Customer Reviews

Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(29)

 

 

"Beethoven's 5th" and "Home Alone 4." Back in the golden era of John Hughes, who was really something in the 80s, I couldn't imagine the day would come when we see his name in this direct-to-video sequels. Even if he only permitted to use (or recycle) the main characters, it is a shocking thing to witness this.

But the film is made by 20th Century Fox, one of the major studios in Hollywood, and to be fair, the production designs are decent, Yes, Kevin McCallister is no longer played by Mr. Culkin, but kids all grow up someday. And look, Marv, one of the original burglars comes back to Kevin's house, but sorry, it is NOT Daniel Stern. (It's French Stewart, who is not bad).

Some viewer, quite understandably, don't like the story about Kevin's parents who live separately, but it could be OK. Today that is not a rare thing. Some viewers again don't like the idea of different actors playing the main characters, but hey, that happened to James Bond or Dumbledore, and we didn't care.

[THE REAL PROBLEM ] is this. This time Marv doesn't steal. Why? For he needs money so desperately that he and his girlfriend (Missi Pyle) decide to kidnap Prince. I mean it, THE PRINCE, a child of the royal family. But from where? The big mansion of Kevin's Daddy's girlfriend. But how? Oh, this is a big surprise, but there's an insider. And what happens? Many slapsticks, many of them just unfunny.

But the most embarrassing is Kevin, the kid himself. Sorry but I must tell you. The character of Kevin is really awful, even offensive. Kevin not only frustrates the burglars' plans by booby traps (so far, fine); he also enjoys doing it! If you don't see what I am trying to say, see the scenes in which Kevin, sitting on a sofa, sees French Stewart and Missi Pyle literally trapped in the rotating bookshelf, which goes round and round, faster and faster. See how the boy laughs, like watching a movie on TV! Yes, he laughs with loud voice as if he's one of the Warner Brothers' animation characters. I saw all the `Home Alone' series, but this is the first time I really wished that the burglars would win and take everything away. They surely deserve that.

I thought `Home Alone 3' was enough. John Hughes and other people did think otherwise. Now I think `Home Alone 4' is truly enough, and really hope that they think the same way.

This is just omg [...], and not Home Alone if u wanna see real Home Alone movies get the first 3, cause this is just [...].

This so called 'fourth' installment in the "Home Alone" movie series is the biggest joke in a movie series since "Batman and Robin" from six years before then. This movie is a disgrace to the 1990 original and the 1992 sequel and even to 1997's "Home Alone 3".

Everything that came together on the first two in the series completely is rearranged and the timeline is altered but the result is totally disastrous on every level. Not even having one's brain turned off for a while is enough to make one enjoy this weak fourth edition.

The acting is increidbly weak by everyone involved. Not to mention how they completely remade the McCallister family. The large extended family of Kevin was a riot to watch and although a bit obnoxious at times, it was funny watching Buzz get ticked off when he saw a bill for 986 dollars at the ending of the "Lost In New York" movie from 1992. "Home Alone 4" robs the family of all of it's charm by making them into just a nuclear family.

Even the plot is utterly pointless with Kevin's parents spitting up and his father living with a new girlfriend at a rich mansion and Kevin stayign with him for Christmas but the mansion is robbed by would-be thieves but the slapstick jokes don't work on this movie. One scene is totally unrealistic where a faucet is left on to stop the thieves and the kitchen almost looks like an aquarium and is totally flooded. Hello! In real life, the water would just seep through cracks on the floors and walls and cause water damage to much of the structure. Plus it's impossible to turn a house into a human aquarium because the overflowing water would simply flood the room, and then the adjacent room and flow outside. You're house is far more likely to become totally filled with water if a flash flood occured (I.E. Hurricane or a large dam failed).

The villain thieves are just incredibly devoid of any character and come off as being obnoxious, crass, petty and awfully stupid. Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern were perfect for playing Kevin's adversaries in the first two movies but whoever these clowns here who play them, their acting is weak and it sure looked like they were ready to leave the set.

So this movie was a low-budget flick but even then, all of that money allotted into making this movie is utterly wasted in it's making. Whoever thought up of this should've looked at James Cameron's 1984 classic "The Termintor" to see how a low budget movie is made right!

This movie is completely unworthy of one's time. Even the awkward "Home Alone 3" was miles above this rubbish!

Our family loves the first three "Home Alone" movies. But this fourth in the series is a dud. They keep the same character names as the first two movies, but they are totally different actors playing the parts. They should have just made up new characters.

