1/10
Slightly, remotely funny
7 May 2004
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.
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