Today's marathon is all about fighting back against a pair of burglars whether they are outsmarted by a young boy or a hundred Dalmations. The marathon plays off the nostalgia of growing up as a child in the 1990's to these sets of movies that combine slapstick comedy with large amounts of heart. In some cases, classic Disney movies or television shows are brought back to life in epic fashion. The glue to this marathon is the formula which is the same in each movie. The Home Alone films bring in the Christmas theme to the mix but the antagonists are always thieves or burglars who get beaten by young children, infants, or animals. For tonights fun and thrilling marathon, we have the following films on the menu:
Home Alone 1990, Dennis The Menace 1993, 101 Dalmations 1996, and Home Alone 2: Lost In New York 1992:
Now this is a fun and exciting marathn that comes full circle with the Home Alone films providing the bookending to the whole ordeal. Home Alone was not just a huge box office success in 1990, it also generated several similar films that utilized the same formula of a child fighting against a pair of burglars with the ordeal turning into pure slapstick comedy. For the time that it worked, it was the perfect family experience as the movies appealed to a special kind of audience and created an undeniable feeling of nostalgia when you watch them years down the road. A big reason for the rise in this style of family films is all of these films were written by John Hughes, who is famous for directing movies such as The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Ferris Buellers Day Off, Uncle Buck, and Plains, Trains, And Automobiles. All of these films follow the same formula but present them in unique ways that never stray away from the family aspect of their stories. For every antagonist that attempts to do wrong on our protagonists, it doesn't come without a good moral lesson.
The first movie of the evening is the 1990 Holiday classic and blockbuster family film titled Home Alone starring Macaulay Culkin, Catherine O Hara, Joe Pesci, John Heard, and Daniel Stern. The story centers around an 8-year old boy whose considered a troublemaker in his family, ends up being left home alone on accident when his family goes out of town for the holidays. While being left at home, he discovers that two burglars named Harry and Marv are patrolling the neighborhood with a plan to steal from his families house. The young boy named Kevin plans to defend his families home by planting unique booby traps around the house to help fight the burglars. Home Alones charm and heart quickly made it the biggest blockbuster of 1990 as well as turning it into one of the most iconic and timeless modern holiday films of all time. Along with being in a hilarious battle against the burglars, Home Alone also deals with issues that are relatable to people around the holidays such as families not getting along, loneliness, and misunderstanding people you presume to be bad but actually aren't once you get to know them. An example of this is Kevin McCallister befriending an old man whom the kids fear and tell stories about. Not only does this old man turn out to be friendly and harmless, but he also helps Kevin in realizing that you should appreciate the family you have no matter how imperfect they are. The film entered the Guinness book of world records for being the highest grossing comedy of all time making $533 million worldwide with $285 million being made domestically.
The second movie of the marathon is the 1993 family film based on the classic television show titled Dennis The Menace starring Walter Matthau, Mason Gamble, Christopher Lloyd, and Lea Thompson. The story centers around a young boy named Dennis who constantly harasses his neighbors who are an elderly couple. While he is adored by the lady of the house named Mrs. Wilson, Mr. Wilson presumes Dennis to be nothing more but a menace and troublemaker. While enduring Dennis hilarious tirades, a mysterious thief and burglar played by Christopher Lloyd, arrives in town on a train and begins secretly robbing the town. He ends up kidnapping Dennis when Mr. Wilson denounces him forcing Dennis to run away in hurt. This opportunity uninte tionally allows Dennis to catch the burglar and return Mr. Wilsons stolen items to him. Dennis The Menace definitely draws inspiration from Home Alone and utilizes the same formula with a young boy whose presumed to be a troublemaker suddenly being forced to duel with a much older antagonist with the end result being the bad guys being caught by police and the parents or guardians having a much deeper respect for the young boy when all is said and done. While the film wasn't quite as successful as Home Alone, it proves to be a worthy successor and a genuine family film that continues the same formula.
