The Home Alone Triple Pack boxed set is basically a collection of three films with a small amount of supplemental material on each disc, nothing more. There is no extra disc with any particularly revealing insight into how the films were made or what technical considerations had to be accounted for. Instead, we have the entire trilogy in a single box, with the same extras replicated on each disc. Ordinarily, I wouldn't recommend this boxed set, but its retail value is equivalent to the price of buying the first two films separately. However, you would have to be a fan of the first two films in the extreme to derive any sort of viewing pleasure from the third film, which I personally put in the same basket as all the retarded rubbish that Disney likes to pass off as suitable viewing for children. At Michael's suggestion, I have compiled the following list of pros and cons to buying the boxed set:
The Pros of the boxed set are;
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Category | Comedy | Home Alone Theatrical
Trailer
Home Alone 2 Theatrical Trailer Home Alone 3 Theatrical Trailer |
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Rating | |||
Year Released | 1990 | ||
Running Time | 98:36 Minutes
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RSDL/Flipper | No/No |
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Start Up | Menu | ||
Region | 2,4 | Director | Chris Columbus |
Distributor |
Fox Home Video |
Starring | Macaulay Culkin
Joe Pesci Daniel Stern John Heard Roberts Blossom Catherine O'Hara |
Case | Transparent Amaray | ||
RPI | Boxed Set - $79.95
Disc - $31.95 |
Music | John Williams |
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Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None | Audio (Dolby Digital 2.0 , 192 K/bs) | |
Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
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Original Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 |
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Macrovision | Yes | Smoking | Yes, Joe Pesci's hand smokes rather well at one point |
Subtitles | 1 (Czech)
2 (Danish) 3 (English for the Hearing Impaired) 4 (Finnish) 5 (Hebrew) 6 (Hungarian) 7 (Icelandic) 8 (Norwegian) 9 (Polish) 10 (Portuguese) 11 (Swedish) |
Annoying Product Placement | Yes, very mildly |
Action In or After Credits | No |
Of course, the plot of this film is simple, even if it contains a lot of interesting subtexts about family relationships. Of course, another area where Home Alone succeeds is that it manages to present such subtexts without descending into the preachiness that plagues other films of this ilk.
The McCallister family are in a frantic rush, making preparations for a holiday that entails flight, as well as having a lot of problems relating to the fact that there are too many children and not enough responsible adults in the house. As Peter McCallister (John Heard), Kate McCallister (Catherine O'Hara), Frank McCallister (Gerry Bamman), and Leslie McCallister (Terrie Snell) rush to and through the airport with a horde of children in tow, they leave one essential thing behind: Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin). Meanwhile, two robbers in the forms of Harry (Joe Pesci) and his idiotic cohort Marv (Daniel Stern) are planning to rob the family house, thinking that even with a solitary pre-pubescent boy in the house, their task will be relatively simple. Parallel to this, we are treated to some dialogues between Kevin and Old Man Marley (Roberts Blossom), as well as the frantic efforts of Kate to make her way back to the house and protect her son. Of course, on the night that the bandits attempt to raid the house, they discover that the child they saw as little threat has a talent for rigging some nice booby-traps out of common household items, leading to some hilarious slapstick, at least in the short term.
Of course, the replay value of this film is somewhat lacking if you watch the film frequently, but if you want to sit through something that will keep both the adults and children in the family amused for a while, then this is a very good place to start.
The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, and is 16x9 Enhanced. This is a slight variation from the theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1, but it doesn't appear that any picture information is missing from the sides of the frame.
The transfer is sharp in the foregrounds, but not quite as sharp as the later episodes in the trilogy, although you'd have to be rather picky to really care. Like the other films in the trilogy, the transfer was slightly blurry in the backgrounds. The shadow detail can best be described as good, and since it is good enough to make out who is being hit with what, there's no reason to complain. There is no low-level noise, which is an important thing when you consider how much darkness there is in some parts of the transfer. Film grain is a slight problem in some shots, but this was only limited to a couple of shots that appeared to be stock footage, anyway.
