Home Alone: The Holiday Heist is the fifth, and hopefully final, entry into the Home Alone saga. A saga that started great, even brilliant, and has been reduced to an unbearable pile of junk. While this fifth film wasn't quite as bad as the previous one, there isn't much to write home about.
When I began this journey of Home Alone films a little over a week ago, I never would've guessed that it would all lead up to this. Home Alone: The Holiday Heist is certainly the most bizarre of the bunch, but it's also the most boring. It seems to have no direction or cause, and the result, unsurprisingly, is a messy mix of a little bit of everything. It starts with a haunted house set up, which in and of itself is way beyond anything I ever could've expected. However, being a kids film, and a bad one at that, it's never actually scary. And the one thing about haunted house films is that if they aren't scary, they are tremendously boring. Besides taking a crack at being a ghost story, it also tries to copy the original Home Alone. Certain traps for the end battle are straight copies, and some of the most iconic lines are also borrowed. However, while the first film in the series made it all work, this one fails at everything it tries to do.
The story introduces us to Finn, a 10-year-old boy how has just had to move with his family to Maine due to her mothers work. As Finn, and the rest of the family, start to get settled in, he learns that his new home might be haunted. Finn, who is an avid gamer, has an overly active imagination, and he starts to think that the house is indeed haunted. However, as he soon learns, what he had thought to be a ghost, is actually a group of burglars that are trying to break in. The parents being gone, and his sister trapped in a basement, Finn must defend his home against the intruders. The story is certainly the most ambitious of the series. But it also manages to be the dullest and most unimaginative. While I wasn't expecting a haunted house setting, I wouldn't have minded it had it been done well. However, the way it's done leads to a horrendously boring and predictable final result.
While I might've been able to deal with the story, as well as the blatant copying of the original films, what I couldn't deal with, were the characters. They are the most stereotypical characters you can come up with. They all feel like caricatures of the types of people they are trying to portray. Finn is your typical kid who thinks he doesn't need friends because he has his video games. He is scared of everything and would prefer not having to go outside. Alexis, the older sister, is the typical teenager going through her angst phase, locking herself in her room and listening to music while rebelling against her parents. Curtis, the dad, always goes along with everything that the mom says and doesn't have a voice of his own. And finally, Catherine, the mom, is overly strict, doesn't appreciate anything the other family members do and thinks she is always right. While there are certain bits of truth in all of these characters, they are painfully over the top and end up being the death of Home Alone: The Holiday Heist, if it wasn't already dead, to begin with.
I'm glad that I sat through all five films, even though I wish I could get the time I wasted on the last three back. At least now I know that I never need to watch anything but the first two films. Home Alone and Home Alone Lost in New York, are the only worthwhile films, and the only two that deserve to be called Home Alone. The other films, this one included, have nothing to do with the series and should've never been called Home Alone in the first place. I have a feeling that I will be revisiting the original films come Christmas time next year. However, I sincerely hope that this one, as well as the third and fourth films, will never be seen by myself again.
When I began this journey of Home Alone films a little over a week ago, I never would've guessed that it would all lead up to this. Home Alone: The Holiday Heist is certainly the most bizarre of the bunch, but it's also the most boring. It seems to have no direction or cause, and the result, unsurprisingly, is a messy mix of a little bit of everything. It starts with a haunted house set up, which in and of itself is way beyond anything I ever could've expected. However, being a kids film, and a bad one at that, it's never actually scary. And the one thing about haunted house films is that if they aren't scary, they are tremendously boring. Besides taking a crack at being a ghost story, it also tries to copy the original Home Alone. Certain traps for the end battle are straight copies, and some of the most iconic lines are also borrowed. However, while the first film in the series made it all work, this one fails at everything it tries to do.
The story introduces us to Finn, a 10-year-old boy how has just had to move with his family to Maine due to her mothers work. As Finn, and the rest of the family, start to get settled in, he learns that his new home might be haunted. Finn, who is an avid gamer, has an overly active imagination, and he starts to think that the house is indeed haunted. However, as he soon learns, what he had thought to be a ghost, is actually a group of burglars that are trying to break in. The parents being gone, and his sister trapped in a basement, Finn must defend his home against the intruders. The story is certainly the most ambitious of the series. But it also manages to be the dullest and most unimaginative. While I wasn't expecting a haunted house setting, I wouldn't have minded it had it been done well. However, the way it's done leads to a horrendously boring and predictable final result.
While I might've been able to deal with the story, as well as the blatant copying of the original films, what I couldn't deal with, were the characters. They are the most stereotypical characters you can come up with. They all feel like caricatures of the types of people they are trying to portray. Finn is your typical kid who thinks he doesn't need friends because he has his video games. He is scared of everything and would prefer not having to go outside. Alexis, the older sister, is the typical teenager going through her angst phase, locking herself in her room and listening to music while rebelling against her parents. Curtis, the dad, always goes along with everything that the mom says and doesn't have a voice of his own. And finally, Catherine, the mom, is overly strict, doesn't appreciate anything the other family members do and thinks she is always right. While there are certain bits of truth in all of these characters, they are painfully over the top and end up being the death of Home Alone: The Holiday Heist, if it wasn't already dead, to begin with.
I'm glad that I sat through all five films, even though I wish I could get the time I wasted on the last three back. At least now I know that I never need to watch anything but the first two films. Home Alone and Home Alone Lost in New York, are the only worthwhile films, and the only two that deserve to be called Home Alone. The other films, this one included, have nothing to do with the series and should've never been called Home Alone in the first place. I have a feeling that I will be revisiting the original films come Christmas time next year. However, I sincerely hope that this one, as well as the third and fourth films, will never be seen by myself again.