Home Alone – Family Fun Edition (20th Century Fox Blu-ray)
Picture:
B Sound: B Extras: B- Film: A-
Isn’t
child neglect at Christmas time hilarious?
At this point I can’t imagine a Christmas Season without at least seeing
Home Alone (and Home Alone 2 for that matter) at least once. Home
Alone in many ways has become a Christmas standard for a new
generation. Home Alone has now found itself right up there with other Christmas
classics like A Christmas Carol (whichever
version you fancy) or It’s a Wonderful
Life as it chugs merrily along with its solid family friendly comedy and
cheerful Christmas soundtrack. Though
criminals being pummeled again and again by paint cans, blow torches, and
various sharp objects sounds a little fishy as far as ‘family friendly’ goes;
but who am I to judge?
The story
basically follows Kevin McAllister (Macaulay Culkin) as he fends for himself
after his family inadvertently leaves him home while they head off to their
holiday vacation in France. At first
Kevin is in heaven being home alone without his bossy parents, bully brother,
or anyone else around to tell him what to do.
A wrench is thrown into the works (literally) when two opportunistic
crooks arrive to rob the McCallister’s house.
The crooks, Harry (Joe Pesci) and Marv (Daniel Stern), have been scoping
the neighborhood for weeks and were certain no one would be home; but with a
few sly moves and the help of some cardboard cutouts, Kevin makes the
McAllister house appear packed. The
moronic criminals aren’t duped for long and quickly attempt to break in, but
Kevin has a Christmas barrage of booby traps ready for the pair.
Home Alone even got further immortalized on
an episode of Seinfeld when Jerry
catches George sobbing during the film to which he replies “The old man got to
me.”
The
picture and sound quality on this Blu-ray release are not much of an upgrade
from the 2006 DVD release, but if you have been waiting to buy this film now
may be the time as you may not see another edition for a while. The picture is presented in a 1080p
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image that is adequate, but has its issues as
it does not represent cinematographer Julio Macat’s original intention very
well. The picture’s colors are bland
with an overly soft image that exaggerates Macat’s intention of giving the film
a soft ‘Norman Rockwell Christmas’ feel.
Though the picture is sharp and has a sufficient clarity, there is a
still room for improvement. The picture
not being alone in its short comings, the sound falls far short of perfect in
its 5.1 DTS HD Lossless presentation that is a slight upgrade from the DVD’s
release, but has weak surrounds. The
music is nicely presented and the dialogue is almost crystal clear, but the overall
presentation is lacking directionality and use of the full surround spectrum.
There are
no new special features added to this Blu-ray
Family Friendly Edition and all
extras are the same as those found on the 2006 DVD Family Friendly Edition. The
extras that stand out most are Chris Columbus and Macaulay Culkin’s nice
commentary track on the film, as well as the spoof film Angels with Filthy Souls.
All other extras, as previously mentioned, are the same and where as
nicely done and plentiful; they are nothing overly special.
Great
film, they just need to clean it up a bit after all those paint spills. Talk about having a Blu Christmas…
- Michael P. Dougherty II