The colour saturation is bright and vibrant, in spite of the fact that a lot of the film takes place in the dark. The film has a real warm and friendly look to it, and there are plenty of shots with a myriad of bright colours on display.
MPEG artefacts were not especially noticeable during the feature, although there were occasions when the picture seemed to be on the edge of dissolving into a mass of pixels. The condition of the source material and length of the programming, combined with all of the extras, seemed to be pressing the compression just a little bit too tight. Film-to-video artefacts consisted of some shimmering on the edges of objects, but overall, this artefact was quite well-controlled. Film artefacts were somewhat more prevalent, with black marks occasionally streaming across the picture, but they were never too distracting.
In case you're wondering why the subtitles are numbered in the technical information above, it is because this disc was authored without any language names for either the audio tracks or the subtitles. Annoying, for certain, but unless English is not your primary language, I wouldn't sweat it.
The dialogue is clear and easy to understand at all times, within the limits of Macaulay Culkin's occasional mumbling. There were no apparent problems with audio sync, although the sound effects during the climactic sequences exhibited a tendency to be out of sync by a fraction of a second.
The score music in this film is the work of the great John Williams, and it is literally worth listening to by itself. The music and the onscreen action are well linked, so much so that the music manages to make a sequence as mundane as the setting of the booby-traps seem like a big, grand adventure. Events as ordinary as visits to the local supermarket are lent a sense of importance by the music, which also enhances the comedic value of the moments when Daniel Stern and Joe Pesci fall all over each other.
The surround channels were generally silent during the establishing sequences of the film, with just the occasional special effect and music directed into the rears. This changed quite dramatically in the last third of the film, with the surround channels constantly active to support the sounds of the burglars being injured. The sound of flying paint cans was particularly well supported, with both the rears and the subwoofer springing to life in support of this hilarious sequence. Speaking of the subwoofer, it was consistently active throughout the film, supporting the lower registers of the music, as well as the sounds of airplanes. Again, it was more active in the last third of the film than in the lead-up, awaking with a real start once the burglars entered the house.
The video quality is good.
The audio quality is good.
The extras are reasonable.
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Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
© Dean McIntosh (my bio
sucks... read it anyway)
October 28, 2000
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DVD | Grundig GDV 100 D, using composite output; Toshiba SD-2109, using S-video output |
Display | Panasonic TC-29R20 (68 cm), 4:3 mode, using composite input; Samsung CS-823AMF (80 cm), 16:9 mode/4:3 mode, using composite and S-video inputs, calibrated using the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials. |
Audio Decoder | Built In (Amplifier) |
Amplification | Sony STR-DE835, calibrated using the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials. |
Speakers | Yamaha NS-45 Front Speakers, Philips PH931SSS Rear Speakers, Philips FB206WC Centre Speaker, JBL Digital 10 Active Subwoofer |
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Category | Comedy | Home Alone Theatrical
Trailer
Home Alone 2 Theatrical Trailer Home Alone 3 Theatrical Trailer |
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Rating | |||
Year Released | 1992 | ||
Running Time | 115:07 Minutes | ||
RSDL/Flipper | No/No |
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Start Up | Menu | ||
Region | 2,4 | Director | Chris Columbus |
Distributor |
Fox Home Video |
Starring | Macaulay Culkin
Joe Pesci Daniel Stern Catherine O'Hara John Heard Devin Ratray |
Case | Transparent Amaray | ||
RPI | Disc - $31.95
Boxed Set - $79.95 |
Music | John Williams |
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Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None | English (Dolby Digital 2.0 , 192 Kb/s) | |
Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
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Original Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 |
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Macrovision | Yes | Smoking | Yes, people generally smoke after being blown up. |
Subtitles | Czech
Danish English Finnish Hebrew Hungarian Icelandic Norwegian Polish Portuguese Swedish |
Annoying Product Placement | Yes, want to guess which hotel helped pay for the film? |
