Home Alone: The Holiday Heist (2012)
** (out of 4)
The fifth film in the series takes the approach of the third one and features no Kevin. Instead, Finn (Christian Martyn) moves to a new house with his family and believes that it must be haunted by the gangster who previously lived there. The little boy sets up traps to catch the ghost but soon realizes that it's three burglars (Malcolm McDowell, Debi Mazar, Eddie Steeples) who are actually trying to break in and steal a priceless painting. HOME ALONE: THE HOLIDAY HEIST doesn't come close to either one of the Culkin pictures but it's certainly miles better than the previous two installments. With that said, there's still a lot of problems with this movie but I suspect kids should really enjoy it since they're the ones this here is really aimed at. This is one of those movies that wasn't aimed for adults as everyone in the film acts pretty silly and this includes the thieves and the parents. The only mature ones are the kids, when it counts, as they have to protect the house. The gadgets here aren't all that memorable but there are a few funny moments for the thieves including a glass a glue and Mazar's butt slapping was actually done well. Martyn is certainly a step up from the previous two kids and for the most part I thought he was fine. I thought McDowell was pretty good in the role of the burglar as was Mazar and even Steeples for that matter. They certainly can't match Pesci and Stern but who could? While the film remains slightly entertaining, there's still no question that there wasn't a real reason for this to be made. It doesn't improve on anything from the first two films but I'm sure kids might enjoy it.
** (out of 4)
The fifth film in the series takes the approach of the third one and features no Kevin. Instead, Finn (Christian Martyn) moves to a new house with his family and believes that it must be haunted by the gangster who previously lived there. The little boy sets up traps to catch the ghost but soon realizes that it's three burglars (Malcolm McDowell, Debi Mazar, Eddie Steeples) who are actually trying to break in and steal a priceless painting. HOME ALONE: THE HOLIDAY HEIST doesn't come close to either one of the Culkin pictures but it's certainly miles better than the previous two installments. With that said, there's still a lot of problems with this movie but I suspect kids should really enjoy it since they're the ones this here is really aimed at. This is one of those movies that wasn't aimed for adults as everyone in the film acts pretty silly and this includes the thieves and the parents. The only mature ones are the kids, when it counts, as they have to protect the house. The gadgets here aren't all that memorable but there are a few funny moments for the thieves including a glass a glue and Mazar's butt slapping was actually done well. Martyn is certainly a step up from the previous two kids and for the most part I thought he was fine. I thought McDowell was pretty good in the role of the burglar as was Mazar and even Steeples for that matter. They certainly can't match Pesci and Stern but who could? While the film remains slightly entertaining, there's still no question that there wasn't a real reason for this to be made. It doesn't improve on anything from the first two films but I'm sure kids might enjoy it.