The third movie of the marathon is the 1996 live action blockbuster and family film titled 101 Dalmations starring Joely Richardson, Jeff Daniels, and Glenn Glose. Written by John Hughes who also helmed Home Alone, the story centers around two people who meet by chance when their dogs fall in love, also inspiring them to follow suit and get married. When the dogs have a total of 15 puppies at birth, a menacing fashion designer manager named Cruella De Vil plots to steal the puppies with the other ones her associates kidnapped, and kill them for her fur. When the burglars think that their plan was ultimately successful, the stolen puppies band together with the animals to thwart their scheme and exact revenge on them as well as Cruella De Vil. 101 Dalmations has the same formula of revenge being committed against a pair of burglars that Home Alone possessed except this time the protagonists aren't children, their animals. The animals come together and outsmart the pair of burglars that appear to possess little to no intelligence. The main star of this film is Glenn Close who not only appeared to represent perfect casting in the title role of the films iconic villain, but also garnered herself a Golden Globe nomination for her spot on performance as one of Disneys iconic villains. 101 Dalmations may not be as good as Home Alone but it provides a perfect parallel to that film and Dennis The Menace with a slick twist to the formula.
The fourth movie of the marathon is the 1992 blockbuster sequel and in many fans eyes of the first Home Alone, the true conclusion to the series titled Home Alone 2: Lost In New York. Reuniting essentially the same cast from the first movie with Macaulay Culkin reprising his iconic role with the strong supporting cast returning among the likes of Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, Catherine O Hara, and John Heard with new additions to the cast such as Tim Curry and Rob Schneider. The story places Kevin and his family a year later on Christmas planning a trip to New York with Kevin having the same issues with his family in regards to being treated fairly and misunderstood. When rushing to the airport Kevin gets separated from his family and ends up on a plane to New York. While in New York he runs up his parents credit cards at a fancy hotel but soon discovers that the burglars he battled with a year ago have escaped from jail and have gone to New York as well. The trio soon cross paths again and Kevin is forced to do battle with them when he discovers they plan to rob a toy store and take charity money from unfortunate kids on Christmas. Home Alone 2 much like its predecessor was a box office success upon it's release even though the film didn't quite reach the heights of the first film nor the same kind of acclaim. The sequel is a worthy follow up to the first film as it follows the formula of the previous movie very closely and utilizes nearly all of the major key players from the first film. The setting is much broader with more wild stunts and traps being ensured when Kevin goes toe to toe with Harry and Marv. Home Alone 2 also closes out the marathon nicely with Kevin once again being reunited with his family and making piece with his mother and older brother Buzz. Being that both Home Alone films are holiday movies, it also gives it a nice bookending and relevance given the current time period of the year.
So what are these movies trying to say when you put them together as a whole? The message says that young children whether they are your own or someone elses may drive you crazy and do a lot of things that'll displease you but the honest truth is they just want acceptance and for you to love them back unconditionally. Kevin's desires to have his family back on Christmas echos the feelings that many children have on the holidays such as loneliness, wanting to have a family and being loved by someone. Kevin dueling the burglars says that if you see wrong being done on Christmas, it becomes your duty to stop it and protect what's right in the best way you know possible. Dennis The Menace shows that a grumpy old man like Mr. Wilson can truly care about a young boy like Dennis even though he doesn't really show it on the surface. You should also never say things to kids that are mean because they take things harder than the rest of us. 101 Dalmations says that trying to kidnap and kill animals for clothing purposes is wrong and that a person like Cruella Devil has no heart.
Sometimes when you think something is finished, it may not be and could possibly return to haunt you a year later such as Kevin being forced to duel with Harry and Marv once again in New York. Christmas is more than just delivering presents to people and having a Christmas tree. Christmas is a time of being with family, loving one another unconditionally whether they are perfect or not, and above all, it's about thinking about others and doing the right thing like Kevin did for the children and their charity money.
Our characters for this evening:
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