Action In or After Credits | No |
Before you get the idea that I severely dislike this film, let me just say that I quite enjoyed the film when I saw it theatrically, and I still enjoy it after several repeat viewings. It's just not the sort of ultimate classic that I could rewatch several times in a day. The plot concerns itself with the McCallister family's preparations for a holiday in Florida and their manic rush through the local airport due to the alarm clock being conveniently reset again, resulting in the convenient pressing deadline. Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) finds himself stranded in New York after another string of improbable coincidences, where he once again encounters Harry (Joe Pesci) and Marv (Daniel Stern), the Wet Bandits of the previous film, except that Marv has decided they need a new trademark. To this end, he has decided to wrap a hand in double-sided duct tape so that whatever he decides to pinch will be stuck to his hand, hence the Sticky Bandits. Thankfully, this one-scene gag was only stretched out for the film's ending, although it doesn't quite have the same ring as the Wet Bandits jokes in the previous film. In any case, the two bandits plan to rob a toy store that makes an annual donation to a prominent charity, hence they have a surplus of cash just in time for Harry and Marv to rob the place on Christmas Eve. Kevin, naturally, decides that he must foil their plans using the only method he knows: constructing a series of crude booby-traps and leading them through one disaster after another.
Home Alone 2 was, and still is, an adequate follow-up to the original. It lacks the spontaneity and excitement of the original to some degree, but since the main stars of the original are still present for this episode, it will more than adequately fill a couple of hours. The stunts are more vaudevillian, the one-liners are more cheesy, the bandits are a little more stupid, and the parental-nightmare subplot is milked for even more than it is worth. At least it is still a genuine family comedy in that it can be enjoyed by audiences of all ages, even if some degree of leaving the brain at the door is required.
The transfer is presented in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1, and is 16x9 Enhanced.
The transfer is very sharp whenever the camera is focused upon the foreground, but shots in which we are meant to see details in the background, such as 17:20, after the obligatory discovery that Kevin is missing again, were blurry and indistinct. Having seen this shot in the theatre, I can say for certain that this is not how the people in the background of the shot were meant to look, even if they were only slightly more in focus than they appear to be on this disc. The shadow detail is very good, and certainly more than adequate for the night-time scenes. There is no low-level noise in the transfer, and the grain that plagued certain shots in the original Home Alone seems to be mostly absent.
The colour saturation is well-balanced, giving the shades of green and blue that dominate this transfer a natural, vivid look. The Christmas lights that feature more prominently in this episode are also rendered well, with none of the colour-bleeding, misregistration, or cross-colouration that plagued the VHS version of this film being apparent.
MPEG artefacts were not a serious problem with this transfer, at least not in the foreground, but the tight compression has resulted in a loss of background details that I found a little distressing at times. There is no pixelization or macro-blocking evident in the backgrounds, however, so this is as good a single-layer transfer as we can expect. Film-to-video artefacts were not present in the transfer, save for the occasional mild instance of aliasing that went by without becoming a serious distraction. Film artefacts were occasionally present, mostly taking on the shape of white flecks during the last forty minutes.
The dialogue, such as it is, was clear and easy to understand at all times, even with the limits posed by Macaulay Culkin's tendency to mutter from time to time. Audio sync wasn't a problem at any time in the film, although there were moments when it looked like there was some marginal ADR.
Just as this sequel had the benefit of participation from the principal actors from the original, its score benefits from the magic touch of John Williams. Again, the score music is literally worth listening to by itself. The usual Williams trademark of making the music and onscreen events so inextricably linked that you cannot imagine one without the other is in full force here, and once again, events as ordinary as checking out of a hotel are lent a sense of importance by the music. Even if the rest of the film feels slightly recycled, the score music sounds so lively that you could be forgiven for thinking that Williams wrote the score a matter of minutes before he began recording it.
