Macaulay Culkinas Kevin McCallisterThe story
About Home Alone
The McCallisters oversleep before a Christmas trip to Paris and leave eight-year-old Kevin behind in their Chicago suburb. Kevin enjoys the run of the house until he works out that two burglars have the street in their sights, at which point he turns the place into an obstacle course of paint tins, hot door handles and tarred stairs. His mother spends the film trying to claw her way back across the Atlantic.
The CineClaus verdict
The premise is a child's daydream — the empty house, the freedom, the shopping — and the film is smart enough to spend its first half on the loneliness underneath it. Then it becomes a cartoon, and the cartoon is very good indeed.
The score does a lot of quiet work holding the two halves together. That suburban house at night with every window lit is one of the great Christmas images.
The family desk
Can the kids watch?
Our take: fine from about six. The traps are cartoon violence, but they are violence, and the basement frightens younger children rather more than adults expect.
BBFC advice: Contains moderate slapstick violence and infrequent moderate language.
Content advice & accessibility
- Where the advice comes from
- The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC).
- Our age guidance
- Editorial, separate from the official PG certificate, and never looser than it.
- Subtitles · Audio description
- Check your chosen service and edition for supported tracks.
