never gets old. Some of the traps that Kevin sets up are lethal (i.e. iron falling from laundry-shoot scene) and certainly unrealistic, but then again, this is Hollywood.

The DVD is clear and the widescreen aspect ratio is closer to full screen, which I like personally. There aren't any special features, but who cares? The movie makes up for it.

Bottom Line: Buy the DVD if you like this movie

This is a great movie. We always watch it around the holidays. However, the picture quality on this DVD is terrible. I think the VHS version is better. They should really go back and redo the digital version.

In the Eighties, John Hughes churned out a handful of movies and scored many, many hits. Quite rightly, as most of them were seriously funny - I'm DEFINITELY not referring to Curly Sue, so relax! In one particular scene from Uncle Buck, Macaulay Culkin interrogates a babysitter through the letterbox to make sure she's not a baddie. This inspired Hughes to write a whole new movie. Who would have known that this and its sequel would go on to become two of the biggest hits of all time? Both Hughes and Chris Columbus seem to prefer setting their movies during the holiday season (Gremlins, Young Sherlock Holmes, Planes, Trains & Automobiles, Christmas Vacation) and manage to pull them off without too much sentiment, or sickening amounts of gooey love.

There are two reasons why Home Alone was such a big success. The first is that it's about a kid who outsmarts grown-ups, something that happens every day, only there's a worldwide conspiracy of silence. This movie yells it out loud and clear. The second is John Williams's magical score, which elevates the movie way above slapstick family fare to something more serious and regarded. It was nominated for an Academy Award, along with the Christmas carol Somewhere In My Memory, but lost to John Barry's Dances with Wolves. Damn! In a mad rush to the airport one morning, the McCallister family forget one little thing...Kevin (Culkin). He is an eight-year-old kid who wants nothing better than a peaceful Christmas and some time to himself. It's hard for him to get this when living in a house with seven other people(the exact same house from Planes, Trains And Automobiles, don't you know. With the rest of the McCallisters in Paris, Kevin runs wild doing whatever he wants, eating whatever he wants and watching whatever TV show he wants.

But there's one major problem. The Wet Bandits, Harry (Joe Pesci) and Marv (Daniel Stern), are on the prowl and have knocked off every other house in Kevin's street. His is next. And seeing that he's man-of-the-house now, he HAS to defend it.

Using whatever tools are at his disposal (rusty nails, blow torches, Micro Machines) he sets up a labyrinth of booby traps, so that the Wets can't break in. Their idiot-proof determination proves to be their downfall, as they are tortured and torn-up upon entering Kevin's domain.

Although this is not the only point of the film, there is an important message that family is what really matters to a child, or to anyone, and having them home for the holidays is better than wandering a huge house all by yourself.

There are some movies that work best at Christmas and this is one of them. I'm not saying that in a couple of decades it will be the new It's A Wonderful Life (which is very overrated and not really an Xmas movie at all), but it will be remembered fondly at the very least.

The Blu Ray looks great in 1.85:1 1080p, and has lots of features.

i love this film macaulay culkin is a great actor and does great facial expressions...the plot as everyone must know by now is that an 8 year boy named kevin gets left behind at home as the family are goin' on holiday...and the burgulars that come too pay kevin a christmas visit have already been run to check the joint out as policeman..so kevin fills the house with traps yadda yadda yadda you get what i'm on about..get the film and forget about what "JD" OR "JB" they sucked too much dick and need to get a sense of humour so what if it doesn't all add up it's still a fantastic film so stop being an...polictal correctness weed will ya?