The surround channels were frequently used to support the action sequences and the music, all without calling any immediate attention to themselves. This matrix-encoded soundtrack sounds a lot more lively and active than its discrete cousin on Home Alone 3, reflecting the greater amount of technical and artistic care taken with the making of the film. The subwoofer was frequently called upon to support the sounds of bodies hitting the ground, among other things, and it did so without calling attention to itself. Overall, this would be the best soundtrack afforded to the trilogy.
The video quality is good, but appears slightly overcompressed in some shots.
The audio quality is good, featuring one of the best matrix-encoded mixes you're ever likely to hear.
The extras are sufficient.
Video | |
Audio | |
Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
© Dean McIntosh (my bio
sucks... read it anyway)
October 28, 2000.
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DVD | Grundig GDV 100 D, using composite output; Toshiba SD-2109, using S-video output |
Display | Samsung CS-823AMF (80 cm), 16:9 mode/4:3 mode, using composite and S-video inputs, calibrated using the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials. |
Audio Decoder | Built In (Amplifier) |
Amplification | Sony STR-DE835, calibrated using the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials. |
Speakers | Yamaha NS-45 Front Speakers, Philips PH931SSS Rear Speakers, Philips FB206WC Centre Speaker, JBL Digital 10 Active Subwoofer |
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Category | Comedy? | Trailer: Home Alone (Full
Frame, Dolby Digital 2.0)
Trailer: Home Alone 2 (Full Frame, Dolby Digital 2.0) Trailer: Home Alone 3 (Full Frame, Dolby Digital 2.0) Cast & Crew Biographies |
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Year Released | 1997 | ||
Running Time | 98:21 | ||
RSDL/Flipper | No/No |
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Start Up | Menu | ||
Region | 2,4 | Director | Raja Gosnell |
Distributor |
Fox Home Video |
Starring | Alex D. Linz
Olek Krupa Rya Kihlstedt Lenny von Dohlen David Thornton Haviland Morris |
Case | Transparent Amaray | ||
RPI | Boxed Set $79.95 | Music | Nick Glennie-Smith |
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Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None | English (Dolby Digital 5.1, 384 Kb/s) | |
Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
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Original Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 |
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Macrovision | Yes | Smoking | No |
Subtitles | Czech
Danish English Finnish Hebrew Hungarian Icelandic Norwegian Polish Portuguese Swedish |
Annoying Product Placement | No |
Action In or After Credits | No |
Everything that happens in the first two Home Alone films happens in this one, more or less, without the spontaneous feeling or score music by John Williams that made the other two films so enjoyable. Indeed, Home Alone 3 belongs in a similar category to Godzilla, where it is necessary to leave your brain and most of your body at the door in order to enjoy this mess. The plot, such as it is, revolves around a foursome of thieves who have stolen a microchip that can make missiles invisible to radar. Excuse me for a second while I deal with my inability to swallow such a huge load of codswallop. Anyway, getting back to the foursome of thieves, as they are leaving an airport, the bag in which they've placed the remote-controlled car in which they've hidden the chip gets switched with a bag belonging to an old lady. This particular old lady happens to be a neighbour of what has to be the ugliest child actor I've seen since the one out of the colour episodes of Skippy, and she decides to give him the model car in lieu of payment for his shovelling of her driveway. The rest of the film concerns itself with the attempts by these burglars to retrieve the car and the microchip, in which said burglars display even less intelligence than the burglars from the previous two instalments. Excuse me, John Hughes, but the only thing I'd believe these thieves would be able to steal is their way into a prison cell. There is no way on Earth that a bunch of thieves this incompetent that they cannot even retrieve a remote-controlled car (which cannot possibly outrun a fully grown man) could possibly break into Silicon Valley and steal a microchip that contradicts the laws of science and technology just by existing.
