Starring: Alex D. Linz, Olek Krupa, Rya Kihlstedt, Lenny von Dohlen, David Thornton Directed By: Raja Gosnell Average Rating: Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) Binding: VHS Tape Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC Label: 20th Century Fox Number of Items: 1 Release Date: June 02, 1998 Running Time: 102 minutes Theatrical Release Date: December 12, 1997
Description: A band of international crooks has hidden a military computer chip inside a toy car, but an airport mix-up lands it in the hands of whiz-kid Alex Pruitt (Alex D. Linz) who's home alone with the chicken pox in a quiet Chicago suburb. When the criminals zero in on Alex's house with their high-tech gadgetry, madness and mayhem kick into high gear as the pint-sized hero defends himself against the bumbling bad guys -armed with an outrageous array of ambushes and booby traps!
Amazon.com: Here's a perfect movie for kids, who never seem to tire of John Hughes's sure-fire slapstick formula. Working yet another variation on his mammoth 1990 hit, writer-producer Hughes (regarded by many as Hollywood's antichrist) strands a youngster in his own home with the chicken pox in this 1997 retelling. While his parents go to work, he sees a team of burglars invading the neighborhood houses; in fact, they're spies, looking for a toy containing a stolen microchip. The inevitability of the finale--one kid holding off four professionals with toys and garden tools--will do nothing to lessen the amusement of youngsters, who love to see the bad guys get creamed. Adults may pause at the sadistic nature of some of Hughes's pranks, but kids will eat up the image of one of their own outwitting all the adults. --Marshall Fine
Home Alone should have been left alone I'll admit that I loved the first two Home Alone movies. They had a certain charm to them given the silliness of the story. This third installment oozes with something else other than charm. Everything that was great about the first two HA movies is absent from this movie. Not to mention that the story is much different than the first two.
Plot: Some hi-tech crooks hide a microchip inside of a remote-controlled toy car. During their time in the airport, their luggage gets switched with the luggage of the crotchety middle-aged woman that lives next door to the Pruitt family. The crooks realize that their luggage has been swapped with the old woman and finds out where she lives. On arrival they meet up with the snotty scamp Alex who realizes something is wrong with them and plans to thwart them while his mother is away.
Opinion: After reading the plot, you already know that this has nothing to do with the MCcallister family. That is the least of its problems. What was fresh in the first two HA movies is now mundane. Every gag is the same: people get bonked upside the head with things and fall down. Alex D. Linz is about as bland as tofu. As a matter of fact, the whole cast is about as bland as tofu. The wisecracking parrot has more personality than these cardboard cutouts in this movie. The crooks made Harry and Marv look like geniuses. Did I forget to mention that this movie is lethally dull? Plus this movie is missing what made the first two great: Heart. This movie is emotionally distant like Marla Singer(Helena Bonham Carter's character in Fight Club). Nothing about this movie is redeemable. It's all routine. You've seen it all before done better. Home Alone 3 and 4 are classic examples of "milking the cow". If you love this "movie" you love these: BABY GENIUSES, SUPERBABIES: BABY GENIUSES 2, LOOK WHO'S TALKING NOW, ARE WE DONE YET, HONEY WE SHRUNK OURSELVES and PROBLEM CHILD 2.
Forced humor, at best I understand why they had to use a new actor for this movie... the original is in his 20's! But they could have changed a couple other things while they were at it. It was predictable and not very original. Sure, my kids and I laughed where we were supposed to, but it was just a rehash of the previous 2 Home Alone movies.
Uhhh I'll admit it, the first time I saw this movie I was mad that Macaulay Culkin was not featured, but that changed quickly.
The movie was different than the first two because Kevin (or Alex in this one) was not left home for a long amount of time, he was just a Latchkey Kid. On top of that, the mom even without knowing became "aquainted" with the bad guys (because they moved in down the street!!). Ha, I really enjoyed that part!
You can see this movie is different and more entertaining in different ways. I do miss the mom from the original 2 (Catherine O'Hara), I really liked her acting.
So, with all the other reviews telling you what the film is about and how stupid it was, you really should just see for yourself. Heck, if you are to afraid to pay for a potentially dissapointing film, download it the "illegal" way, although I don't recommend that ;-)
Funny Movie I enjoyed the first two home alone movie. However, I liked the third one the best because it had more excitement and booby traps. The only thing I disliked was the nude picture they stuck in there and wasn't necessary. Otherwise, it was a good & funny movie.
Mean spirited and unfunny. In the first 2 films, the kid was left alone by accident. In this one, it is deliberate. That's right, the mother leaves her small child home alone by choice. The kid is an evil genius type who has more toys than the Mythbusters. His traps are meant to maim or kill the so-called bad guys, who are so unbelievably stupid it is difficult to accept they would be smart enough to steal a computer chip. Speaking of the chip -- something like that would fail if it were handled by so many people; it has to be in an anti-static protective bag, not in a toy car. But most Hollywood types don't seem to know anything about computers. Or the range of a toy car's remote control. Or a TV remote control. Or how a small child could put barbells on a roof. Or move a 4x8 sheet of plywood...or.... In short, just about everything in this movie stretches credulity beyond even cartoon violence. This also proves that to pull off this concept you need a cast of people with talent. The original 2 films work only because of a good cast. It certainly isn't the writing. Left to the writing alone, this type of film just fails. It also leaves one with a sense of mean-spiritedness at the heart of the film. And that is because it is such an unnecessary sequel with ties to the originals in name only.
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