Secondly, in this movie there is very little of the slapstick humor which made the first three so funny. In the first three, the boy set elaborate traps which the bad guys fell for. In this fourth movie, there are few traps set, and they are not original or that funny.

One other disappointing aspect of this fourth movie - in this movie the family is being broken apart by divorce. Although the divorce is not final yet, the husband has already moved in with his girlfriend and is getting engaged. Not the best for family values!

Overall, we were very disappointed with this movie, which provided few laughs. Stick with the first three if you want a movie to keep you laughing!

all right... so this movie isn't bad. but it isn't that good either.

the good things are that prescott is actually, well, good in some parts of the movie. also, they didn't call the kid another name like in home alone 3.

the bad things are that lots of the actors didn't do very well in this film and the writing is terrible. The booby traps lasted for only 10 minutes!

so either you don't watch this movie, rent it, or borrow it. don't spend your money on buying it.

This is simply awfull. Like Home Alone 3, we are introduced to the same 'people' as HA1 and HA2 but different actors who don't even look or act the same (Kevin McAllister has got younger!). The film looks rushed, is very poorly acted (with the exception of the young boy) and badly script and directed. I would advice you not to watch this movie. Enough said really.

This is not Home Alone. The producers of this film screwed everything up with their own dumb imaginations. I don't care if I don't see this movie again, because I really don't want to. I AM TELLING THE TRUTH. The snow is computer generated because this must've been made in the frickin' summertime and nothing is the way it should be. Not even the best film makers in the world would be able to pull THIS off. I THOUGHT I WOULD ENJOY THIS MOVIE. 1 star=dreadfully crappy.

I'll be honest, I didn't think Home Alone 4 was a bad movie. It's better than other Amazon reviews make it out to be. The real trouble is that this movie was advertised as being another sequel to the smash hit, Home Alone. It clearly isn't. Just because they use the same characters in the movie doesn't make it a sequel. Kevin gets into trouble every time his dad and his dad's girlfriend leave the house, and like in the third one, no one believes him about the bad guys. No traps for the bad guys this time, either. This is not a bad movie, but it isn't Home Alone. If you want a real Home Alone movie, get the first two. The third one is very good too.

It's no secret that many despise Home Alone 3. At least it had some kind of technical proffesionalism behind it. The first 2 (and a bit of the 3rd) movies also benefited from a very strong musical score that elevated them far beyond a typical family comedy. Home Alone 4 however has an extremely cheap score and feels rushed and empty.

The very lean running time means there is no house full of traps, not a lot of plot to be wrapped up and no emotional pay-off. Plus, if I am correct in assuming Kevin's age in this film, this happens the same Xmas he was Lost in New York. So what's it to be? Dad's girlfriend's house or New York? Plus Marv is played by French Stewart (who didn't even bother to grow a beard for the part) and the rest of the cast is a bunch of unknowns. And it's obvious this was not filmed anywhere near winter, the lack of snow robs the film further of any Xmas-y feel it might have had. And what's with the constant, terrible ADR? It's very distracting.

There were some funny parts to this film and the new kid playing Kevin did it well. But the hand-held camera thingy, the bare sets and lack of anything to do with Xmas make this film look like a poverty-stricken TV movie.

The DVD is in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen and has a mediocre Dolby 5.1 track.

By now, most people agree that "Home Alone 1" was/is a classic holiday comedy. I mean, come on, who can ever forget Macaulay Culkin's "AAGGHHH!" face after putting on the after shave? "Home Alone 2" was great, as well. It introduced America to the Talkboy voice recording unit. But instead of going out on a good note, they had to keep pushing their luck. And "Home Alone 3" was just... ugghhh. No Macaulay, no Joe Pesci, no Daniel Stern, no McAllisters. Just another little snotty kid (who went on to have no movie career... at least Macaulay did a couple of other movies after HA 1&2) and some other stupid would-be robbers (one of which looking like David Schwimmer). And now this... I can't even find the words. Now they have some OTHER little punk kid trying to be Macaulay!!!!

WHAT!?!??!

That's like someone other than Dan Castellaneta doing the voice of Homer Simpson!! (Well, perhaps not that drastic, but you get the idea.) I wouldn't care about this movie (or at least not enough so to write a review), but it has the "Home Alone" title attached. WITHOUT MACAULAY CULKIN, JOE PESCI, AND DANIEL STERN, IT IS NOT - I REPEAT, NOT - HOME ALONE. Seriously, no more! Let the series die peacefully. Now, while it still might have a shred of dignity left. Anyway, avoid like the Noid. He ruins pizzas. HAH!!!

Seriously, do not view or buy this. Stick with 1 & 2 instead.