I don't know what in the name of donkeys Roger Ebert was smoking when he described this episode in the trilogy as being better than the first two (I hope for his sake that the quote was taken out of context), but you're going to need a copious amount of it to sit through this film. I had to view it in two sittings, it was simply that painful.
Anyway, the transfer is presented in the original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, and it is 16x9 Enhanced. The transfer is razor sharp in the foregrounds, but many of the backgrounds seemed to be blurry and indistinct, although the blame for this can be shared equally between the compression and the photography. The shadow detail is nothing remarkable, with there only being sufficient detail in dark areas of the transfer to discern between actors and props. Given that the vast majority of the film takes place in well-lit conditions, this is not a serious problem. There is no low-level noise to mar the transfer.
The colour saturation is nicely vibrant, with vast expanses of snow having plenty of smooth gradation between white and pale blue, while flesh tones looked suitably cold and snow-affected. The few sequences that take place in locations such as airports and offices were also well-saturated, although there wasn't much in them to show this off with.
MPEG artefacts were not especially noticed in the transfer, although there were occasions when the background of the frame appeared to be on the verge of breaking out into macro-blocks. Posterization was not apparent largely because the only noticeable transitions between colours occur in the snow. Film-to-video artefacts were not noticed in the transfer, either. Film artefacts were not noticed, although there was the occasional tiny black fleck in the picture here and there, only noticeable because of the vast expanses of snow. Aside from maybe a dozen black spots throughout the entire picture, this is a very clean transfer.
There is only one soundtrack on this DVD, that being the original English dialogue in Dolby Digital 5.1, encoded at 384 kilobits a second. The dialogue is perfectly clear and easy to understand at all times, much to my eternal horror. There were no audio sync problems to ease my suffering at any time, either. All I could do was shake my head and refuse to believe that this is the work of the same John Hughes who wrote the other two Home Alone films, as well as Uncle Buck. Perhaps it was merely the actors who made the dialogue seem as ridiculous and painful as it was, because none of them look like they have acted in a film before or since.
The score music on this film is credited to Nick Glennie-Smith, a poor substitute for the great and powerful John Williams, who scored the first two episodes of the trilogy. One could have removed the score from this film entirely and it wouldn't have made any difference to me, it was that ineffective. Still, it does manage to create and maintain a certain Three Stooges mood, but considering that we're talking about a three year old film that approximates the style of films that are more than fifty years of age, that's faint praise.
The surround channels were used in an aggressive manner to supplement all sorts of special sound effects during the film. Police cars, background chatter at the airport, and barbells falling from balconies and catching burglars who should, by definition, know better were all supported well by the surrounds. However, there seemed to be little in the way of discrete placement for these sounds, with most surround effects merely shifting from speaker to speaker in a series of uneven steps. Perhaps it was just the way the film used surround effects, as there was very little in the onscreen action that could be supported by inspirational use of the surround channels. The direction of the music to the rears helped diminish its already non-existent effect. The subwoofer had a moderate workout supporting a number of crashing, crunching, and squashing sounds, all without calling any specific attention to itself.
The video quality is almost faultless.
The audio quality is excellent except for underutilisation of the surround channels.
The extras are reasonable.
Video | |
Audio | |
Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
© Dean McIntosh (my bio
sucks... read it anyway)
October 28, 2000.
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|
DVD | Grundig GDV 100 D, using composite output; Toshiba SD-2109, using S-video output |
Display | Samsung CS-823AMF (80 cm), 16:9 mode/4:3 mode, using composite and S-video inputs, calibrated using the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials. |
Audio Decoder | Built In (Amplifier) |
Amplification | Sony STR-DE835, calibrated using the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials. |
Speakers | Yamaha NS-45 Front Speakers, Philips PH931SSS Rear Speakers, Philips FB206WC Centre Speaker, JBL Digital 10 Active Subwoofer |